Employee turnover calculator

Employee turnover measures how many people leave an organisation over a period, relative to its average headcount. High turnover is expensive: every leaver means recruiting, onboarding and lost productivity. This calculator computes turnover and retention rates, splits voluntary and involuntary departures and estimates the replacement cost.

How to use it

1. Enter headcount at the start and end of the period.
2. Enter the number of separations, split into voluntary (resignations) and involuntary (dismissals, layoffs).
3. Optionally enter the average salary and a replacement cost percentage.
4. Read turnover rate, retention rate and cost estimates.

Formulas

• Average headcount = (Start + End) / 2
• Turnover rate = Separations / Average headcount × 100
• Retention rate = (Employees at start who are still employed at end) / Start headcount × 100
• Annualized turnover = monthly rate × 12 (approximate)

Worked example

A company starts the year with 200 employees and ends with 220. During the year 30 people left: 24 resigned and 6 were let go. Average headcount = 210, so turnover = 30 / 210 = 14.3%, of which voluntary turnover is 11.4%. If replacing an employee costs about 30% of a 600,000 salary, the 30 departures cost roughly 5,400,000.

Using the numbers

• Voluntary turnover is the more useful signal of engagement problems.
• Track turnover in the first 90 days separately; early leavers point to hiring or onboarding issues.
• Compare by team and manager to find hotspots.
• Benchmarks vary greatly by industry; retail and hospitality are much higher than finance or government.