The issue is that the non-salary costs routinely make up an additional 50-100% of a head count and many of these are fixed. Thus to replace a team of 4 with a t

The issue is that the non-salary costs routinely make up an additional 50-100% of a head count and many of these are fixed. Thus to replace a team of 4 with a team of 5, you might need to negotiate their salary component down 30% not 20%. Thus the manager hiring the team of 4 appears to be paying 42% more.