I've always heard that, for the US, when thinking about salary you want to about double what the employee makes when considering the employers cost.

This is overkill, add 35% to the top and you will be closer (depending on absence/sick levels).

Statutory allowances in the UK are higher than in the US, and in the UK for instance you would add:

- 12.5% national insurance + apprentice levy

- 3-4% pension

- 10% of days as holidays

- 5% of days as sick / other leave (dependent on amount taken in reality)

- 2% payroll fees / other

Note, this excludes training and equipment/office space.

I guess it depends when there you consider other costs like office space, equipment, utility bills, HR overheads, consumables etc.

Why add holidays and sick leave to an individual employee's costs? Most white collar employees would have an annual salary this is factored into already, unless you're having to hire temporary replacements for them perhaps (which would be more than a 15% cost, I suspect).

You are right, I usually do this to get to a worked daily or worked hourly cost (I work in consultancy) so I take holidays & sick into account to understand cost per worked hour / cost per worked day.

In reality it depends on the type of work you are doing.

Ah! Definitely makes sense in consulting/contracting :-)

That metric isn't just about actual payroll expenses, but also things like office space, janitorial services, etc.

Health insurance is another big one in the states.

This might apply to large organizations with lots of overheads and perks. But it definitely does not apply to startups.

In NL it's about 35%. Doubt other countries vary that much, probably a lot in the 25-40% range.

Depending on jurisdiction, there are taxes and such on top of salary.

Actually there is a more important comparison than salary: what benefit accrues to the company for 1 employee month.

When a company is undergoing fast growth, the return from one month of work can be startlingly huge. Every tool that enables better use of time is a multiplier on the income generated by that employee.

Also note, “sir” seems snarky to me at best and insulting at worst. Are you even answering a guy?

15k could be cost to the company, which also looks at employment taxes, office space, health insurance, benefits, hr/support overhead, interviewing, training and managing. A new developer earning 8k/mo easily costs the company 15k/mo.

He said per month.