What’s an employee REALLY cost? How do you compare a subcontractor’s rate to the hourly rate you pay an employee? What does providing health insurance really add to the bottom line, considering payroll taxes are reduced by pretax deductions? How much does an employee add to your worker’s compensation insurance? You can use this calculator to find out.
Download the Excel Spreadsheet version (cost: $29.95)
if you want to include more information, such as bonuses, retirement benefits or overhead expenses, need to enter more kinds of payroll taxes, or want to save your information.
Using the free online calculator:
Use the online calculator below to calculate basic employee costs, including health insurance, workers compensation insurance and payroll taxes. The form has been updated to reflect 2020 taxes and wage base changes.
February, 2013: The calculator now provides separate lines for Social Security and Medicare, allowing more accurate calculations for employees making more than the Social Security Wage Base.
Green fields are required. Cream ones are optional. The information you enter will not be sent anywhere (I’ll never see it), but it may remain in your browser cache.
The online version of the employee cost calculator has three sections:
- Basic wage and hours information
- Optional benefits, including paid time off and health and dental insurance
- Required benefits, including payroll taxes and worker’s compensation insurance
Each section must be completed before going to the next, but you can go back if necessary. Once done, you can view or print the results along with a summary that includes information about the real hourly cost of the employee.
