Voluntary Turnover Rate
Percentage of employees who choose to leave the organisation (resignations only, excluding redundancies and dismissals)
What is Voluntary Turnover Rate?
Voluntary turnover rate is the percentage of employees who choose to leave in a period. It shows how many people are deciding to go, as opposed to being let go.
Voluntary turnover reflects how attractive the organisation is as a place to work and is the type most within its power to influence.
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
- (Voluntary leavers / Average headcount) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide voluntary leavers by average headcount, and multiply by 100.
For example, if 80 employees resigned over a year and average headcount was 800, the rate is 10%.
Split by department, role and length of service, and compare with the involuntary rate to understand the overall picture.
Where it is used
Measuring attractiveness as an employer
See if people want to stay.
Targeting retention
Find the groups that leave.
Planning hiring
Estimate replacement.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Exit interviews are more honest if run by someone independent.
- Focus on why good people leave.
- Compare with sector norms.
More Human Resources kpi library
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