Let’s start with one truth that all of us can agree upon, having a high employee attrition rate is worrying, isn’t it? Employee attrition adds more workload and eventually pressure on the people who are still working within the organisation. And the worst part is, during this transition, work doesn’t stop, which means you still have to perform well even though your team isn’t at 100%. This ripple effect caused by employee attrition can take a toll on you and your team, draining your resources while slowing down growth.
Don’t worry though, we’ve got good news for you. Reducing the employee attrition rate is not just possible, it’s completely within your reach. Want to find out how? Let’s dive deep into the blog and explore what attrition rate really is, how to calculate it, and most importantly, how to reduce employee attrition rate.
What is the Employee Attrition Rate?
Employee attrition rate is a measure of how many employees leave an organisation, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. It’s the rate of employee turnover expressed as a percentage and is a key metric for HR to measure retention efforts and understand the organisation.
Imagine you run a Tech firm. Over a year, four of your senior employees exit the organization, two make a job switch, one retires, and one person gets laid off. Now you’ve only been able to hire two people to replace the four who’ve left you. This steady rate of reduction in your workforce is known as the employee attrition rate.
What is a Good Attrition Rate?
According to the expert, A good attrition rate is 10% to 13% annually for most industries. This means some turnover is natural without disrupting the organization too much. However, the ideal rate can vary by industry, company size and organization goals.
An HR Expert says a 20% attrition rate is considered high for most industries. This means 1 in 5 employees leaves the organization every year, disrupting operations, increasing recruitment costs, and lowering employee morale. However, it depends on the industry and context.
Here is the industry-wise breakdown:
- Tech and IT Services: 10-15 percent
- Healthcare: 10-18 percent
- Retail & Hospitality: 20-30 percent (often higher due to seasonal and part-time roles)
- Finance: 10-12 percent
- Manufacturing: 10-15 percent
Less than 10 percent is strong retention and employee satisfaction and,
20% attrition means out of 100 of 20 employees leave an organisation within a certain time period, usually a year. This includes voluntary resignations, retirements, layoffs or other forms of separation where the employee is not replaced.
Attrition Rate Meaning in HR?
In HR, attrition is the rate at which employees leave an organisation over a specific period, usually a year, without being replaced. It’s an employee turnover indicator but focuses on permanent loss rather than replacement. Unlike general turnover where a new hire fills the role, attrition means a reduction in headcount, eg through retirements, resignations or layoffs where no new hire happens.
Attrition rate gives HR insights into employee retention and the workplace. A high attrition rate could mean underlying issues like low job satisfaction, no growth opportunities or not enough compensation and HR teams need to review their retention strategies.
So, How do you Calculate the Employee Attrition Rate?
Now that you know about employee attrition, let’s get into the numbers. Calculating your employee attrition rate is quite easy. You need two key figures to calculate it i.e. the number of employees who’ve left your organization and the average size of your workforce during that period.
Here’s the Employee Attrition Rate Formula to calculate it accurately:
To summarize, Employee attrition rate formula in HR: Number of employees who left ÷ Average number of employees × 100.
Here’s an example to help you understand this better. Imagine your organization had 120 employees at the start of the year and 110 by the end of it.
That means the average workforce of your organization that year was 115 employees. Now if 10 people left your organization that year, your organization’s employee attrition rate would be: 10 ÷ 115 × 100 = 8.7 %
Attrition Cause and Solution
So why do employees leave organizations from time to time? There are many reasons, people retire, move to new cities, switch organizations for better pay or better work, switch careers, and much more. Let’s take a look at a few of the avoidable reasons that cause employee attrition and their possible solutions.
1. Lack of Career Development
Imagine an employee of yours who’s been excellent at what they do for years but they haven’t had the opportunity to move up the corporate ladder. Over time, this employee may start to feel stagnant and unimportant. And without a clear path to grow within the organization, they’ll start looking out for opportunities elsewhere.
Solution
Offer a clear career growth path to your employees, give them regular feedback to help them improve, and promote them to reward their excellent performance. These things will help them feel valued and motivated to stay and grow within the organization.
2. Uncompetitive Salaries
If your employees feel that their salaries don’t match industry standards, it can become one of the most important reasons for them to leave. Even the most loyal team members might choose to leave for another organization if they’re offering a much better salary and benefits package.
Solution
Always keep an eye on the industry standards when it comes to salaries, this will give you a better idea of how to compensate your employees for the work they do. Regularly reviewing salaries and increasing them proactively will make your employees feel valued. This will reduce their temptation to leave and work in another organization.
