1. Fewer people leave

Replacing someone costs real money: recruiting, notice periods, onboarding and the months before a new hire is up to speed. If recognition keeps even one or two people who would otherwise have left, that cost disappears. We take the drop in turnover you entered, work out how many departures it prevents, and multiply by what one replacement costs you.

The drop you enter is what drives this number. Your current turnover rate acts as a ceiling, because you cannot prevent more departures than you actually have. For reference, European tech runs at about 17% a year and the UK 19% (Ravio, 2025), while US voluntary turnover is 13% (Mercer, 2025).

baseline_exits = team_size * baseline_turnover
new_exits = team_size * (baseline_turnover - reduction_pp)
exits_avoided = max(0, baseline_exits - new_exits)
turnover_savings = exits_avoided * (avg_salary * replacement_cost_pct)

2. People do a little more

People who feel noticed tend to put in more discretionary effort. This is the softest of the three numbers, so keep it small. A 1% lift is about five extra minutes a day per person. We apply that percentage to your total salary bill.

payroll = team_size * avg_salary
productivity_gain = payroll * productivity_lift_pct

3. Managers spend less time on it

Without a tool, recognition means chasing people for nominations, writing things by hand and remembering birthdays. Templates and reminders take most of that away. Count only the people who actually run recognition, so team leads, HR and anyone who sends or approves it, not your whole headcount.

weeks_per_year = work_days_per_year / 5
hours_saved_annual = hours_saved_per_manager_per_week * managers_count * weeks_per_year
time_savings = hours_saved_annual * manager_hourly_rate

4. What it costs you

Two separate things. The subscription is what you pay Flaree, and it defaults to Advance billed annually at $2 per user each month. The rewards budget is money that goes to your own employees as points and gift cards, so it is a paid add-on rather than part of the subscription. Both are shown over a full year.

program_cost = (subscription_per_month * 12) + (rewards_budget_per_emp_per_month * team_size * 12)

5. Putting it together

We add the three savings, subtract what the programme costs, and express the result as a return. An ROI of 100% means you got back twice what you put in.

benefit = turnover_savings + productivity_gain + time_savings
net = benefit - program_cost
roi = net / program_cost

Before you show these numbers to anyone, try the Lean preset. If the case still holds on cautious assumptions, it will survive the questions. Say which assumptions you used when you present it.