and develop strategies to improve retention.
Subject: Human Resource Management MGT 201
Student Name: Brenda Lai (YUN-CHU LAI)
Student Number: 00038680T
Lecturer: Alison Knight
Staff turnover, or labour turnover, is a percentage of a number of employees that leave a firm in a period of time. Reasons for leaving can be voluntary, such as resignation, relocation to another company or any other personal reasons that cause the employees unable to continue the job. It may also be involuntary such as being terminated due to poor job performance, absenteeism or violation of work policies. Companies that have too low or too high turnover rate are generally inefficient and low-productive. Firms that have high turnover rate will have an overall decreasing in competency and productivity because the frequent replacement of workers as well as increasing in costs. However, it is not necessarily true that the lower the turnover rate, the better for the business. Businesses that have very low turnover rate could result in a tiring, inactive and demotivating work environment. As employees form the backbone of every organization, it is critical for managers to analyse the causes for high or low turnover rate, develop retention practices and maintain a steady, satisfied workforce.
Turnover costs for many organizations are high and can have significant impacts on the financial performance of an organization. Turnover costs can be categorized into two kinds, direct costs and indirect costs. Direct costs include recruitment, selection and training of new employees, expense of advertising positions, and costs of temporary replacement of employees. Indirect costs, which refer to loss of efficiency and productivity, can be caused by a variety of reasons such as inefficiency and lack of experience of the newly appointed employees, breakage of tools caused by