Staff turnover: how do you calculate it and bring it down?

The rate that fits your mix of contracts, ages and roles. That sounds like dodging the question, but the Dutch figures show how wide the spread is. Among employees aged 15 to 25, 8.5 per cent changed employer in that quarter. Among those aged 45 and over it was 1.6 per cent. A retailer that runs on student jobs and an engineering firm with long-serving specialists can both have a normal rate, at completely different levels.

Read those figures with two things in mind. They are quarterly, and you cannot simply add four quarters together, because someone who changes jobs twice in a year is counted twice. And CBS only counts people who move to another employer. Retirement, people who stop working and people who become unemployed are left out, while in your own figures they do count as leavers.

So compare yourself mainly with yourself. A rate that doubled since last year tells you more than a rate slightly above a national average. Compare teams as well. The problem often sits in one department or one role and disappears in the total.

The common formula: the number of people who left during a period, divided by the average headcount over that period, times one hundred. For the average, most employers take the headcount at the start plus the headcount at the end, divided by two.

An example: you started the year with 58 people and ended it with 62, so the average is 60. Six people left during the year. Six divided by sixty, times one hundred, gives a turnover rate of 10 per cent.

Then split that total, because the total hides where things go wrong. Voluntary turnover counts only people who resigned themselves; that is the part you can influence most. Early turnover counts people who leave within their first year; it says something about your hiring and your first months, not about the organisation as a whole. And turnover per team or role shows whether one manager or one position is pulling the average up.

Count fixed-term contracts that simply end separately, and report retirements on their own line. Otherwise a year with three retirements looks like a crisis.

Start with why people leave, not with a measure. An exit interview only helps if it asks the right questions at the right moment; our article on what leavers tell you about your hiring covers how. Put the answers next to your split figures. Voluntary departures from one team call for something different than departures that happen everywhere in the first months.

Early departures often start in recruitment. Someone who got a different picture from the job advert and the interview than the job turns out to be will soon look elsewhere. An honest advert, including the less attractive parts, may cost you a few applicants but brings in people who stay. Why new hires leave in their first year, and what to change, is the subject of leaving in the first year.

The first months themselves matter too. A buddy, a clear picture of what is expected after three months and conversations at fixed moments make the difference between someone who settles in and someone who keeps looking. A worked example is in our onboarding plan for the first 90 days.

And look at what you offer. Not only pay, but also schedules, commuting time, working from home and room to grow. Which terms actually tip the balance in conversations is described in employment terms that count.

Is zero turnover a good sign?

Not necessarily. A team where nobody ever leaves can also be a team where nobody moves up and new ideas struggle to get in. Some turnover gives you room to hire people with different experience. What matters is that you can explain the departures you have, and that the people you want to keep actually stay.

How often should you measure turnover?

For most organisations once a quarter is enough, together with a yearly figure. Small teams need care: with twenty employees a single departure is already 5 per cent, so one quarter says little. Look at a rolling twelve months instead, and at the reason behind each departure rather than the percentage alone.

What if turnover stays high and vacancies stay open?

Then the two problems feed each other. Every leaver creates a new vacancy, and every vacancy that stays open puts extra work on the colleagues who remain. What you can do when roles stay unfilled for months is on our page about vacancies that stay open.

SocialFind wrote this article using the CBS table on changes of employer in the Netherlands, checked on 3 November 2026. We recruit for employers with a structural need for staff, and we also look at who stays after the start. To get articles like this by email, sign up for our newsletter.