A high staff turnover could be costing your business more than you think.
A new survey by Resource Guru investigated the differences between perceived and ‘true’ cost of staff turnover, as well as the reasons behind it, to help companies better understand why staff leave. They asked 500 senior/management employees and 500 non-management employees what they think about their company’s turnover rates, causes, and perceived costs.
A company with 1-9 employees though that replacing departing staff members would cost an average of £2,446 while companies with more than 500 thought this number would stand around the £4,796 mark.
The numbers don’t seem particularly high at first, however what’s not being taken into consideration are the total administrative costs of finding and hiring a new employee, and the amount of time it takes for them to reach peak productivity.
The true cost of a high turnover
When comparing perceived cost with existing data, the difference is stark.
| Company size | Perceived Cost | ‘True’ cost |
| 1-9 employees | £2,446 | £22,500 |
| 10-49 employees | £2,697 | £26,000 |
| 50-99 employees | £3,329 | £30,000 |
| 100-249 employees | £2,954 | £30,000 |
| 250-500 employees | £4,856 | £33,000 |
| 500+ employees | £4,769 | £34,000 |
The true cost rises even more if the staff to replace are very senior or work in specialised sectors like STEM as the pool of qualified candidates is smaller.
What are the issues?
So, what are the issues businesses need to tackle? Resource Guru looked at what drives high turnover rates.
Employees report feeling unhappy at work due to lack of meaningful development, recognition, low salaries, and general feelings of burnout. However, the ‘pain points’ vary by industry:
Overall, no business can sustain a high staff turnover, and business leaders need to tackle the reported dissatisfactions to both retain talent and reduce costs.
View the full research here: https://blog.resourceguruapp.com/employee-turnover/
