EBITDA impact calculator

Translate workforce planning improvements into pounds, EBITDA impact, and enterprise value. Companion to Understanding contact centre finance.

Headline result

£—

total annual saving from all levers

EBITDA lift

£—

EBITDA % uplift

—

Enterprise value lift

£—

Total wage bill

£—

A. Operation baseline

Total agent FTE

Fully loaded cost per agent (£/yr)

Cost per leaver (£)

From the attrition calc.

Current operation EBITDA (£/yr)

Used to show % uplift. Leave 0 if unknown.

EBITDA multiple (for valuation)

Typical BPO multiples: 4–8×. Tech-enabled higher.

1. Shrinkage

Reducing shrinkage means fewer gross FTE needed to produce the same net productive hours. Saving = wage bill × [1 − (1 − current) / (1 − target)].

Current shrinkage (%)

Target shrinkage (%)

Saving: —

2. Occupancy

Higher occupancy means more contacts per paid hour at constant SL. Be careful: pushing occupancy beyond ~85% causes attrition to rise — model the trade-off honestly. Saving = wage bill × [1 − current / target].

Current occupancy (%)

Target occupancy (%)

Saving: —

3. Average handle time

At constant volume and SL, lower AHT means proportionally fewer agent hours required. Saving = wage bill × [1 − target / current].

Current AHT (seconds)

Target AHT (seconds)

Saving: —

4. Attrition

Fewer leavers means less recruitment, training, and ramp-up cost. Saving = FTE × (current % − target %) × cost per leaver.

Current attrition (%)

Target attrition (%)

Saving: —

5. Overtime / agency / SLA penalty

Better forecast accuracy and real-time management reduces the spend on overtime, agency cover, and (for BPOs) SLA penalty payments. Saving = current spend × reduction %.

Current OT / agency / penalty spend (£/yr)

Default is 5% of a £14m wage bill.

Expected reduction (%)

Saving: —

Total impact

Lever	Annual saving (£)	EBITDA lift (£)	EV lift @ multiple
Total	—	—	—

How to read this. Each lever’s saving is calculated independently and assumes the other levers stay constant. In reality there are interactions — pushing occupancy too high lifts attrition, which costs money elsewhere. Treat the per-lever numbers as upper-bound indicators, and the total as “directional” rather than a precise forecast. Use it to find the biggest lever, not to plan the budget to the pound.

EBITDA assumption. Operational savings in the cost of sales line flow to gross profit and then to EBITDA without further deductions. This is a simplification — some savings may attract bonus payments, support reinvestment, or be eroded by inflation — but it’s a reasonable first-cut for business case framing.