Calculator
What is a bad manager costing you?
When a manager isn't doing the job, it shows up in the numbers: people quit, and the ones who stay miss more work. This calculator gives you a ballpark figure for your team. Every assumption and source is explained below.
What it costs you each year
$10,000 to $19,000
for a team of 10 people, counting only extra departures and absences.
That's 3% to 5% of the team's annual payroll.
Nothing is stored: the math happens in your browser.
Behind this number is a manager.
Elegantway designs immersions for leaders. In a small group, away from the office, they learn to see how they really function. They regain their alignment, and with it their engagement, at work and in life.
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Method
How we got this number
At every step, we use the low estimate.
1. Extra departures
10 people × 10% = 1 extra departure a year on average.
2. The cost of replacing them
1 × 20% to 40% of $40,000 = $8,000 to $16,000
3. Extra absences
9 people × $680 × 25% to 50% = $1,500 to $3,100
Total, rounded to the nearest thousand
$10,000 to $19,000 a year
The calculation uses U.S. averages across all industries. In stores and other customer-facing teams, the heaviest cost is missing: the sales you lose when service slips.
Our assumptions
- Low estimate
Extra departures: 1 extra departure a year for every 10 people
In 2025, U.S. private employers recorded about 26 quits for every 100 jobs. Gallup finds that 42% of people who quit say their manager or employer could have kept them. In a team of 10, that is roughly one avoidable departure a year. We count one, and no more.
Sources: BLS JOLTS, Gallup
- Low estimate
The cost of replacing someone: 20% to 40% of annual pay
Recruiting, training, and the months it takes a new hire to get up to speed. Reviews of U.S. case studies put the typical cost at about 20% of pay for jobs below the average wage, and Gallup estimates 40% for frontline roles. Estimates run up to 200% for managers and executives, so we stay with frontline figures.
Sources: Center for American Progress, Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Gallup
- Calculated from BLS data
The cost of absences: 1.7% of annual pay per person
Full-time U.S. workers lose 1.7% of their usual work hours to absences, not counting vacation. At $40,000 a year, that comes to $680 of work time. Federal law does not require paid sick leave for most private-sector workers, so we count the value of the hours lost, not what a sick leave policy pays. We apply it to the people who stay.
Sources: BLS Current Population Survey, Congressional Research Service
- Hypothesis
Extra absences: +25% to +50%
No study measures this directly. But Gallup's research on more than 183,000 teams finds 78% less absenteeism in the most engaged teams than in the least engaged, and managers account for at least 70% of the difference in engagement between teams. Our range stays well below that gap.
Source: Gallup
- Default value
The pay figure we start with: $40,000 a year
A typical figure for frontline jobs. In May 2025, median pay was $35,560 a year for retail sales workers and $44,770 for customer service representatives. Enter your team's average instead.
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook
What we don't count
- Sales lost when customers get worse service, which matters most in stores and client-facing teams.
- Legal risk, such as harassment or hostile work environment claims.
- Disengagement spreading to neighboring teams.
- Benefits: private employers pay about 43 cents in benefits for every dollar of wages (BLS, June 2026). The calculator counts pay alone.
We leave these out, so the real cost is likely higher.
Sources
- Checked at the source
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), 2025 data, United States, private sector. Private employers recorded about 26 quits for every 100 jobs in 2025. Sum of the 12 monthly quit rates, not seasonally adjusted.
- Checked at the source
Gallup, 42% of Employee Turnover Is Preventable but Often Ignored, July 2024, updated February 2026, United States. 42% of people who quit say their manager or employer could have kept them. Replacing a frontline employee costs about 40% of salary.
- Checked, with a caveat
Center for American Progress, There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees, November 2012, United States. For workers earning less than $50,000 a year, the typical cost of turnover is 20% of salary. Based on studies from 1992 to 2007. A 2020 update finds the same order of magnitude.
- Checked at the source
Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Improving U.S. labor standards and the quality of jobs to reduce the costs of employee turnover to U.S. companies, December 2020, United States. For workers earning less than the average wage, turnover costs 19.3% of annual pay.
- Checked at the source
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Absences from work of employed full-time wage and salary workers (Current Population Survey), 2025 annual averages, United States, full-time workers. Full-time workers lost 1.7% of their usual work hours to absences in 2025.
- Checked at the source
Congressional Research Service, Paid Sick Leave in the United States, April 2026, United States. Federal law does not require paid sick leave for most private-sector workers. 80% of them had access through their employer in March 2025.
- Checked at the source
Gallup, Q12 Meta-Analysis, 11th edition, May 2024, 183,806 teams in 90 countries. The most engaged teams have 78% less absenteeism and 21% to 51% less turnover than the least engaged.
- Checked, with a caveat
Gallup, Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement, April 2015, Worldwide, mostly the United States. Managers account for at least 70% of the difference in engagement between teams. The figure dates from 2015. Gallup still cites it but has not published a new calculation.
- Checked at the source
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: retail sales workers, customer service representatives, May 2025 wage data, United States. Median pay in May 2025: $35,560 a year for retail sales workers, $44,770 for customer service representatives.
- Checked at the source
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, United States, private industry. Benefits make up 30% of employer compensation costs, about 43 cents for every dollar of wages.
Figures checked on September 12, 2026.