The Ramp Cost Calculator puts a dollar figure on slow ramp time. A new hire is paid in full from day one and reaches full productivity months later; the gap is a cost most teams never name. Enter three numbers (annual hires, average salary, ramp months) and see the annual cost, a per-hire and per-month breakdown, a multi-year view, and a slider that sizes how much you could recover by shortening ramp. Free, no login.
Annual ramp cost = (annual salary / 12) x ramp months x (1 - average productivity during ramp) x hires per year. The default assumes 50% average productivity, the midpoint of a linear ramp from zero to full.
Ramp time is the period between a new hire's start date and the point they reach full productivity. During it, the employee is paid in full while delivering only partial output. The gap between pay and output is a real, measurable cost.
Multiply the monthly salary by the number of ramp months by the share of output that is unrealized during ramp, then multiply by hires per year. For example, 150 hires at a 120,000 dollar salary with a 5-month ramp at 50% average productivity costs about 3.75 million dollars a year.
Reported averages put full productivity at roughly four to six months for many knowledge-work roles, though it varies by seniority and industry. Ramp longer than that signals the training teaches a workflow that differs from how the job is actually done.
Close the distance between the workflow you train and the workflow that actually gets the job done. Mettle's Workflow Audit maps that gap and sizes how much ramp cost is recoverable for a specific team.
Yes. The calculator and the full cost breakdown are free, with no login required.