| Course | HR485 Strategic HRM: Analytics and Business Decision-Making |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 5 |
| Paper type | Cost model |
| Length | About 760 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration (Human Resources) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HR485 Unit 5
$8,866 per Early Exit, Half of It Cash: A Unit 5 Cost Model for First-Year Turnover
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HR485: Strategic HRM: Analytics and Business Decision-Making
Unit 5 Cost Model
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Gatehouse Memorial Group, its wage rates and every assumption are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.
Header
To: Chief Financial Officer, Gatehouse Memorial Group
From: HR Analytics
Date: March 4
Re: Cost of one voluntary first-year departure, location family-service roles
Scope
This model prices one voluntary departure within the first year from the funeral attendant or family service assistant job codes, the population defined in Unit 2. It counts costs at the margin: only what changes because one person leaves and one replacement is hired. The new-hire academy runs every month whether one trainee attends or five, so the trainer's salary is left out, and only the trainee's unproductive hours are counted. Cascio and Boudreau (2011) recommend this kind of marginal logic for turnover costing, since averaging fixed program costs into each departure overstates what a single avoided exit would save. The starting wage used throughout is $19.50 an hour. Every line below shows its quantity, its rate and the source of the assumption, so finance can replace any figure with a better one and recompute the total without asking HR how it was built.
Cash Costs
Overtime premium during the vacancy. 156 hours of coverage, about four weeks, at the half-time premium of $9.75. Straight-time coverage is paid from the vacant position's own salary and is not added. Result: $1,521. Source: average vacancy length from requisition dates last year.
Job posting. Two boards for 30 days. Result: $405. Source: invoices.
Background, drug screen and driving record check. Attendants drive the removal vehicle, so the motor vehicle record is required. Result: $165. Source: vendor rate card.
Referral bonus, expected value. A $500 bonus paid on about half of hires. Result: $250.
Academy wages without family-facing work. 96 hours at $19.50, plus employer payroll taxes of 7.65 percent. Result: $2,015.
Cash subtotal: $4,356.
Capacity Costs
Recruiter time. 6 hours at a loaded $34 an hour. Result: $204.
Location manager interviewing and onboarding. 10 hours at $38. Result: $380.
Peer trainer shadowing. 40 hours at $21. Result: $840.
Productivity shortfall, months two to four. 520 hours at 30 percent below full output, valued at the wage. Result: $3,042. Source: location managers' estimate of when a new attendant can run a visitation alone.
Exit processing. 1.5 hours of HR and payroll time. Result: $44.
Capacity subtotal: $4,510.
Total per departure: $8,866.
Why the Two Halves Are Kept Apart
A finance reader treats the halves differently. Cash leaves the company and shows in the budget. Capacity is time spent on hiring and training instead of on families, which is real but never appears as an expense. Allen et al. (2010) caution that managers often underestimate turnover's cost because so much of it is hidden in this way, but adding the halves without comment invites the reply that the figure is inflated. Presented separately, the cash half can be accepted at once and the capacity half debated on its own terms.
Sensitivity
Two inputs are the least certain: vacancy length, which drives the overtime premium, and ramp, the shortfall during months two to four.
Vacancy length alone. At 104 hours, about two and a half weeks, the total is $8,359. At 234 hours, about six weeks, it is $9,627.
Ramp alone. At a 20 percent shortfall the total is $7,852; at 45 percent, $10,387.
Both together. The low case, short vacancy and fast ramp, gives $7,345. The high case, long vacancy and slow ramp, gives $11,148.
Even the low case puts each early departure above $7,300, so the conclusion that first-year turnover is expensive does not depend on the least certain inputs.
The Annual Figure
Finance counted 36 voluntary first-year departures in location roles last year. At $8,866 each, that is $319,176, of which about $156,800 was cash. This product is a ceiling, not a saving. Some departures cannot be prevented, and no program will stop all of them. Hom et al. (2017) summarize a long line of research separating turnover an employer can influence from turnover it cannot, such as a move with a spouse or a return to school, and only the first kind can be counted as a program's potential saving. The figure belongs in front of leadership as the size of the problem, and the next units should be judged by how many departures a response needs to avoid to pay for itself.
References
Allen, D. G., Bryant, P. C., & Vardaman, J. M. (2010). Retaining talent: Replacing misconceptions with evidence-based strategies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(2), 48-64. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.24.2.48
Cascio, W. F., & Boudreau, J. W. (2011). Investing in people: Financial impact of human resource initiatives (2nd ed.). FT Press.
