When teams compare a local hire to a remote one, they usually compare salaries. That is the smallest part of the gap. The real comparison is the total cost to get useful work done each month — and that includes a lot of line items that never appear on a job ad.
What a local hire actually costs
Beyond gross salary, a Benelux employer typically carries employer taxes and social contributions, holiday allowance, pension, equipment, software licences, and office or co-working space. Then there's the recruiter fee to find the person in the first place — often 20–25% of first-year salary on its own — and the weeks or months of time-to-hire while the role sits empty.
- Employer taxes & social contributions
- Holiday pay, pension, sick leave and benefits
- Recruiter fee (often 20–25% of first-year salary)
- Laptop, software licences and workspace
- Weeks-to-months of time-to-hire while the seat is empty
What a managed remote hire costs
One hourly rate, billed monthly for hours actually worked. Payroll, compliance, contracts and equipment are handled and already priced in. There is no recruiter fee, no idle-time cost, and — with Strait — the first month is free. For most roles that lands somewhere around 60–70% below the equivalent local total.
Compare total cost-to-deliver — not two salary numbers.
A worked example
Say a mid-level support lead costs €3,200/month in gross salary locally. Add employer overheads, equipment and a share of the recruiter fee and the real monthly figure is closer to €5,000. The same role through a managed remote channel might bill around €1,500/month, all-in. Over a year, that's the difference between roughly €60,000 and €18,000 to get the same work done.
Run your own number
Rather than take our word for it, the Strait homepage has a small calculator: pick a craft and a team size and it estimates the monthly difference. It is deliberately conservative. Your real quote depends on the brief, the seniority and the hours — but the shape of the saving is consistent across every role we place.
