Imagine your development team is a Formula 1 car. When you lose a talent, that car gets a flat tire. It can still function, but it cannot compete. Until you fix that, you’re easy to surpass.
You know that each day without filling a vacancy translates into losses for your company, but do you know how much money you're actually letting go beyond the obvious? What hidden costs lie behind a vacancy you delay in closing? Let’s look at it more closely.
Hard costs of the vacancy
These are the immediate and easily quantifiable expenses each time someone leaves their position. They are the first to affect your budget and are reflected in your team’s operational capacity also the ones most likely to cause headaches.
Recruitment expenses
Finding the ideal candidate is not free. The recruitment process requires investing resources even before you formally hire your new developer. This includes various costs such as:
- Talent agencies.
- Job platforms.
- Résumé screening.
- Candidate interviews.
On average, all these activities cost between $200 and $400 USD per day, and of course, if the hiring cycle extends, the figure rises too.
Training and learning curve
Once your new talent is hired, the training and adaptation period begins another part of the total vacancy cost.
This phase involves formal training, but also continuous support from other team members who spend hours integrating the new talent. The daily training cost ranges between $100 and $250 USD, considering each hour from the team involved.
This is not the only leak to worry about. During this period, the new hire does not yet perform at full capacity, so their partial contribution is also a cost. This adds a daily loss equivalent to 30–50% of a senior developer’s daily salary, which can range between $200 and $350 USD per day.
Screening tools
Today, no recruitment process happens without investing in screening tools. They require licenses and recurring expenses that are also part of the total cost of an open vacancy. We’re talking about:
- Technical assessment platforms.
- Psychometric tests.
- Candidate tracking software.
- Virtual interview services.
Many companies underestimate their importance, but these tools are essential for ensuring quality hiring and validating competencies. Still, the variable costs can add up significantly. If you don’t close the process quickly, costs can exceed $1000 USD.
Soft costs of the vacancy
Hard costs are the first to raise alarms, but they aren’t the only costs behind an open vacancy. There are also soft costs that affect internal structure and long-term productivity.
They’re harder to measure but have a significant impact on operations and culture effects that can extend into the medium and long term if not addressed in time.
Loss of productivity
It’s worth remembering that an open vacancy negatively impacts productivity. Returning to the initial example: how fast can a car run with a faulty tire? The same happens when you're missing a programmer, whether on the back end or the front end.
According to HubSpot, U.S. companies lose 10 billion dollars a year due to decreased productivity, considering:
- Delivery delays.
- Overtime for other employees.
- Projects put on hold.
Additionally, team demotivation and burnout due to lack of support extend low productivity, which multiplies the cost over time. Overload and burnout are natural consequences of a team forced to redistribute tasks unevenly.
Impact on corporate culture
A vacancy left open for too long takes a toll on organizational culture. As the months go by, your developers will feel frustrated, neglected, and exposed to increasing workloads. The result? A less collaborative environment, higher turnover, and greater difficulty filling new vacancies.
The financial loss from this cultural deterioration can be high, though difficult to measure estimated at $200 to $500 USD daily in indirect retention and recruitment costs.
Remember that a demotivated or stressed team tends to lower the quality of its work, affecting both the internal and external reputation of the company. Quantifying this loss financially is complex but no less important for your strategic vision.
Deterioration of the employer brand
A company that takes too long to close a vacancy raises suspicion and concern. Every day a developer vacancy remains open is another scratch on your employer brand another doubt planted that becomes difficult to erase.
Whether due to poor practices in the selection process, slow response times, or other factors, negative perceptions arise among potential candidates and the job market. The consequence? Greater difficulty hiring talent, which further delays your selection processes.
According to studies and analyses, a poorly managed recruitment process can cost up to 20–30% of the position’s annual salary in reputational damage and lost opportunities.
Incorporate talent immediately: our strategic solution
You now have a clearer picture and one undeniable truth: every vacancy you delay in closing represents a terrible leak of money.
Keep in mind that all these figures apply to a single unfilled position. Considering all the vacancies you have, how much money are you losing?
Despite the scenario, not everything is lost. There is a perfect solution to reduce integration times from months to just a few weeks or days an alternative we have perfected throughout LATAM: Staff Augmentation.
Integration of specialized professionals
New professions emerge every day. It’s no coincidence technology evolves so quickly that it requires increasingly specialized and precise skills. And like any emerging asset that revolutionizes the market, these skills are scarce.
But don’t worry: finding the candidate with the expertise you need quickly becomes a reality when we enter the equation. The reason is simple: our network of experts is ready to deliver value from day one.
Need a leader in Prompt Engineering? Done. Need a full automation team? Solved. Need extra hands in UX? Easy. Don’t waste time waiting for talent request it and receive it the way you deserve.
Greater focus on the core business
It’s very common not to be able to focus on the core of your operations because you’re dealing with daily contingencies. You get stuck due to not having enough hands on both fronts at once. But that doesn’t have to be your norm.
Imagine the scenario: your internal team focuses 100% on stabilizing the core business. Meanwhile, a second team dedicates itself to innovation updating and creating the features the others will later replicate to keep up. Sounds good, right?
Focus on what truly matters and let our talent handle the rest. It’s fast, easy, and best of all aligned with your need to optimize budgets without sacrificing performance.
Transition from fixed to variable costs
The critical phase of your new project will last only two months three at most. That’s how long you’ll truly need the expertise of a senior developer. Your in-house team can take care of the rest.
Invest in the skills you need only for the time you need them. The fixed costs that drain your budget can become variable under a project-based expense model that preserves your money’s value without unnecessary recurring charges.
Integrating our Staff Augmentation model means balancing your finances and performance and boosting both. You no longer have to slow your growth to protect your budget, nor risk going into the red by prioritizing evolution.
