Why do employees leave their jobs?

Is it because they don’t like the company policies or because they’ve simply found a better offer? Whatever the case, this is an issue that boggles the employer’s mind.

Granted, it’s not uncommon for employees to change jobs. But if you find yourself conducting endless interviews for the same post, that’s worrisome.

But look on the bright side:

Knowing employee turnover statistics helps. If the stats don’t assure you that you’re not alone, maybe you’ll figure out which areas you can improve on to minimize the rate.

Better yet, you can come up with a contingency plan so you’re not caught unawares when it happens.

Fascinating Employee Turnover Stats

  • Three-quarters of employees leave within the first five years.
  • 15.5% of workers quit voluntarily.
  • Staff turnover can cost businesses $3.8billion monthly.
  • The small business turnover rate is 68.3%.
  • Retail jobs have the highest turnover.
  • Switzerland has the best employee growth rate.
  • The turnover rate for women is 5% higher than for men.
  • India is the only country expected to have a staff surplus by 2030.

General Employee Turnover Statistics

The first thing you probably want to know is how often the average employee joins and leaves an organization. No need to guess. The stats speak for themselves.

1. 75% of employees may leave within the first five years.

Three-quarters of your staff members don’t see themselves working for you in the next five years. That’s one of the most worrying stats. Given such alarming workplace turnover statistics, you certainly need to have a back-up plan in place—and fast. What are you doing to keep your employees happy or at least content?

2. The average turnover rate 2019 is 3.7%.

Knowing your average turnover rate as an employer is very important in order to gauge your stability or feasibility as a company. With 3.7% the average turnover rate, anything above that is high. That means you’re venturing onto shaky territory. It’s time to investigate and revise your organizational policies!

3. 15.5% of employees in the US quit voluntarily.

It’s not uncommon for employees to be unhappy with their job and decide to move on. No surprises there.

Who knows? Maybe you too can relate.

According to these voluntary employee turnover statistics in 2018, 15.5% of workers simply up and left their employers.

And it can only get worse:

Last year, the figure stood at 14%.

4. 10% is your ideal turnover rate.

Look at it this way:

Sometimes an employee leaving your company isn’t entirely a bad thing especially if he or she is underperforming. How do you use this info to calculate your ideal rate? Basically, if 10% of your staff are underperforming, then 10% is your ideal turnover rate.

Employee Turnover Cost

Employee turnover is never cheap—especially if it’s unexpected.

This is why it’s necessary for you to ask yourself:

What is the cost of employee replacing in 2019? No need to guess, we list a few turnover cost statistics we’re certain you’ll find useful.

5. Businesses in the US spend approximately 50 to 60% of the employee’s annual salary to replace them.

When we say staff turnover doesn’t come cheap, this is exactly what we mean. Employers have to spend more than half of an employee’s salary to fill the vacant post.

6. Companies spend 213% of an executive’s annual salary to replace them.

As you can imagine, replacing high level employees is even more expensive. This basically means that replacing an executive who earns an annual salary of $100,000 will cost you a whopping $213,000!

Go figure!

7. Staff turnover costs Australian businesses $3.8 billion each year.

Shocking stats are not limited to the US. In fact, Australian businesses took a $3.8 billion dollar knock as a result of staff turnover

8. It takes two years for a replacement employee to reach the same level of productivity as the previous worker.

As if the high cost of replacing employees isn’t bad enough, companies may need to wait an average of two years before they can start raking in the high profits from the new staff member! Unfortunately, certain employers will only learn the value of employee turnover the hard way.

Employee Turnover Rate by Industry

It pays to know the employee turnover rate benchmark in your industry. How else will you know how you’re faring next to your competitors?

How about we do you one better? We’ll bring it closer to home by giving the general staff turnover statistics in major industries.

9. The average healthcare employee turnover rates have risen by 5% in the past decade.

Sadly, the healthcare industry hasn’t been spared by staff turnover. This is the highest ever turnover rate the industry has recorded.

10. The restaurant industry turnover rate was 74.9% in 2018.

One would think that given the large numbers of people who love eating out, the restaurant industry wouldn’t be affected by staff turnover. Sadly that’s not the case. This figure rose steadily following the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

11. The retail employee turnover rate 2019 increased by 3% from 2018.

This sector has the third-highest turnover after the engineering and distribution industry. Imagine that.

12. The small business employee turnover rate was 68.3% last year.

Clearly, small businesses aren’t exempted from staff turnover. Most of these turnovers are because employees leave in search of better opportunities and to get away from toxic environments.

Men vs Women Employee Turnover Statistics

You might be wondering:

Who leaves their jobs more often? Men or women?

Let’s have a look.

13. The turnover rate for women is 5% higher than that for men.

According to the Network of Executive Women report, the turnover rate for women was 31%, compared to 24% for men. Gender inequality and exclusions are the main reasons behind this.

14. The turnover rate for women in senior executive positions is almost four times higher than that for men.

Check this out:

The turnover rate is even higher for women than men especially in higher positions - 27% compared to 7%. Sadly, men are still favored over women in executive positions. That’s not good at all!

