Employee Turnover Rate
Percentage of employees who leave the organisation in a given period
What is Employee Turnover Rate?
Employee turnover rate is the percentage of employees who leave in a period, relative to average headcount. It shows how quickly the workforce is changing.
Some turnover is healthy, but high turnover is costly and disruptive, so it is one of the most watched people measures.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Human Resources
- Sub-function
- Talent Retention
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- People
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly / Quarterly
- Formula
- (Number of leavers / Average headcount) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide the number of leavers by average headcount, and multiply by 100.
For example, if 120 employees left in a year and average headcount was 800, turnover is 15%.
Split into voluntary and involuntary, and by department, role and length of service, since the causes and cost differ.
Where it is used
Monitoring workforce stability
Track leaving.
Finding problem areas
Compare teams.
Planning recruitment
Estimate hiring needs.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Not all turnover is bad. Losing low performers can help.
- Use average headcount in the denominator.
- Compare with your industry and role mix.
More Human Resources kpi library
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