Every business leader knows what a new hire costs.
Salary.
Benefits.
Training.
Recruitment fees.
But very few calculate what an unfilled role is costing them.
Recently, I was speaking to a business owner who had been trying to “manage around” a vacancy for nearly six months.
At first, it seemed manageable.
The team pulled together.
The manager stepped in.
Everyone took on a little extra work.
But over time, the real cost started to emerge.
Projects slowed down.
Customer response times increased.
The manager spent more time firefighting than leading.
And one of their top performers started looking elsewhere because they were carrying the workload of two people.
The irony?
The cost of leaving the role open was far greater than the cost of filling it.
As business leaders, we often spend a lot of time worrying about making the wrong hire.
And rightly so.
But sometimes the bigger risk is waiting too long to make the right one.
The strongest businesses don’t only look at the cost of hiring.
They look at the cost of not hiring.
Director
