Employee Turnover Expected to Increase Worldwide

Half the survey respondents globally expect higher turnover, said Bram Lowsky, Executive Vice President Americas at Right Management, in a press release. “About a third foresees no change, and a minority a decrease, all of which points to greater turnover than organizations have been used to dealing with in the past decade.”

The survey found that expectations of higher turnover during the course of the next five years globally was at 49%. In North America respondents that believe there will be a higher turnover was at 59%, while in the Asia-Pacific Region the percentage was 58%, and the lowest percentage of respondents who felt there will be a higher turnover were found in Europe, at 41%.

“There’s no such thing as typical or average turnover,” Lowsky said. “Turnover varies widely from industry to industry. Moreover, some turnover is healthy, but high turnover is a top concern for all organizations everywhere. Yet, unless current expectations are wrong, most employers are soon going to have to cope with more loss of talent and know-how, greater recruitment and training costs, and all the turmoil entailed with people leaving and waiting for their replacement. And aside from the tangible costs, organizations may lose business opportunities as well as momentum as the constant departures will likely undermine the trust and engagement of remaining workers.”

Only 14% of respondents globally anticipated a decrease in employee turnover.

The online survey was conducted in December 2010. There were 2,080 participants from 17 countries.