How do you analyze employee turnover?

It is important to know the turnover rate , but it is even sufficient when you benchmark / compare your Organization turnover rate with the average turnover rate within the same industry in the market.

Closely monitoring and analyzing employee turnover is a multifaceted process that involves gathering comprehensive data on departures, calculating turnover rates, identifying trends within specific departments and timeframes, quantifying the financial impact of turnover, benchmarking against industry standards, and surveying employees for insights into job satisfaction and contributing factors. Additionally, managerial practices should be evaluated. With the insights gained from this analysis, organizations can proactively develop and implement targeted retention strategies to address the root causes of turnover, continually monitoring progress and adjusting strategies as needed to create a stable, engaged, and satisfied workforce.

You can also name it in a "positive" way. If you want to calculate it as Retention Rate, which would be the opposite of Turnover, you can use the same formula and subtract it 100%. So, if you have a 10% of turnover rate, you actually have a 90% of retention rate.

Analyzing employee turnover is an ongoing process that requires a combination of data analysis, communication, and proactive measures to address underlying issues and improve employee retention.

Another category may be included for female employees who are either leaving because their partners/spouses are relocating or whether they are pregnant.

Usually we use adding to leavers ratio the “o/w regretted” flag, to net the impacting cases who need to be replaced in short term.

One way is to look at the churn rate, which shows the percentage of employees leaving within a specific period. Another technique is conducting exit interviews where departing employees share their insights. This human-centric approach provides valuable feedback on workplace culture, job satisfaction, and opportunities for improvement.

Instead of doing lots of separate calculations for employee turnover and having different reports for voluntary/involuntary/layoffs, it’s important to have a spreadsheet or an internal system containing this information so you can export it as a report to use all at once to centralise this process and make the content digestible for management and other relevant parties during meetings. Having the information in one document all at once enables the decision makers to make an informed decision as to what is happening within the business, what the main reasons are for employee turnover and how they can prevent this from happening in the future.

Employees turnover rate increases because of company's organizational culture and structure, lack of succession and career development initiatives.

I'd like to emphasize the importance of standardizing the formula used to calculate turnover across different departments within the organization. While calculating the turnover rate is a fundamental step, it becomes even more valuable when all departments are on the same page, using a consistent approach.

It is very important always to keep your team trained and constantly discuss the results of your exit interviews, so your opinions are calibrated and aligned. You need to have criteria and share them with your team to prepare them for different scenarios.

In addition to tracking y/y turnover rates vs. your industry, I recommend someone outside the company interview some employees who stay, not just those who leave. Employees don't seem comfortable being 100% honest. I've conducted focus groups where I ask Qs and listen. Patterns emerge instantly. It's often something straightforward that's lacking: recognition, authentic communication, development opportunities, efficient tools and processes, leadership interaction, etc. Even inconsistent work from home rules can cause rumblings. Sometimes employees feel that too many decisions are restricted to senior leaders or remain unresolved. Once I provide insights to leaders, they can quickly change the status quo.

Additionally, tracking turnover patterns can reveal trends based on departments, positions, or time of the year, helping to pinpoint areas needing attention. It's like piecing together a puzzle where each employee departure holds a clue to enhancing retention strategies and fostering a positive work environment.

Agree with all of the above. It’s important to keep on top of employee performance reviews, ensure employees feel safe to share their confidential thoughts and ideas to a confidant or HR member or even their line manager, and store this data (GDPR approved) within a system or cloud to ensure managers and HR teams can have access and go back to these documents when necessary. Exit interviews and even conducting anonymous surveys during a employee’s employment to monitor job satisfaction and other criteria is also key, you don’t want to wait until after they’ve left for them to give their views on the company and it’s work / behaviour culture, you want to prevent that altogether.

As per my experience I have observed there are two things that drive it. First, unhappiness or strained relationship with the management/leadership or no scope of growth/development in the current role. We have to ensure both these areas are regularly touch based so that the employees have the assurance in the organisation's approach towards their betterment and development.

Analyze employee turnover by tracking exit interviews, conducting surveys to understand employee sentiments, and identifying common reasons for departures. Review turnover rates by department, role, and tenure. Use this data to pinpoint trends, address underlying issues, and implement retention strategies to improve employee satisfaction and reduce turnover.

What drivers we identify is very much important as these depends on many factors and different from organization to organization. Same is applicable for data gathering methods as well.

The really important thing is being able to analyze your data successfully. This means that you need to fully understand the different contexts that your organization has. If you analyze data and understand what happens around that data, your analysis will actually say something to your organization.

You want to analyse data but without crossing the diversity and inclusion line. AI and analytics has proven to us time and time again that stereotyping people based on backgrounds, upbringing, culture, race, age, disability etc. does not always correlate to correct information as generalising a group of people is never smart nor accurate, and it ends up being the complete opposite and having a biased effect. Just understanding what you can do as a organisation to combat this and not blame the employees is a better way to go.

Be careful learning about turnover references within your industry. This is impacted by things that you can change and you cannot. There are organizations that even with an attractive compensation package, attract people just because of their name.

It’s good to compare with competitors and companies you aspire to be like with turnover, but not all companies are identical. You are your own competition at the end of the day, if you have historical data available and you’re able to use it in your report and presentations, it is a better metric than using a competitors stats that are not even in your industry or don’t face the same challenges as you.

It's important to track trends over long periods, rather than quickly reacting to sudden changes. When a new leader comes in or a new inititative is announced, it may prompt some team members to leave. The sudden turnover may be deemed acceptable to achieve long-term goals.

You need to get together with all your teams if you want to effectively understand and work your turnover. The indicator is not the important thing here, it is what they say and you do as an organization in order to keep the things going the best way possible.

Analyzing employee turnover involves several steps, including identifying key metrics, gathering relevant data, and interpreting the findings. Utilizing a robust HRIS system with prebuilt reports for turnover can indeed streamline this process. With such a system, you can easily access turnover rates, reasons for departure, and other pertinent information. Additionally, having graphical representations of the data and the ability to filter it allows for more insightful analysis and clearer communication with leadership. This enables you to pinpoint trends, identify areas for improvement, and implement targeted strategies to reduce turnover and enhance employee retention.