Get a rate
See what SUS could look like for your next hire.
Model one hire or a whole hiring plan, see how the cost lands month by month, then send it to us. The calculator is illustrative: actual commercial terms, including your SUS percentage and any buy-out value, are agreed with you individually in writing.
Modelling one role at one salary. Switch to the team plan if you are hiring several different roles.
Your hiring plan
Every percentage here is editable and illustrative. Nothing on this page is a quotation or a standard SUS rate.
Modelled at the same salary and the same example percentages for each hire.
Changes the modelling currency only — figures are not converted between currencies, remain illustrative, and actual commercial terms are agreed directly with Startup Staffing.
Percentage of annual salary, invoiced at the point of hire.
Percentage of gross monthly salary per hire, charged monthly while that employee stays.
Billing stops when the employment ends, so this is how many monthly payments would be made.
Share these figures with a cofounder, or print a one-page summary for a board pack.
What this looks like
Illustrative model for 1 hire on £60,000, using the same salary and percentages across each hire.
- Traditional cost at the point of hire
- £12,000
- 20% of £60,000
- SUS cost per month
- £875
- 17.5% of £5,000 gross monthly salary
- SUS cost after 15 months
- £13,125
- £1,125 more than the traditional cost at this point
- Recruitment cash not needed in month one
- £11,125
- Cash you do not have to find in the first month compared with paying the traditional recruitment cost immediately. The cost is not removed: SUS payments continue every month the hire stays, and can exceed the traditional fee over a long tenure.
Month one, side by side
Traditional example
£12,000
recruitment cost today, when modelling 1 hire at 20%
SUS example
£875
recruitment cost in month one, at 17.5% of gross monthly salary
That does not mean the difference disappears. SUS changes when the recruitment cost is paid, and ties ongoing payments to the continuing employment of the hire. It is still a recruitment cost, paid over time.
- Traditional (dashed)
- SUS (solid)
Traditional recruitment: £12,000 paid in month one, unchanged thereafter. SUS: £875 each month, £13,125 in total after 15 months. Cumulative SUS equals the traditional fee at approximately month 14.
Timeline
Cumulative SUS spend at each milestone, next to the traditional cost paid at the point of hire.
| Month | SUS paid to date | Traditional paid to date |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | £875 | £12,000 |
| Month 3 | £2,625 | £12,000 |
| Month 6 | £5,250 | £12,000 |
| Month 12 | £10,500 | £12,000 |
| Month 15(period modelled) | £13,125at or above | £12,000 |
At these example rates, cumulative SUS spend reaches the traditional cost at approximately month 14. Before that point less has left the business; after it, more.
If someone leaves
- They stay the full period. 15 monthly payments of £875 — £13,125 in total.
- They leave earlier. Billing for that employee stops from their final date of employment under the agreed terms, so no further monthly payments fall due for them.
Payments already made cover recruitment work already delivered; they are not refunded. The employee is employed by you, not by Startup Staffing.
Buying out the arrangement
- You can ask to buy out the ongoing arrangement at any point.
- The buy-out amount is agreed commercially with you and confirmed in writing.
- Monthly payments already made are not automatically deducted from the contractual buy-out amount.
Because the value is individually agreed, it is deliberately not calculated here.
Illustrative example only. Your SUS percentage, buy-out value and commercial terms are agreed with you individually in writing.
What are you optimising for?
SUS suits some situations and not others. It is worth being honest about which one you are in before we talk.
Protect cash flow
You would rather keep working capital in the business than pay a large recruitment fee at the point of hire.
Share hiring risk differently
Billing is linked to the employee remaining with you, so the recruitment cost tracks the outcome rather than the introduction.
Build a team
Several hires close together, where the combined upfront fees would be difficult to absorb in one month.
Prefer a one-off fee
If you have the cash available and want the cost closed off on day one, a traditional fee is simpler — and SUS is probably not the right fit.
Know the cost. Now sharpen the requirement.
Our free hiring brief builder turns the role you are modelling into a proper technical brief — what success looks like, the genuine must-haves, and where you would flex. Print it, share it with your co-founder, or send it straight to us.
The salary you are modelling comes with you, so you do not start from a blank page.
Get my SUS rate
Send us the plan you have modelled and we will come back with a rate and terms to discuss. This is an enquiry only — it is not a quotation and not acceptance of any contractual terms.
Attached to your enquiry
1 hire · £60,000 salary · 20% traditional example · 17.5% SUS example · 15 months · £12,000 traditional vs £875 per month.
Related reading
Guides from the resource hub that cover the thinking behind this page. Each one is written by us and reviewed before publication.
- Startup hiring costs
What a startup hire actually costs
The full cost of a startup hire: recruitment fee, cash timing, ramp-up, the cost of a leaver and the internal hours nobody budgets for.7 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Recruitment models
How to compare an upfront fee with a monthly recruitment fee
How to compare a one-off placement fee with a monthly percentage-of-salary model: cash timing, tenure, crossover point and what happens if the hire leaves.8 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026 - Startup hiring costs
How to budget recruitment costs across a hiring plan
How to turn a list of roles into a recruitment budget: sequencing, cash timing per month, the cost of slippage, and what to show against runway.9 min read · Reviewed 15 August 2026