Employee turnover: What's the right balance?

It’s inevitable that teams will evolve over time. But is there a magic number that companies should strive for to maintain healthy turnover rates?

In her latest feature in People Management, Chief People Officer Molly Thiel discusses the importance of turnover metrics, especially for companies looking to track employee engagement and assess overall business health and potential.

From the article:

“Turnover is a staple HR metric for several reasons,” says Thiel, “such as understanding how much of your workforce is fluid, gauging potential productivity impacts, sizing cost impacts to your business, and understanding levels of dissatisfaction.”

To gauge what optimal levels look like, business leaders need to pair figures on overall turnover with other related data points and insights.

“For example, how does turnover data relate to feedback such as onboarding, engagement and exit surveys?” Thiel says. “How does it relate to business issues affecting your workforce? Can you find any correlations, such as how often people have performance conversations with their leader or if they have formal development plans? Are you losing high performers at a higher rate?”