How is the turnover rate calculated?

Specify the convention. The departure rate used here is exits ÷ average headcount × 100. Labour turnover combines entries and exits: the average of both rates with a common denominator. Document the period and scope before comparing.

What turnover rate should we aim for?

This article does not offer a universal threshold. Industry, contracts, seasonality and roles affect interpretation. Compare consistent periods and scopes, then examine departure reasons.

What signs predict resignations?

Repeated workload, priority or cooperation difficulties can justify discussion. They predict neither an individual's resignation nor a wave of departures. Investigate explanations and actions concerning work.

Are retention interviews or counter-offers enough?

They can address some situations. Their effect depends on the reasons for leaving and the changes actually possible. They do not remove the need to examine collective working conditions.

How do we protect people during this analysis?

Limit data to the steering purpose and access to authorised people. Avoid reporting that enables re-identification, inform employees and define the legal basis, retention and applicable rights. An aggregated rate does not authorise individual profiling.

Reducing turnover: calculation, example and action plan

To work on reducing employee turnover, start with an explicit measure: which period, contracts, departures and reference headcount? Then examine work situations and the reasons for leaving that are available. A figure alone neither explains a resignation nor predicts an individual's departure.

Departure rate and labour turnover: two conventions

In this article, the departure rate is the number of exits during a period divided by average headcount for that period, multiplied by 100. Average headcount can be calculated from monthly headcounts using a stable, documented rule.

Labour turnover can refer to a different measure. Dares defines it as the average of entry and exit rates. Using the same chosen denominator for both rates gives: ((entries + exits) ÷ 2) ÷ reference headcount × 100. Before external comparison, verify the source's exact conventions, including scope, contracts and denominator. The Dares publication is cited for its definition, not as a current benchmark for your industry.

A fully fictional worked example

A fictional company has an annual average headcount of 80, calculated from its twelve monthly headcounts. During the same year it records 12 entries and 8 exits. Five exits are resignations.

Departure rate: 8 ÷ 80 × 100 = 10%.
Voluntary departure rate, limited here to resignations: 5 ÷ 80 × 100 = 6.25%.
Entry rate: 12 ÷ 80 × 100 = 15%.
Labour turnover using the same average headcount: (15% + 10%) ÷ 2 = 12.5%.

The 10% result is therefore not interchangeable with 12.5%. These figures illustrate calculations; they describe no Brainmood client and do not establish a “good” turnover threshold.

Segment without inventing an explanation

Distinguish resignations, contract ends, retirements and other recorded reasons. Examine tenure, role and operating scope where volumes support sufficiently aggregated reporting. Separate a recorded fact from a hypothesis: “avoidable departure” requires investigation and is not a directly measured property.

Departures clustered in a department may reflect several factors: contract expiry dates, reorganisation, market opportunities or operating difficulties. Do not infer a management cause from the rate alone.

Estimate costs from your own data

Add observable costs: external recruitment, onboarding time, training and temporary replacement. State vacancy or ramp-up estimates separately. Avoid counting the same loss twice or treating estimated costs as guaranteed savings.

Effects on cooperation, knowledge or client relationships can be described qualitatively where they cannot be quantified. A generic estimate in months of salary is unnecessary to identify a useful decision.

Compare departures with actual work

Exit interviews, regular conversations and internal surveys provide complementary information, with possible biases. Working conditions, career opportunities and pay can be examined without assuming their respective importance.

Collective data on workload, priorities or interfaces help formulate questions. INRS includes available data in psychosocial risk screening, but a change is not causal proof. Weak signals guide discussion; they must not be used to profile employees likely to leave.

Choose an action and check what changes

Within a sufficiently large scope, compare documented reasons with situations described by teams. Choose an action on a factor the organisation can change: clarify career progression, revise a priority rule, add capacity or improve a handover.

Assign the action, specify its implementation date and a follow-up indicator. At thirty days, mainly verify execution and initial feedback; an annual departure rate does not demonstrate improvement after a few weeks. A later decline may have several causes. A counter-offer or individual discussion may suit a particular situation, without guaranteed lasting retention.

Use the thirty-day action plan to formalise this first decision and the executive dashboard to review it. To scope support, explore the organisational diagnosis and Brainmood pilot conditions.

Reducing turnover: calculate departures and examine their causes.

Departure rate and labour turnover: two conventions

A fully fictional worked example

Segment without inventing an explanation

Estimate costs from your own data

Compare departures with actual work

Choose an action and check what changes

Frequently asked questions.

A practical next step.

Workplace climate action plan: a 30-day framework

Organizational diagnosis