Definition

Noun: A metric, expressed as a percentage, that measures the frequency at which employees leave an organization and need to be replaced within a specific period. It is calculated by dividing the number of separations during that period by the average number of employees, and is a key indicator of workforce stability and organizational health.

Usage

The term is used primarily in business, human resources, and organizational management contexts to discuss staffing changes, analyze company culture, or assess the costs associated with hiring and training.

Examples

• The company's high turnover rate suggests there may be issues with employee satisfaction.
• Managers are working to reduce the department's turnover rate by improving the work environment.
• Calculating the annual turnover rate helps us understand our recruitment needs.

Advanced Usage

• Voluntary vs. Involuntary Turnover Rate: Often analyzed separately; voluntary turnover refers to employees leaving by choice (e.g., for another job), while involuntary turnover refers to dismissals or layoffs.
• "To have a high/low turnover rate": This is the most common collocation used to describe the metric.
  • The retail industry tends to have a high turnover rate.

Variants and Related Words

• Turnover (noun): Can refer more broadly to the rate of change or replacement in a workforce, or in other contexts, to the total amount of business done in a given period or the rate at which inventory is sold.
  • Employee turnover has been a persistent challenge.
  • The store has a high inventory turnover.

Synonyms

• Attrition rate: Often used similarly, though it can sometimes imply a gradual, natural reduction in workforce (e.g., through retirement) rather than all types of departures.
• Churn rate: A more informal synonym commonly used in business, especially for customer or subscriber loss, but also applied to employees.

Related Phrases

• Rate of turnover: A less common but grammatically correct alternative phrasing with the same meaning.
  • They analyzed the rate of turnover over the last quarter.

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