Every organization already pays for HR. The only question is whether it pays a professional, or pays in leader hours, preventable turnover, and cleanup costs. This calculator compares your current hidden spend against published retainer levels.
This tool produces planning estimates using conservative published assumptions and your inputs. It is a decision aid, not a guarantee of savings.
Hours per month the owner, executive director, or city manager spends on employee issues, multiplied by the value of that hour. This is the most understated cost in small-organization HR, because the hours displace exactly the work only that leader can do.
Each departure is costed conservatively at 50% of average salary, and the calculator counts 35% of that total as preventable, the share research consistently attributes to management, clarity, and system factors an HR professional addresses.
Claims, charges, investigations, and urgent attorney engagements are estimated at a conservative $7,500 fully loaded average per incident, covering fees, settlements at the small end, and absorbed staff time. One serious charge exceeds that figure alone.
Yes. The levels referenced are the published Faulkner HR Solutions retainer tiers, from $1,000 per month for advisory access to $5,500 and above for fractional HR executive support.
Behavior. When advice is prepaid, leaders call before acting instead of after, and early calls are the entire economics of prevention: cheap questions replacing expensive corrections.
The assumptions run conservative on purpose: modest replacement costs, a minority share of turnover counted as preventable, and low incident averages. If your number still exceeds a retainer, the case is being understated, not oversold.
Then a retainer may genuinely be premature, and the honest recommendation is project work or hourly support when situations arise. The tool says so when the math says so.
Book a no-cost 30-minute consult. Bring your result, and leave with a straight read on the risk and a practical next step.