Research & sources

Every benchmark in the Workforce Cost Calculator is grounded in published research — no invented figures. Key sources include:

• Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2025 — engagement rates and the 34% productivity loss benchmark for actively disengaged employees
• CIPD, Health and Wellbeing at Work Report 2024 — presenteeism costing 2–3× more than absenteeism
• SHRM — average US cost-per-hire ($4,700) and total replacement cost of 1.5–2× annual salary
• McKinsey, State of Organizations 2024 — management capacity lost to friction and people issues
• Deloitte — presenteeism and mental health costing UK employers £15.1bn annually
• Mercer — salary and workforce benchmarks
• ONS, BLS, ABS, and Eurostat — country-level salary and absence benchmarks for 27 countries

Open the interactive version of this page to filter every source by cost category and see which calculator inputs each study underpins.