Mathias Mengel
In Germany, a vacant position will cost an average of about 49,500 euros in 2024, according to recent StepStone figures based on Federal Employment Agency (BA) data. The actual cost in each individual case depends on the industry, role, salary level, and duration of the vacancy: ranging from about 300 euros in lost revenue per day in the lower mid-market salary bracket to 3,000 euros per day for C-level positions. The following figures break this down by industry benchmarks and by roles such as sales, IT, finance, HR, and customer success, supplemented by three calculated real-world examples and the answer to the question of at what scale external support becomes economically viable.
Table of contents
What are vacancy costs?
Vacancy costs are the sum of four cost categories that arise simultaneously as soon as a position becomes vacant. Lost value creation refers to the revenue or performance contribution the position would have generated had it been filled. Team overload occurs because colleagues have to take on the backlog of work, resulting in additional costs from overtime, declining quality, or—in the worst-case scenario—employees resigning. Additional recruiting expenses accrue the longer a search takes, such as through more interview rounds, extended job postings, or external support. Lost onboarding time means that even after the contract is signed, the position continues to incur costs because new employees do not reach full productivity until after several months.
The most common calculation method, the extended Sullivan formula, primarily condenses the first block—lost value added—into a single importance factor ranging from 1 to 3. This factor is intended to express how much more value a position generates compared to its base salary: the greater the economic contribution of the role, the higher the factor. In practice, it is usually estimated as a flat rate, thereby overlooking non-wage labor costs and functional differences between positions. We explain how our own calculator closes these gaps—using a non-wage labor cost factor, functional logic, and a range-based display—with our Vacancy Cost Calculator.
What will a job opening in Germany really cost in 2026?
StepStone estimates the average cost of a vacant position in Germany for 2024 at approximately 49,500 euros per unfilled position, which corresponds to a daily loss of about 624 euros. This figure is based on an average vacancy duration of 138 days, calculated using data from the Federal Employment Agency. Current trends vary: StepStone reports 180 days in January and 161 days in March for 2025.
In mid-market companies with a salary range of 50,000 to 80,000 euros, the realistic range is between 300 and 700 euros in losses per day; for C-level positions, it is 1,500 to 3,000 euros per day. For a position with an annual salary of 60,000 euros, the monthly vacancy costs are conservatively estimated at around 5,100 euros and, at market rates, at 7,700 euros. For an annual salary of 100,000 euros, the costs are 8,500 euros (conservative estimate) and 12,800 euros (market rate).
Two factors contributing to the shortage are exacerbating the situation. Bitkom reports that there will still be a shortage of 109,000 IT specialists in Germany by 2025, and the Federal Employment Agency’s list of occupations with labor shortages currently includes 163 such occupations. According to the same sources, over 40 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises are struggling to fill positions.
The final cost of a vacancy depends on four factors: the salary level for the position, its contribution to value creation depending on the role, the actual duration of the vacancy, and the industry—since labor shortages and typical search times vary greatly by industry. The following two visualizations show just how much the industry and role alone can affect the figure.
Vacancy period by industry and qualification
Vacancy costs per function: Sales, IT, Finance, HR, Customer Success and more
A standard formula that treats all positions the same is not economically viable. Our vacancy cost calculator therefore uses position-specific multipliers ranging from 1.5 to 2.2.
| Function | Median Salary | Typical time to fill | Conservative monthly cost | Costs/Month (Market Rate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Manager | 54,400 € | 130–160 days | €6,500 | €11,000 |
| Software Engineer | €51,400 | 140–180 days | €5,700 | €9,500 |
| Controller | 54,000 € | 110–140 days | 5,800 € | €8,700 |
| Talent Acquisition Manager | €51,600 | 100–130 days | €5,500 | €8,300 |
| Customer Success Manager | €45,200 | 110–140 days | 5,000 € | €9,000 |
| HR Manager | 52,500 € | 110–140 days | €5,600 | €8,400 |
| Operations Manager | 55,000 € | 120–150 days | 5,900 € | €8,900 |
| Marketing Manager | 53,000 € | 100–130 days | €5,700 | €8,500 |
Median salaries from the StepStone Salary Report 2025; time to fill positions from BA data for 2025/2026, by occupational field. Calculation: conservative estimate equals salary multiplied by 1.28 divided by 12; market rate based on Sullivan’s typical logic using a function factor.
Sales and customer success: why salary logic falls short
RepVue collects structured performance data from sales representatives, including the percentage of their personal revenue target—the quota—that they actually achieve: the so-called quota attainment rate. The RepVue Cloud Sales Index for Q3 2025 shows an average quota attainment rate of 43.24 percent for cloud and SaaS sales, meaning that, on average, less than half of the target is achieved. Bain & Company reports that in 2024, 75 percent of software companies are under pressure from declining net revenue retention—meaning they are retaining or growing less revenue from existing customers than in the previous year— and that nearly two-thirds of customers feel their post-sales needs are met only moderately or poorly.
In Sales and Customer Success, salary is therefore not a good proxy—not a reliable indicator—of the financial damage caused by a vacancy. A Sales Manager earning 60,000 euros may be responsible for generating a multiple of that amount in annual revenue, while a Customer Success Manager may be responsible for retaining existing contracts of a similar magnitude. If the position is left unfilled, that revenue contribution is lost—not just the saved salary. What matters is the lost revenue contribution, not the lost salary.
Three sample calculations from practice
Senior Sales Manager, B2B SaaS, 200 employees. Annual salary of 75,000 euros, 70 percent fixed and 30 percent variable; vacancy duration of 120 days. Conservative estimate: 75,000 euros multiplied by 1.28, divided by 250 working days, multiplied by 120 days, equals 46,080 euros. Market rate based on quota logic: With an annual quota of 720,000 euros and a 43 percent attainment rate, this results in a net contribution of approximately 234,000 euros and a market-standard vacancy cost estimate of approximately 112,000 euros. Range: 46,000 to 112,000 euros.
Lead Software Engineer, Manufacturing, 800 employees. Annual salary: 95,000 euros; vacancy duration: 140 days. Conservative estimate: 95,000 euros multiplied by 1.28, divided by 250, then multiplied by 140, equals 68,096 euros. Market rate with a position multiplier of 1.8: 122,573 euros. Range: 68,000 to 123,000 euros.
CFO, Mid-Market, Manufacturing, 600 employees. Annual salary: 140,000 euros; vacancy duration: 180 days. Conservative estimate: 140,000 euros multiplied by 1.28, divided by 250, then multiplied by 180, equals 129,024 euros. Market rate with a position multiplier of 2.0: 258,048 euros. Range: 129,000 to 258,000 euros.
How to Justify Vacancy Costs to Management
When presenting to management, it is rarely a single estimated figure that is convincing, but rather a range consisting of two values: the conservative lower bound as the minimum loss—which hardly anyone disputes—and the market-standard figure, which incorporates value-creation logic as a realistic basis. This ensures that the argument holds up even if someone questions the assumptions.
When developing a business case for rapid hiring, the time factor comes into play: vacancy costs continue to accrue each month; they are not a one-time expense. From the sample calculations above, we can determine the value of each month saved. This figure can be directly compared to the costs of each hiring option, whether it’s internal recruiting capacity, a recruitment consulting firm, or embedded recruiting. The fee breakdown in the next section provides a concrete example of this comparison.
When External Recruiting Is Cost-Effective
If the monthly vacancy costs exceed 5,000 euros and the position is expected to remain open for more than 90 days, external recruiting support is almost always worth it from a financial standpoint. If they exceed 10,000 euros per month, the question is no longer “if,” but “which model.”
A comparison from a current assignment illustrates the scale. For six sales and customer success positions at a SaaS company in the DACH market, Kookus’s hourly fee in 2024 was approximately 31,000 euros. A comparable offer from a headhunter with a 25 percent commission came to around 109,500 euros, with identical placement results. The difference: around 78,500 euros.
