Hiring new talent is not a small investment. The latest SHRM benchmarking data puts the average cost to fill a non-executive role at $5,475, and that doesn’t count the work left undone while the position sits empty.
If you’re a growing company or wearing multiple hats as a business owner or HR lead, here is the truth: staffing agencies can lower your total cost by shortening time-to-fill and absorbing screening, payroll, and onboarding risk.
Here’s what hiring costs right now, where the hidden costs are, five common questions employers ask about hiring, and how we can help you with streamlined staffing solutions.
Key Takeaways
- Average cost per hire: $5,475 for non-executive roles and $35,879 for executives.
- Time-to-fill: A median of 39 days for non-executive roles and 45 days for executives.
- Executive hiring is getting pricier fastest: The median executive cost per hire rose from $10,600 in 2025 to $15,000 in 2026.
- Turnover is the biggest hidden cost: Replacing an employee can cost one-half to two times their annual salary.
- Additionally, check out Staffing Support Specialists’ “Resource Center” for more information on WI employment laws, hiring help, and industry trends.
Hiring Costs at a Glance
| Metric | Latest Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average cost per hire (non-executive) | $5,475 | SHRM, 2025 |
| Average cost per hire (executive) | $35,879 | SHRM, 2025 |
| Median cost per hire (non-executive) | $1,300 | SHRM, 2026 |
| Median time-to-fill (non-executive) | ~39 days | SHRM, 2026 |
| Median time-to-fill (executive) | ~45 days | SHRM, 2026 |
| Cost to replace an employee | 0.5x–2x annual salary | Gallup |
Why two cost-per-hire numbers? The average ($5,475) reflects harder-to-fill roles. The median ($1,300) reflects a typical hire. If you hire for skilled, technical, or hard-to-fill positions, budget closer to the average.
Average Time To Hire By Industry, By Genius
The Hidden Costs of a Slow Hire
Every day a position remains unfilled is a day of lost productivity, missed opportunities, or overtime pay for other staff covering the gap. And if a hire doesn’t work out, you pay twice. Gallup estimates replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary — $25,000 to $100,000 for a $50,000 role.
Average Time To Hire By Industry, By Genius
In fact, 46% of job seekers have abandoned an application because it was too tedious or time-consuming. Speeding up doesn’t mean cutting corners. It means it is important to use clear job descriptions, employee referrals, and smart screening tools. Even shaving off a few weeks can save thousands and help you secure the best talent before your competitors do.
Learn how to stop hiring slowly and how to reduce 90-day turnover.
In-House Recruiting vs. Staffing Agency: Which Costs Less?
When it comes to recruiting, employers generally have two paths: do it in-house with your own HR/recruitment team, or partner with a staffing agency to handle some or all of the process. Both approaches have costs attached, but those costs take different forms.
Let’s compare:
In-House Recruiting:
- You pay for: Recruiter or HR salaries, job boards, applicant tracking software, background checks, and hiring managers’ time.
- Works best when: You hire steadily and at volume, so a recruiter’s salary is spread across many hires.
- Gets costly when : Hiring is occasional or seasonal, and fixed costs sit idle between openings.
Staffing & Consulting Agency:
- You pay for: A one-time placement fee on direct hires or only the hours worked for temp and temp-to-perm employees.
- The agency can handle: Advertising, sourcing, and screening, payroll and taxes, workers’ comp, and unemployment.
- Works best when: Your HR team is lean, you hire in spikes, a role is hard to fill, or you want to test fit before committing.
So, Which is More Cost-Effective?
It often comes down to your hiring volume and expertise:
- Large companies with continuous hiring needs may justify an in-house team, reserving staffing agencies for niche roles or as an overflow resource when a sudden surge in open positions risks delaying onboarding and disrupting production schedules.
- Smaller businesses or those with sporadic hiring spikes frequently find that outsourcing to a staffing agency saves money when you tally up all the internal costs saved.
In many cases, a staffing agency can reduce your total cost-to-hire by speeding up the process and delivering better-fit candidates the first time around.
Learn more about how staffing agencies make money.
Match the Hiring Option to Your Needs
Staffing Support Specialists offers five services, so you only pay for the help you need:
| Our Staffing & Consulting Services | What it is & how it helps |
|---|---|
| Temp-to-Perm | We recruit and employ the worker while you evaluate them on the job. You pay only for hours worked, and we handle I-9s, background and drug screenings, payroll, taxes, and workers’ comp. |
| Direct Hire | We advertise, source, screen, and interview, then present qualified candidates you hire directly. There’s no upfront deposit; you pay only when you hire, and every placement is backed by a 90-day guarantee. |
| Retained Direct Hire Search | Full-service recruiting where we screen our candidates and your direct applicants, which lightens your team’s workload. The upfront deposit applies to the final fee, and the total costs 25% less than Direct Hire. |
| Payrolling Services | You find the candidate, and we employ them through onboarding until you’re ready to move them to your payroll. We handle I-9s, screenings, payroll, taxes, workers’ comp, and unemployment. |
| Business Consulting Services | Customized training and coaching that builds stronger leaders and more engaged teams. Areas include performance management, recruiting and onboarding best practices, effective interviewing, and executive coaching. There’s also leadership training for industrial teams, focused on retaining skilled employees. |
5 Common Questions Employers Ask About Hiring
- Why is hiring so expensive right now? Because you’re paying for more than just ads—you’re paying for time lost, team distraction, onboarding, and ramp-up.
- How long does it take to fill a position? The median is 39 days for non-executive roles and 45 days for executive roles. Hard-to-fill and specialized roles often take longer.
- Is a staffing agency fee worth it? Yes, especially if your HR team is lean or you’re hiring in spikes. A 20% fee on a $50K role ($10,000) replaces weeks of ads, recruiter salaries, software, and lost productivity. It’s often cheaper overall.
- Can I evaluate an employee’s fit before hiring? Absolutely. Staffing Support Specialists offers temp-to-perm placements and payrolling services, meaning they reduce onboarding and hiring risk for the employer. You only convert the employee if they’re a great fit.
- What roles can Staffing Support Specialists fill? We staff administrative and office, industrial and welding, IT and tech, caretaking and hospice, corporate, landscaping and construction, manufacturing, and warehousing roles. See the industries we help staff.
Lower Your Cost-to-Hire with Staffing Support Specialists
Staffing Support Specialists has helped Southeastern Wisconsin employers hire for more than 25 years, with 10,000+ placements across 300+ businesses. Depending on the type of hiring solution you need, we can handle the screening, onboarding, and payroll so your team can focus on the work.
If you have any questions about our services , give us a call at (262) 673-0698 (Hartford, WI). You can also fill out our employer form to get the conversation going!
