How the Remote vs. On-Location Workers Calculator works
This tool compares two ways of staffing the same role using a fully loaded annual cost: salary plus benefits and payroll taxes, plus the overhead that comes with each work mode. On-location work carries a per-employee office overhead (a share of rent, utilities, parking, and supplies); remote work carries a per-employee stipend (home internet, equipment, or a co-working allowance) instead. The calculator totals both across your team size and reports the gap, with an optional adjustment for output differences between the two modes.
The formula
For an annual base salary S, a benefits & payroll tax load b (as a percent), and headcount N, the fully loaded cost per employee is S x (1 + b/100) + overhead, where overhead is the on-location office cost or the remote stipend. Multiplying by N gives the team total for each mode:
Total(mode) = N x [S x (1 + b/100) + overhead(mode)]
The raw annual savings from remote work is Total(on-location) − Total(remote). Because salary and benefits load are identical in both totals, this raw savings figure reduces to the headcount times the difference between the office overhead and the remote stipend — the comparison is driven entirely by the overhead gap, not by pay.
Productivity adjustment
Some organizations report that output per employee differs between remote and on-location arrangements, in either direction. To reflect that in cost terms, the calculator divides the remote total by (1 + productivity%/100) before comparing it to the on-location total. A positive productivity percentage (remote employees produce more) lowers the effective remote cost and increases the adjusted savings; a negative percentage raises the effective cost and shrinks or reverses the savings. Leaving the adjustment at 0% compares raw dollars only.
Worked example
With the defaults — a $70,000 salary, 25 employees, a 28% benefits load, $9,500 of on-location overhead, a $1,200 remote stipend, and no productivity adjustment — each employee's fully loaded cost is $99,100 on-location versus $90,800 remote. Across 25 employees that is a $2,477,500 on-location total against a $2,270,000 remote total, a raw annual savings of $207,500. If remote output were assumed to run 5% lower, the adjusted remote total rises to about $2,389,474 and the adjusted savings falls to roughly $88,026 — still positive, but far smaller.
What moves the comparison most
- The overhead gap: since salary and benefits cancel out of the raw savings, the difference between on-location overhead and the remote stipend is what determines the sign and size of the result.
- Headcount: the raw per-employee gap scales linearly with team size, so small overhead differences become large dollar figures at scale.
- The productivity adjustment: even a modest assumed productivity gap can offset or reverse an overhead-driven savings figure, which is why it is shown as a separate, adjustable line rather than baked into the raw number.
What this comparison assumes
The calculator assumes the same base salary and benefits load for a given role regardless of work mode; if your organization pays remote and on-location staff differently for the same role, run the calculator once per pay scenario. It also assumes overhead and stipend figures are genuine per-employee annual averages, and that the productivity adjustment (if used) is a documented estimate rather than a guess — treat it as a sensitivity check, not a precise output measurement.