Hom, P. W., Lee, T. W., Shaw, J. D., & Hausknecht, J. P. (2017). One hundred years of employee turnover theory and research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 530-545. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000103
The Purdue Global HR485 Unit 5 instructions
Unit 5 asks you to estimate the cost of one employee departure and present it so a finance reader would accept it. Fix the scope first: which role, which kind of departure and whether you are costing at the margin or on average. Then list the components, separating money actually paid out from time spent by people who would otherwise do other work. Each line needs a quantity, a rate and a result, and each assumption needs a stated source, whether invoices, requisition dates or a manager's estimate. Watch for double counting, such as charging full overtime when the vacant salary already pays for straight time. A sensitivity section should vary the least certain inputs one at a time and then together, and report the range. Finally, multiply the unit cost by the year's departures, and say clearly that the product is the size of the problem rather than a saving any program could promise.
How the HR 485 Unit 5 example is put together
After a header for the chief financial officer, a scope paragraph explains marginal costing, supported by Cascio and Boudreau; the academy trainer's salary is excluded because the class runs regardless. Five cash lines follow, each with its source: 156 hours of overtime at a $9.75 premium, a $405 posting, a $165 check that includes the driving record attendants need for the removal vehicle, an expected $250 referral bonus and $2,015 of academy wages. Five capacity lines come next, with the $3,042 ramp shortfall as the largest. A section on why the halves stay apart cites Allen and colleagues on hidden turnover costs. Sensitivity runs vacancy and ramp separately and together, and the highlighted sentence notes that even the low case exceeds $7,300. The annual figure of $319,176 closes the memo, labeled a ceiling, with Hom and colleagues on unavoidable departures.
Where the points sit in the HR485 Unit 5 rubric
Cost models in HR485 are graded on transparency, logic and honesty about uncertainty. Each line must show how it was built so a reader can change an input and recompute. Marks are lost for counting fixed costs that do not change with one departure, for charging full overtime instead of the premium, or for mixing cash and capacity without comment. The sensitivity analysis earns credit when it targets the inputs that are actually uncertain and reports a range rather than a single confident figure. The annual extension should be framed carefully; instructors look skeptically at a turnover cost presented as guaranteed savings. Memo format matters in this unit, with a header, short sections and figures that reconcile between lines and totals. Sources on turnover costing and on why turnover costs are underestimated, cited in APA 7, support the method.
Common HR485 Unit 5 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Cost models fail most often through double counting, for example adding a vacancy's full overtime cost while ignoring the salary not paid during the vacancy. Others include the whole cost of a training program in every departure, which inflates the figure and invites the objection that the program runs anyway. Some students list costs without sources, so a finance reader has no reason to trust them. Another problem is presenting one precise total with no range, when vacancy length and ramp time are estimates. Keep cash and capacity separate, since finance will treat them differently whether you do or not. Be careful with the annual figure; not every departure can be prevented, so the product is a ceiling. Use the starting wage and payroll tax rate consistently across lines. If your case gives you different roles or wage rates, send them and our team can help you rebuild the lines.
Get an HR485 Unit 5 example written to your instructions
Unit 5 depends on inputs: the role, its pay rate, how long vacancies stay open and what hiring involves where the case is set. Send whatever of that your prompt or employer gives, with the rubric. In 24-48h, and at no charge for a first request, the model returns with cash and capacity separated and every assumption beside its line. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More HR485 papers and BS in Business Administration (Human Resources) samples
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- HR485 Unit 8: Seminar Reflection
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HR485 Unit 5 questions, answered
Should overtime be counted at the full rate?
Usually not in full. While a job is vacant its salary is not being paid, so straight-time coverage is largely funded by that saving. The added cost is the premium portion. The sample counts only the half-time premium on the covered hours and says so in the assumptions column, which is a point instructors in many sections check specifically.
Why separate cash from capacity?
Because a finance reader will. Cash leaves the organization and shows up in a budget; capacity is time people spend on hiring and training instead of other work, real but invisible in the accounts. Adding them without comment invites the objection that the total is inflated. Keeping them apart lets the reader accept one half while debating the other.
Where do the assumptions come from?
From the case data where it exists and from stated estimates where it does not, each one labeled. Vacancy length can come from requisition dates, recruiter hours from a time estimate, ramp from a supervisor's judgment of when new hires reach full output. The sample flags its two least certain inputs and runs a range on them rather than hiding them.
Where can I find a free HR485 Unit 5 sample paper?
You can read a complete HR485 Unit 5 cost model here, pricing one first-year departure at a composite funeral group at $8,866 across ten lines, with a sensitivity range and margin notes.
Why is the trainer's salary left out?
Because the new-hire academy runs every month whether one trainee attends or five. Losing one attendant does not change the trainer's cost, so only the trainee's unproductive hours are counted at the margin.