Staff turnover is the number of employees that leave a company and need to be replaced within a specific time frame.
Which is better, though? Low or high staff turnover? Moreover, what is the ideal staff turnover rate?
Low Staff Turnover
Low staff turnover is when a few employees leave the company.
There is no ideal percentage that indicates low staff turnover. Comparing a company’s staff turnover rate with the UK’s average is an excellent place to start.
According to Monster, the UK’s average staff turnover rate is approximately 15% annually. Roughly, this percentage could be used as an indicator to see whether a company’s staff turnover is above or below average.
There is nothing wrong with having a low staff turnover. In fact, a small number of leavers can be beneficial as it offers the opportunity to bring in new people, full of enthusiasm and innovative ideas.
Although it is important to realise who is leaving the company, valuable employees leaving a business will have a more significant impact than those who are lazy, disengaged and unproductive.
High Staff Turnover
High staff turnover is when a large number of employees leave a company. Organisations that have a higher staff turnover than the UK’s average may encounter problems.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is an awful place to work. Some employees may be retiring, travelling or changing their career path. If so, there’s not much you can do about these leavers.
However, if you’re losing valuable employees to a competitor or because they’re unhappy at work, you need to give your staff a reason to stay before more of them decide to leave. Every time an employee leaves a company, lots of money needs to be spent on hiring and training new candidates.
It’s vital to understand why they are leaving and come up with a plan of how to encourage them to stay.
What is the ideal staff turnover?
It’s hard to say. An ideal staff turnover depends on the business and the industry.
Find the average staff turnover rate within specific industries and compare it to yours. Some companies will have a higher average turnover rate than others.
For example, if you own a clothing store, you might have a lot of young employees working for you. Young employees tend to stay only until they leave for university or get another job, which could be why you have a high staff turnover rate.
If your staff turnover is higher than the industry’s average, you might want to look into it. Don’t get too hung up on the numbers, though.
Instead, focus your attention on making sure you keep loyal, hard-working employees.
