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Employee turnover
In human resources, turnover refers to the employees who leave an organization. The turnover rate is the percentage of the total workforce that leave over a given period. Organizations and industries typically measure turnover for a fiscal or calendar year.
Reasons for leaving include termination (that is, involuntary turnover), retirement, death, transfers to other sections of the organization, and resignations. External factors—such as financial pressures, work-family balance, or economic crises—may also contribute. Turnover rates vary over time and across industries.
High turnover can be particularly harmful to a company's productivity when skilled workers are hard to retain or replace. Companies may track turnover internally by department, division, or demographic group—for example, comparing turnover among women and men. Such comparisons can help reveal implicit bias in practices or identify whether disproportionate departures of one gender are affecting the leadership pipeline.
Organizations often survey departing employees to understand the reasons for voluntary turnover, and many find that promptly addressing identified issues significantly reduces departures.[citation needed] Common retention measures include benefits such as paid sick days, paid holidays, and flexible schedules.
Employee attrition, employee turnover, and employee churn all refer to an employee quitting the job, and are often used as synonyms. For the first two terms, the difference is due to the context, i.e., the reasons for the employee leaving. While attrition is usually voluntary or natural, like retirement or resignation, turnover refers to both voluntary and involuntary departures. While turnover includes employees who leave of their own volition, it also refers to employees who are involuntarily terminated or laid off. In the case of turnover, HR's role is to replace employees, while positions vacated through attrition may remain unfilled. Employee churn refers to the total number of attrition and turnover cases combined.
There are five categories into which turnover can be classified.
As the turnover data in the United States show, the turnover rate has been rising for the past 9 years. The only period that is an exception, as expected, is when the first wave occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in which people had no opportunity to change their work. After this period, the phenomenon undergoes a major acceleration in growth (Great Resignation). Possible causes include desire to work for companies with better work policies (i. e. work-life balance, autonomy, smart working), the desire to have a more satisfying job and career advancement opportunities, and safety concerns related to the COVID -19 pandemic.
Attrition trends over the past 9 years. On the x-axis are shown the years, and on the y-axis the annual quits (%). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Employee turnover
In human resources, turnover refers to the employees who leave an organization. The turnover rate is the percentage of the total workforce that leave over a given period. Organizations and industries typically measure turnover for a fiscal or calendar year.
Reasons for leaving include termination (that is, involuntary turnover), retirement, death, transfers to other sections of the organization, and resignations. External factors—such as financial pressures, work-family balance, or economic crises—may also contribute. Turnover rates vary over time and across industries.
High turnover can be particularly harmful to a company's productivity when skilled workers are hard to retain or replace. Companies may track turnover internally by department, division, or demographic group—for example, comparing turnover among women and men. Such comparisons can help reveal implicit bias in practices or identify whether disproportionate departures of one gender are affecting the leadership pipeline.
Organizations often survey departing employees to understand the reasons for voluntary turnover, and many find that promptly addressing identified issues significantly reduces departures.[citation needed] Common retention measures include benefits such as paid sick days, paid holidays, and flexible schedules.
Employee attrition, employee turnover, and employee churn all refer to an employee quitting the job, and are often used as synonyms. For the first two terms, the difference is due to the context, i.e., the reasons for the employee leaving. While attrition is usually voluntary or natural, like retirement or resignation, turnover refers to both voluntary and involuntary departures. While turnover includes employees who leave of their own volition, it also refers to employees who are involuntarily terminated or laid off. In the case of turnover, HR's role is to replace employees, while positions vacated through attrition may remain unfilled. Employee churn refers to the total number of attrition and turnover cases combined.
There are five categories into which turnover can be classified.
As the turnover data in the United States show, the turnover rate has been rising for the past 9 years. The only period that is an exception, as expected, is when the first wave occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in which people had no opportunity to change their work. After this period, the phenomenon undergoes a major acceleration in growth (Great Resignation). Possible causes include desire to work for companies with better work policies (i. e. work-life balance, autonomy, smart working), the desire to have a more satisfying job and career advancement opportunities, and safety concerns related to the COVID -19 pandemic.
Attrition trends over the past 9 years. On the x-axis are shown the years, and on the y-axis the annual quits (%). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics