The True Costs of Turnover

Costs of turnover

When an employee decides to leave a company, it creates an opening on a manager’s team.

But the true cost of employee turnover is so much greater than that.

Let’s take a look at how much losing one employee really costs.

First, there’s recruitment time and efforts

The former employee will likely need to be replaced. Depending on how specialized the position is, it might take a few weeks to find a skilled person ready to join the team. If it’s a very technical job or one that requires particular work experience or background training, it could easily take months. All of this means an investment in your recruitment and staffing efforts to find just the right person to fill the job while going through resumes and applications to find qualified candidates.  That’s before factoring in any relocation payments that might be offered to help sway a new employee to join your team.

Then, there’s the productivity lost by a team missing a member

Whether it’s a small blip or a big shift, your team when down a person, can try to fill the gap but there will be shortcomings. The smaller the team, the more obviously the missing person will be felt in terms of productivity. If the person was well-liked, morale might be down, too, which can cause a slump, especially in the beginning.  There’s also the chance that one person leaving a team might either inspire others to look elsewhere, or they might try and bring some of their coworkers with them to their new company (unless there’s a legal prohibition on such things).

Once a new employee has been hired, there’s the small matter of onboarding and training

No matter how well a person’s work experience matches their new position, it will take time for him or her to learn the ins and outs of your company. There will be some lag time between the new employee starting the job and when they’re up to speed in terms of productivity as well. 

The bottom line is that losing one employee can cost tens of thousands of dollars in direct and indirect costs. One study suggested the average hit to a company when an employee leaves are 33% of that person’s salary or $15,000 for a person who makes $45,000 per year. Lose more than one employee and it’s easy to see how that number becomes very scary. 

Debbie’s Staffing can help fill your job openings

But don’t fear! Debbie’s Staffing is standing by to help fill those openings when employees do leave. We’ve got a database of people with skills to match your needs, ready to step in and provide assistance on a temporary or permanent basis. Contact us today to get started – and to save some headaches and money in the process.

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