Hiring vs outsourcing: a 5-year cost model in 30 seconds

The problem

You need a senior developer / accountant / project manager. Hire? Contract? Outsource to an agency? Each option has different up-front costs, productivity ramps, and termination liabilities. Building the comparison properly takes a finance person half a day and assumes they remember to model NI, pension, holiday cover, and recruitment fees.

How EF-Strategy solves it

Three steps. One outcome.

Describe the role

Tell EF-Strategy the role title, seniority, and a target start date. It pulls UK market salary ranges (Reed, Hays, ONS data) and standard on-cost percentages.

Get three side-by-side scenarios

A 5-year P&L for hire (perm), contract (day rate), and outsource (agency retainer). Each includes recruitment, on-costs, salary inflation, productivity ramp, and a 20% probability-weighted exit cost.

Adjust assumptions live

Change any number — salary, day rate, ramp time, retention probability — and the whole model recalculates instantly. Export as a board paper.

The outcome

What you should expect

Make hiring decisions with proper financials, not a gut feel
Avoid the "we should have contracted" regret — modelled before you commit
Defensible numbers when challenged by the board or investors
Repeat for every hire — model improves with your actual outcomes

Common questions

Frequently asked

Where do the salary benchmarks come from?▼

A combination of ONS ASHE data, public job-board ranges, and your own EF-CapFlow payroll if connected. Numbers refresh quarterly.

Does it handle IR35?▼

Yes — for contractor scenarios you set inside/outside IR35, and the model adjusts day rate, employer NI exposure, and notice-period assumptions accordingly.

Can I model a team, not just one role?▼

Yes. Add multiple roles, set start dates, and model the blended cost. Useful for new-product business cases or office expansions.