Regrettable Attrition Rate
Percentage of voluntary leavers classified as high-performers or business-critical, representing unwanted talent loss
What is Regrettable Attrition Rate?
Regrettable attrition rate is the percentage of voluntary leavers that the organisation would have preferred to keep. It shows how much of the turnover is a real loss.
Overall turnover can hide the difference between losing weaker performers and losing key talent, and this measure highlights the costly kind.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Human Resources
- Sub-function
- Talent Retention
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- People
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Quarterly / Annual
- Formula
- (Regrettable leavers / Total voluntary leavers) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide regrettable leavers by total voluntary leavers, and multiply by 100.
For example, if 100 people left voluntarily and 35 were classed as regrettable losses, the rate is 35%.
Agree a clear definition of regrettable, such as high performers or people in critical roles, and apply it consistently, ideally decided by managers with HR at the time of departure.
Where it is used
Focusing retention effort
Prioritise valued people.
Understanding the true cost of turnover
Separate healthy from harmful.
Finding risk areas
See teams losing key people.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Avoid using it to label people unfairly.
- Small numbers make the rate volatile.
- Track alongside overall turnover.
More Human Resources kpi library
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