Salary is roughly 68% of what an employee actually costs. Here is the full stack — and what changes when the role sits offshore.
Most leadership teams budget headcount using salary. It is the single most expensive accounting shortcut in mid-market business.
Once you load superannuation or employer taxes, payroll tax, workers compensation, recruitment amortisation, equipment, floor space, software seats, management overhead and the cost of a bad hire, the real number lands between 1.4x and 1.7x base salary.
Offshore employment does not remove those costs. It consolidates them into a single monthly rate — which is why the comparison is cleaner than most CFOs expect.
The strategic question is not 'can we hire cheaper'. It is 'which functions genuinely require local presence, and which have we simply never questioned'.