
Ask HN: How much do benefits cost for a small software team in NYC? - misiti3780
I am trying to find accurate information on this - and having some trouble.<p>If I want to hire (w2) a single senior engineer for 150K&#x2F;year base salary, how much would standard benefits cost (healthcare,401K,ect) on top of this salary<p>If I increased the number of engineers from 1-&gt;3, Does the cost drop at all? (if it does, how much)<p>Are there any references you could provide?
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patio11
Your all-in cost [+] is generally modeled as about 140%~160% of base, assuming
that level of base compensation. You don't have meaningful returns to scale
between 1 and 3 -- "headcount" (gah, I hate that word) is a word largely
because it has similar marginal costs on your 2nd and 2,000th employees.

[ + ] Health insurance, taxes, 401-k benefits, unemployment insurance /
worker's comp, etc.

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jeffmould
Same answer as @patio11 here. Usually you can plan on about 150-160% of base
per employee to cover taxes and a standard set of benefits (i.e. health
insurance, 401k). These numbers typically do not decrease at scale. Although
with health benefits you may be able to negotiate a slightly better rate per
employee at scale. But employment taxes, etc.. are always the same with one
employee or 10,000.

If you start getting into exotic benefits (i.e. free meals, transportation,
dry cleaning, etc...) the costs could be higher. However, these type of
benefits will usually decrease with more employees as you may be able to get a
better rate with more employees on the plan.

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marygreencny
From my own research it depends greatly on the benefits you want to provide.
Do you want them to have a deductible? How much? Should they have a copay?
What about prescriptions, dental, eyes, and out of network? That said from my
own research $1000 a month per person would be pretty nice coverage. Many
companies cover a percentage of the payment, say 50-80 percent.