How can vacancy costs be reduced?
Because vacancy costs are directly calculated as the daily rate multiplied by the duration of the vacancy, shortening the vacancy period is the most effective way to keep costs down. Three factors have the greatest impact. Response time: StepStone reports that companies take an average of seven business days to provide initial feedback to applicants, while 48 percent of candidates drop out after the interview if the process takes too long. The target is less than 48 hours. The quality of the briefing: A structured one-hour briefing at the start of every search significantly reduces the number of irrelevant shortlist iterations. And the interview slot logic: Bundling interviews into fixed weekly slots shortens the time-to-fill by an average of two to three weeks.
How External Support Affects the Time It Takes to Fill a Vacancy
Since 2014, Kooku has filled over 7,800 positions; its average time-to-hire is 28 days. By comparison: According to StepStone 2025, the market benchmark for time-to-hire averages 24 business days, while the Federal Employment Agency reports an average vacancy duration of 138 days for Germany as a whole. Calendar days and business days are counted differently, and vacancy duration is not the same as time-to-hire. Externally supported processes generally follow three models: Recruiting on Demand, Interim Recruiting for predictable capacity spikes, and Executive Search for positions with an annual salary of 120,000 euros or more.
I look forward to an exchange on the topic
Mathias Mengel
Managing Director of Kooku Recruiting GmbH
Mathias leads Kooku Recruiting Partners with a clear focus on data-driven and fair recruiting solutions.
Together with experienced interim recruiters and consultants, he helps companies fill open positions in a targeted manner and refine their recruiting strategies. Since 2014, Kooku has supported over 250 companies in this way.
Frequently Asked Questions About Vacancy Costs
Vacancy costs are the sum of lost added value, additional workload in the team, additional recruiting effort and lost onboarding time that arise as long as a position remains unfilled.
According to StepStone 2024, the average daily loss in Germany is around 624 euros. In medium-sized companies with a salary band of 50,000 to 80,000 euros, the realistic range is between 300 and 700 euros per day, in C-level functions between 1,500 and 3,000 euros per day.
For a position with an annual salary of 60,000 euros, the monthly vacancy costs are conservatively around 5,100 euros, or 7,700 euros for the market. With an annual salary of 100,000 euros, this corresponds to 8,500 euros conservative and 12,800 euros standard for the market.
StepStone puts the average vacancy costs for 2024 at around EUR 49,500 per unfilled position, based on an average vacancy period of 138 days.
In Sales, the costs associated with a vacancy are usually significantly higher than the salary would suggest, because a quota goes unmet. In IT, vacancies tend to last longer due to a shortage of 109,000 skilled workers, which increases the overall costs. In Finance, the logic is closer to a simple salary calculation.
The three most effective strategies: responding to applications within 48 hours, holding a structured one-hour briefing session at the start of each search, and scheduling interviews in fixed weekly time slots.
Significantly higher. For key positions that contribute significantly to value creation—such as in sales or at the C-level—we estimate function multipliers ranging from 1.8 to 2.2. Purely administrative and clerical roles that do not directly contribute to revenue or decision-making tend to fall toward the lower end of the range, starting at 1.5.
Management positions are generally at the upper end of the multiplier range of 1.8 to 2.2, because they do not involve decision-making or supervisory responsibilities. Specialist positions with a clearly definable technical contribution—such as software engineering—are usually in the middle range of the job comparison table.
The time to fill a position varies significantly by industry: from about 95 days for professionals with advanced degrees in mechanical and automotive engineering to about 275 days in the construction industry. Since vacancy costs are calculated by multiplying the daily rate by the vacancy duration, a significantly longer vacancy duration also leads to correspondingly higher costs, regardless of the salary level.
In German small and medium-sized enterprises, where the typical salary range is 50,000 to 80,000 euros, the daily cost of a vacancy ranges from 300 to 700 euros. With an average vacancy period of 138 days, this results in vacancy costs of approximately 41,000 to 97,000 euros per unfilled position.
