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Time-to-Hire: The Hidden Metric That's Costing Your Business Revenue

- Published on June 19, 2025

In business, we track countless metrics: customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, profit margins. But there's one crucial metric that many UK businesses overlook: Time-to-Hire. This is the total time that passes from when a job is first opened until your new employee is sitting at their desk.

According to recent industry reports, the average time-to-hire in the UK can be anywhere from 2 to 3 months. While this may seem like a standard operational delay, it represents a significant and direct financial loss.

A sales team collaborating effectively.
A slow hiring process can mean significant lost revenue and momentum.

Calculating the Opportunity Cost of a Vacant Role

Think about the impact of having a key role empty for a full business quarter.

  • For a Sales Role: If a sales executive is expected to generate ÂŁ25,000 in new business per month, a 3-month hiring process represents ÂŁ75,000 in lost revenue.

  • For a Production Role (e.g., a developer or designer): If their absence delays a project launch, the cost could be even higher in terms of lost market share and competitive advantage.

  • For a Support Role: The cost is felt in declining customer satisfaction and increased strain on the rest of your team.

The traditional UK recruitment process—posting ads, screening hundreds of CVs, multiple interview rounds, notice periods—is slow and cumbersome. While you are navigating this process, your business is actively losing money and momentum.


The Agile Recruitment Advantage

This is where an offshore staffing partner like Backdesk provides a powerful competitive edge. Because we maintain a pre-vetted pool of top-tier global talent and have a streamlined, expert-led recruitment process, we can drastically reduce your time-to-hire.


Instead of a 2-3 month marathon, we can source, vet, and place a dedicated, full-time professional in a fraction of the time. We turn recruitment from a slow-moving administrative burden into a fast, agile, and strategic function.


In today's fast-paced market, speed is a weapon. By reducing your time-to-hire, you're not just filling a role faster; you're getting your business back to full strength faster, capturing revenue faster, and outmaneuvering your slower-moving competitors.

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FAQs

Common Questions About Our Consulting Services

What does Backdesk do?

Backdesk helps global companies build and manage full-time remote teams based in Bangladesh. We offer branded operations (under your company name) or standalone BPO services depending on your needs.

We work with BPOs, startups, e-commerce brands, agencies, and growing businesses looking to scale their teams without building a local entity.

Yes. With our Branded Operations Partner model, your team will use your brand publicly—on job ads, email addresses, signage, and internal communication—with your written approval.

We handle the recruitment, HR, infrastructure, payroll, and daily operations. You handle training, onboarding, and performance supervision.

No. Backdesk acts as your local contractor. You don’t need to create a legal entity—we manage everything on your behalf.

Typically, 1–3 weeks, depending on your requirements and the number of roles.

We offer skilled full-time staff for roles like virtual assistants, customer service reps, HR coordinators, bookkeepers, web developers, and any custom role according to your requirement.

Yes. All team members you hire are full-time and dedicated to your company.

How do I manage my hired staff?

You can communicate with them directly using your preferred tools (Slack, Zoom, email, etc.). We also offer local HR and admin support to keep things smooth.

We use a transparent, skill-based pricing model. Costs are based on the complexity and responsibility of the role—not the job title.

No. All our monthly prices include salary, HR, infrastructure, IT setup, and compliance. No extra charges unless specified (e.g., night shift or custom software).

No. You can assign a team lead from within your team based on their skill tier—there’s no extra charge.

All staff work from secure, monitored offices with reliable internet, VPN setup, and device usage policies. Custom security protocols can be added if needed.

Yes. We sign NDAs and Master Service Agreements (MSAs) with all clients before onboarding.

Absolutely. Many of our clients start with 1–3 hires and scale up once they’re confident in our process.

Yes. If you begin with standalone staff, we can easily transition you into a branded model when you're ready.

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