2 ms·

Wow, double of the gross salary? So a company paying me $80k (out of which I have to pay taxes and I net let's say $60k), actually pays $160k? Seems like a LOT

• rdl 16y ago
  A productive employee costing double salary, fully loaded, includes a benefit and other direct load (employer FICA, UI, 401k and health insurance, ...), plus share of supervisors, plus facilities. i.e. a team of 5 developers requires maybe one full time equivalent manager making roughly the same or slightly more, who also has his own benefits, office space, etc. And his own manager, etc. (assuming a reasonable span of control, like 5-10:1 manager) I usually use 1.3x for "direct loaded cost" and maybe 1.5x for facilities and loaded cost. In a "below market compensation" environment, like a startup, the loaded costs are usually higher (if you pay yourself $30k at a startup, you still probably want the same quality health insurance as if you pay yourself $60 or $100k, unless you're young and single and get an HSA/catastrophic coverage).
  • biot 16y ago
    Including supervisors and other operational staff into an employee's fully loaded cost makes sense for project billing purposes where the cost of supporting that engineer's work must be taken into consideration. For the purpose of this discussion, that must get excluded since offer letters don't state salary that way.