Ask most small business owners what a new hire costs and they’ll quote a salary. That number is only part of the bill. Once payroll taxes, benefits and the basic cost of a desk are added in, a single in-house admin role runs about $5,700 a month, all in, and almost none of that extra cost shows up in the job posting.

What the $5,700 a month actually covers

Run the numbers the way most payroll calculators do it, salary plus roughly 35 percent for payroll taxes and benefits, plus a modest allowance for equipment, software and desk space, and a role paying around $45,000 a year lands close to $5,700 a month once everything is counted. Salary is only about two thirds of that figure. The remaining third is payroll tax, health cover, paid leave and the desk the person sits at, and it’s due every month whether the role is fully staffed or not.

The costs that never make it into the job posting

The $5,700 figure is also the tidy version. It doesn’t include the weeks spent shortlisting and interviewing, the ramp-up time before a new hire is fully productive, or what happens to the workload when that person takes leave, gets sick, or leaves for another job and the search starts again. For a small business, those gaps land directly on the owner’s desk, or on whoever else is already stretched thin.

An illustrative example

Picture a twelve-person home services company, an HVAC and plumbing outfit growing fast enough to need one more full-time person: answering the phone, booking jobs, chasing unpaid invoices and keeping the calendar straight for four crews.
Hiring in-house. The owner posts the role at around $45,000 a year. Once payroll tax, benefits and a desk are added, it actually costs about $5,700 a month, and that’s before the time it typically takes to shortlist, interview and onboard someone, or the coverage gap the next time that person is out sick or gives notice.
Bringing on a dedicated back-office professional. Instead, the owner brings on a dedicated back-office professional through TechMinions for $1,499 a month, matched to the role and already trained on the tools the business uses, with a backup covering time off and no lengthy hiring process to run first.

The difference. $5,700 minus $1,499 leaves about $4,200 a month back in the business, without the desk, the payroll admin, or the hiring wait. Over a year that’s roughly $50,000 the business could put into marketing, equipment or its next revenue-generating hire instead.

A back-office partner costs less because it’s shared, not smaller

A dedicated back-office professional through TechMinions isn’t a lighter version of an employee. It’s one person, matched to the role, who isn’t carrying the full weight of US or Canadian payroll tax, benefits and office overhead on a single business, because that overhead is shared across TechMinions’ delivery team in Dhaka. Plans start at $1,499 a month for a dedicated professional and $3,000 a month for a small in-house department set-up, both month to month after the trial period, with 30 days’ notice to change or cancel.

Run your own numbers

Every business’s real hiring cost looks a little different depending on salary, location and benefits. The fastest way to see where a specific role lands is to use TechMinions’ own cost calculator.
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