Fully Loaded Cost
Definition
The total cost of employing one person for one period, including salary, employer-side taxes and social contributions, healthcare and other benefits, equipment, software licences required for the role, and an allocated share of facilities costs. Salary alone does not constitute fully loaded cost. A cost model that uses salary as a proxy for headcount cost understates total personnel expense by the additional employment costs, which typically represent fifteen to twenty-five percent of salary.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is building headcount plans using salary figures only. For a company with thirty employees, the difference between salary cost and fully loaded cost commonly represents fifteen to twenty-five percent of total personnel expense, producing a financial model that materially understates operating costs.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 3, Section 3.3: The Equity Compensation Standard.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Fully Loaded Cost. https://ffistandard.org/glossary/fully-loaded-cost/. 2026.