Definition

1. Noun:
   • The rate at which employees leave a company and are replaced by new employees: "Employee turnover" refers specifically to the measurement of how frequently staff departures occur within an organization over a specific period, typically expressed as a percentage of the average workforce.

Usage

• "Employee turnover" is a business and human resources term used to quantify workforce stability. A high rate indicates many employees are leaving, while a low rate suggests a stable workforce. It is a key metric for assessing organizational health, recruitment costs, and workplace culture.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The company's high employee turnover is a concern for management.
  • Reducing employee turnover was the HR department's top priority this year.
  • They calculated the annual employee turnover to be 15%.

Advanced Usage

• "voluntary turnover": employees leaving by their own choice (e.g., for another job, retirement).
  • Voluntary turnover increased after the new compensation policy was announced.
• "involuntary turnover": employees leaving due to company decisions (e.g., layoffs, dismissals).
  • The restructuring led to a spike in involuntary turnover.
• "turnover rate": a common synonymous phrase for "employee turnover".
  • The department's turnover rate is below the industry average.

Variants and Related Words

• Turnover (noun): In business contexts, "turnover" can standalone with the same meaning, though it is less specific. In other contexts, it can mean the rate of selling and replacing stock (inventory turnover) or total sales revenue.
  • The store has a high turnover of seasonal staff.
• Attrition (noun): A gradual, natural reduction in workforce (e.g., through retirement) not always immediately replaced; sometimes used interchangeably with turnover, but often implies a slower, non-replacement process.
  • They plan to reduce headcount through natural attrition.

Synonyms

• Staff turnover: Identical in meaning.
• Labor turnover: A variant with the same core meaning.
• Churn (informal/business slang): Often used in similar contexts, especially for customer or employee departure rates.

Related Phrases

• "to reduce/cut turnover": to implement strategies to lower the rate of employees leaving.
  • The new flexible work policy aims to cut turnover.
• "turnover cost": the financial expense associated with replacing an employee, including recruitment, training, and lost productivity.
  • The high turnover cost is impacting the company's bottom line.

Noun

1. the ratio of the number of workers that had to be replaced in a given time period to the average number of workers