Calculator: How Much Does Hiring an In-House PR Actually Cost?

The cost of hiring in-house is one of the most common misconceptions in PR. On the surface, £30,000 for an in-house PR employee sounds reasonable. But when you factor in all the additional employment costs, how much will it really cost you? How much will expenses like National Insurance, recruitment fees and software subscriptions add to your wage bill?

We’ve created a calculator to give you a better idea. Simply input the salary you’re offering and the number of days annual leave, and we’ll do the rest. You’ll find an estimate for the real cost you can expect to pay for your in-house PR.

Give it a go below:

Not sure whether to hire an in-house PR or a PR agency? Going in-house might cost your business (a lot) more than you’d think. And if that’s the case, hiring a PR agency could be your best bet.

Here at Energy PR, we’ve got 30 years’ experience driving results for B2B and B2C brands across the UK (and beyond). Get in touch at susannah@energypr.co.uk to find out what results we could drive for you.

Employers NIC (sourced from Energy PR’s accountant):

• Deduct £5,000 from gross salary per annum then x the balance by 15%.

Employers Pension (sourced from Energy PR’s accountant):

• Deduct £6,240 from gross salary per annum then x the balance by 3%.
• Any gross salary over £50,000 per annum – ignore the above calculations – the employers pension is £1,320.84 per annum.

Statutory Sick Pay (sourced from Gov.uk)

• The Gov.uk piece estimates that across the UK, 0.06% of wages are spent on SSP. So we’ve estimated 0.06% of the average salary is spent on SSP.

Cost of days not worked through annual leave (sourced from Energy PR)

• Salary / average number of working days in a year to calculate salary per working day. This figure X total number of days leave = average cost of paying in-house employees for days not worked due to annual leave.

Cost of days not worked through sickness (sourced from ONS/Energy PR)

• Salary / average number of working days in a year to calculate salary per working day. ONS estimate that 5.7 days per employee are lost because of sickness or injury. Salary per working day X 5.7 = average cost of paying in-house employees for days not worked due to sickness.

Recruitment costs (sourced from Agency Central)

• Agency Central estimates that the cost of hiring someone with a recruitment agency is 20% of average salary.

Training costs (sourced from Gov.uk)

• Gov.uk estimates that the average investment in training per employee is £1780.

Office and equipment costs (sourced from British Business Bank)

• British Business Bank estimates that office and equipment costs are an average of £6000 per employee.

Tools & subscriptions required (inc. media database, media monitoring, SEO tools) (sourced from Energy PR)

• An overview of our combined yearly subscriptions to PR, SEO and marketing tools.

Disclaimer

This calculator is provided for general information and illustrative purposes only. It is designed to demonstrate typical cost considerations when comparing in-house PR resources with the use of a PR agency, based on assumptions and estimates which may not apply to your specific circumstances.

We make reasonable efforts to keep the information used by this calculator up to date, but we do not guarantee that any figures, assumptions or outputs are accurate, complete or appropriate for your particular needs. The results generated by the calculator should not be relied upon as financial, commercial, legal or other professional advice.

You should obtain independent professional advice before making any decisions based on the information or outputs provided by this calculator.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Energy PR nor any of its subsidiaries accepts responsibility or liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this calculator or its outputs. Nothing in this disclaimer excludes or limits any liability which cannot be excluded under English law.