Constructed figure, assumptions listed

The meeting ends without a decision. It will come back at the next committee, one element is missing, the person concerned is on leave. Everyone leaves feeling they’ve been prudent.

No one recorded the cost of those three weeks anywhere, because no budget line moved.

What postponement costs, per month

Postponed decisionMonthly cost
A vacant position covered by an external service€4,954
An unrenegotiated 9 % contractual increase€300
Total€5,254 a month

Six months of postponement is 31,524 euros. Twelve months of position vacancy alone is 59,448 euros.

The first figure is the most counter-intuitive. A vacant position doesn’t save a salary, it costs more: external cover comes to 11,500 euros a month where the employee cost 6,546. The 4,954 euro monthly gap is the price of waiting.

If the position isn’t covered at all, the amount doesn’t disappear, it changes shape. It becomes delay, overload on others, and sometimes a second departure.

Why this cost appears nowhere

An incurred expense has a receipt, an accounting entry and someone responsible. A postponement cost has none of the three. It spreads across lines that already exist, the external service, the overtime, next year’s software budget.

That’s what makes indecision comfortable in committee: it’s the only option that requires no one’s signature.

What you will be told, and what to answer

“We’d rather take the time to decide well.” A decision made carefully in three weeks and a decision postponed six months are not opposites. What costs isn’t the time spent deciding, it’s the dead time after the decision-making. Ask exactly what’s missing to conclude, and by when that element will arrive.

“There’s no rush, the contract runs until December.” The termination notice period, however, doesn’t run until December. The negotiation window closes a month before it opens. After that, you’re negotiating with someone who knows you won’t leave.

“We’re not going to rush a hire.” Correct, and that’s an argument against a hasty hire, not against the decision. Deciding not to hire and budgeting a covering service is a decision. Waiting is not one.

“These are theoretical costs.” They appear on real invoices. The covering service is billed, the contractual increase is charged. The only theoretical element is the amount you would have saved by deciding earlier, and that’s precisely the one that will never be billed to you.

To check for yourself, in twenty minutes

The list of decisions open for more than two months. Take the minutes of the last three committee meetings and note everything postponed twice.

The monthly cost of each. For a position, the monthly employer cost compared to external cover. For a contract, the annual increase divided by twelve. For a project, the amount its non-completion makes you pay elsewhere.

The real deadline for each decision. It’s almost never the one people think. For a contract, it’s a month before the notice period opens. For a hire, it’s the recruitment lead time subtracted from the need date.

The name of someone responsible per decision. A decision with no name attached stays open indefinitely, whatever its monthly cost.

The sentence to remember

Not deciding is a decision. The only one whose cost appears on no budget line.

Open in a spreadsheet · The cost of postponement, as a spreadsheet (743 bytes)

Sources

Last reviewed: 20 August 2026

Figures to review before 20 February 2028