15. 59% of women say they’re more likely to leave their jobs because of disrespect.

There are many reasons why women can decide to leave their current job. More than half of women said disrespect is one of those reasons.

16. Female promotion rates increased by 22%.

But all hope for women isn’t lost. In a bid to reduce the female turnover rate, companies such as BCG (Boston Consulting Group) have devised ways to retain women. Among many concerns are that they’ve increased female promotion rate by 22% in the last five years.

What Jobs Have the Highest Turnover Rates?

So which jobs are people more likely to leave? What are the employee turnover push and pull factors?

You might be wondering whether workers pick the wrong career in the first place or simply realize that the job isn’t what they expected. Whatever the case, the following stats will blow your mind.

17. Retail jobs generally have the highest turnover.

67% of part-time employees leave their jobs in the retail industry. Reasons include a lack of incentives (unless you’re in a managerial position) and working every weekend. Sounds pretty toxic, right?

18. 62.6% left the food service industry.

Unfortunately, these are the kinds of jobs that leave you stressed out because of low remuneration and extra-long hours.

19. In 2017, software jobs had the highest turnover.

It seems like tech jobs aren’t as appealing. 13.2% of workers left their software jobs in 2018. Reasons included long working hours and burn out.

20.  A turnover rate of 43% was recorded among nurses.

A passion for people isn’t enough to keep a nursing job. The reality is that nurses have to endure long working hours, which often takes a toll on their personal lives.

Employee Turnover Rates Worldwide

Staff turnover is obviously a global issue. Keep reading to find out what the average annual worldwide employee turnover rate is.

21. Employee turnover statistics in the US were 19.3% in 2018.

Staff turnover continues to increase on a yearly basis in the US. In 2018, the turnover rate was 19.3% - 1% up from 2017.

22. China reported an average turnover rate of 19.7% in 2017.

14.4% were voluntary and 5.3% involuntary. In a bid to reduce this rate, the country increased the average salary rate by 6.6% in 2018.

23. Canada has the fourth highest employee turnover in the world.

With an average employee turnover rate of 16% in 2018, Canada has the fourth highest employee turnover in the world after France, the UK, and the US.

24. 15% of Australian workers are leaving their jobs.

A huge chunk of Australian employees are leaving their jobs in search of greener pastures. As many as 1.8 million Australians are looking for new jobs.

How to Improve Staff Retention Rate?

So, what are companies doing to retain their staff?

The good news is there’s hope. If companies revise their organizational policies and create better working environments for their workers, the stats can only get better. Have a look at a few examples.

25. 20% of women have been retained at a BCG company.

Based on our earlier stats regarding gender inequality in the workplace and women leaving more than men, companies such as BCG set to include women in higher positions.

26. 72% of workers leave their jobs for career advancement opportunities.

To come up with effective staff retention strategies, it’s important to know why workers leave in the first place. The solution? Companies should include career development opportunities in their organizations to curb this.

27. By 2030, India will be the only country with a staff surplus.

While people are quitting their jobs all over the world, India is the only country that’s expected to still have a talent surplus at the beginning of the next decade.

28. Switzerland has an employee turnover growth rate of 5%.

Switzerland is one of the few countries with healthy employee retention statistics. Its employee turnover growth rate increased from 5.8% in 2016 to 10.8% in 2018.

Benefits of Employee Retention

Surely we can’t discuss employee turnover without giving causes and solutions. What are companies doing to keep their staff from leaving? What is the impact of employee retention on profits?

Let’s answer this using the following stats, shall we?

29. 41% of people leave because they’re not happy with senior management.

That means almost half of employees leave because they’re not happy with the management style of their superiors. You need to review those ASAP!

30. Employees that don’t feel recognized are twice as likely to quit.

Who doesn’t want to be recognized especially after putting in the work? The stats speak for themselves!

31. 87% of HR personnel understand the importance of employee retention.

More HR personnel are realizing the importance of employee satisfaction retention in organizations. That’s definitely good news.

32. A highly engaged team is 21% more profitable.

Based on these employee engagement statistics, it’s clear that an engaged team is more profitable than a disconnected one. A successful business makes employee engagement a crucial strategy for its operations. That’s a no brainer.

Let’s wrap up our stats by including a few interesting employee turnover trends.

33. 81% of workers leave for better job opportunities.

There you have it:

A large chunk of your workers leave for better job opportunities. In October 2018 alone, 3.5 million voluntarily resigned from their workplace Why not offer competitive remuneration rates?

34. 3 million Americans quit their job each month.

This is huge! It’s high time you find out why and address those concerns, don’t you agree?

35. 35% of workers say they’ll quit if they don’t receive a pay rise.

Clearly, salaries are a huge issue when it comes to staff turnover, with 35% threatening to leave if they don’t get a pay rise! If you’re an employer, you know what to do!

Wrap Up

So, what did we learn from these employee turnover statistics?

Sure, the job market is tight. But if you don’t pay your workers well, they’ll leave. If they’re not happy with the working conditions, they’ll leave. If they don’t like the management style, (you guessed it) they’ll leave!

It’s up to employers to put in place effective employee retention strategies to retain their valued employees.