The true cost of a local hire vs managed outsourcing in Australia
When you budget for a new team member, it's tempting to anchor on one number: their salary. But the salary is only the visible tip of the cost. By the time you add the on-costs an Australian employer is legally and practically required to carry, a "$70,000 hire" routinely costs north of $100,000 a year — before they've completed a single billable task.
- A $70,000 Australian salary becomes roughly $101,900 fully loaded once superannuation (12%), leave, payroll tax, recruitment, equipment and office space are added — about a 45% premium on the headline figure.
- Managed outsourcing replaces that on-cost stack with a single, predictable monthly fee — no super, leave loading, payroll tax, recruitment fee or office overhead on your side.
- Specialist local roles such as paraplanning, loan processing and estimating can sit unfilled for six months or more, compounding the real cost of waiting.
- The larger return is usually reclaimed senior time, not just the lower number on the invoice.
Why the salary figure understates the real cost
Every permanent hire in Australia or New Zealand carries a stack of obligations and overheads that rarely make it into the initial budget conversation:
- Superannuation — currently 12% on top of salary, and rising.
- Leave — annual leave, personal/sick leave, public holidays and the cover required when someone is away.
- Payroll tax — payable once your wage bill crosses the state threshold.
- Recruitment — agency fees, advertising, and the senior time spent screening and interviewing.
- Equipment & software — a laptop, a desk, and a growing list of per-seat software licences.
- Office space — a real, allocable cost per head in most businesses.
- Workers' compensation, training and development — ongoing, and often underestimated.
A worked example
Take a junior-to-mid administrative role advertised at a $70,000 base. Layered with median on-costs, the fully-loaded annual figure looks closer to this:
And that figure assumes you actually find the right person. In specialist roles — paraplanning, loan processing, estimating — local vacancies can sit open for six months or more, with the work piling up the entire time.
How managed outsourcing compares
A managed outsourcing engagement replaces most of that stack with a single, predictable monthly fee. There's no super, no leave loading, no payroll tax, no recruitment fee and no office or equipment overhead on your side. Recruitment, vetting, HR, performance management and a replacement guarantee are carried by the provider — not by you.
The result isn't just a lower number. It's a predictable number, with the administrative risk moved off your balance sheet.
The question isn't "can I afford to outsource?" — it's "what is the busywork already costing me, in money and in senior time?"
It was never only about cost
Cost is the easiest thing to measure, so it dominates the conversation. But the bigger return is usually time: senior people freed from admin to do the work only they can do. A broker writing more loans, an adviser seeing more clients, a founder back on growth. That's where managed outsourcing earns its keep.
Frequently asked questions
Is outsourcing always cheaper than hiring locally?
For most administrative and process-heavy roles, yes — once you account for the full on-cost stack of a local hire. The savings are largest for specialist roles that are slow and expensive to fill locally. We're always happy to walk through the maths for your specific role on a call.
Does a lower cost mean lower quality?
It shouldn't. With a managed model, professionals are vetted, trained for your industry and actively managed against quality standards. You're removing the employment overhead, not the capability.
Are there hidden fees?
With Veero there are no recruitment or finder's fees — vetting, matching and account management are included in your monthly fee. There is a one-off setup fee, which we discuss transparently on your discovery call before anything begins.