It’s important to take time out to understand why employees leave, this helps you develop strategies to retain your top talent. By understanding and addressing these common issues, you can create an organization where employees feel valued and appreciated. This will in turn make them feel more committed towards the organization in the long run.
3. Work-Life Imbalance
Now picture one of your employees who’s constantly working late to meet tight deadlines. This employee is sacrificing his time in order to get the job done, this is the opposite of the work-life balance that people want.
Even for employees who love their work, burnout can easily take a toll on them. When this happens over a long period, employees generally get tired and are compelled to leave the organization in search of a much more balanced working environment.
Solution
Encourage a healthier work-life balance by giving realistic deadlines to your employees. Also, offer the option of flexible working hours and remote working conditions, these things can help your employees enjoy a better work-life balance. And in such conditions, the employees are more likely to stay than leave the organization.
After understanding the causes and solutions for attrition, it is crucial to understand the difference between turnover rate, retention rate, and churn rate.
These metrics provide employee movement insights within an organization.
Now let’s explore how these rates differ from each other.
Attrition Rate vs Turnover Rate
Now here’s where some people often get confused. Employee attrition and employee turnover are two different things, though they can and are often used interchangeably.
- Employee attrition refers to employees leaving the organization and not being replaced. This is common during the downsizing or restructuring of the organization.
- Employee turnover refers to employees leaving the organization and being replaced by someone. For example when an IT Manager who has just left is replaced by hiring a new IT Manager.
Why is this difference important to understand? Because it helps you plan your next steps. If your organization has a high employee attrition rate due to layoffs, you’ll need to focus on the stability of the organization. Whereas, if high employee turnover is the main issue for you, you’ll need to focus on employee morale and satisfaction.
Employee Turnover Rate formula in HR: Number of Employees Who Left During the Period ÷ Number of Employees Who Left During the Period × 100.
Let’s take an example here: If 15 employees left in a year and the average number of employees during the year is 200: 200 ÷ 15 ×100 = the answer is 7.5 percent.
Attrition Rate vs Retention Rate
Now that you know about attrition rate, let’s talk about retention rate and how it’s different from retention rate. Retention rate is all about how many employees stay in your organization.
Think of it like this, if you’re hosting or giving a lecture at a seminar, the attrition rate is the number of people that leave. Retention, on the other hand, is the number of people who stay back till you complete your seminar. So both of these metrics are important for you to understand, as they help you see the entire picture of your workforce rather than just one aspect of it.
Retention Rate formula in HR: Number of Employees at the Start of the Period ÷ Number of Employees at the End of the Period × 100.
Let’s take an example here: This year the company started with 150 employees and 130 employees remaining at the end of the year: 130 ÷ 150 ×100 = the answer is 86.6 percent.
Attrition Rate vs Churn Rate
Churn rate has nothing to do with employees, yet some people misunderstand what it really means. Churn rate refers to the number of customers you lose over time and like we’ve learned so far, attrition rate refers to the number of employees you lose over time.
These two are completely different from one another however both numbers are important as they indicate the stability of your organization.
Churn Rate formula in HR: Total Number of Employees at the Start of the Period Number of Employees Who Left ×100.
Let’s take an example here: Beginning of the year company had 300 employees and 62 employees left during the year. 62 ÷ 300 ×100 = the answer is 20.6 percent.
Industry Attrition Rates 2025: Insights and Trends
Now let’s talk about some real numbers and benchmarks. Attrition rates can vary significantly across industries. So let’s take a look at what we’re witnessing in 2024:
1. Tech Industry
The tech industry is currently facing massive attrition with many companies reporting attrition rates as high as 20%. Why? Fierce competition has led to employees having more options than ever before.
2. Healthcare Industry
The burnout in the post-pandemic era is quite real in the healthcare industry. Many hospitals as well as clinics are witnessing attrition rates of around 15% to 20%. The major reason for this is said to be that the staff is leaving in search of less stressful and demanding roles.
3. Retail Industry
The retail industry is no stranger to being the victim of high attrition rates. It has been a constant in the history of this industry and there are no signs that suggest that would change soon. This is even more common with part-time employees in the industry. This leads to the attrition rate in the retail industry to be around a massive 60%, but this is largely due to the nature of the work and the industry itself.
How to Reduce the Attrition Rate of Employees
No one wants to leave a good workplace, right? So that’s where you should start too. Making your organization a place where people love to work is one of the most crucial things that helps you reduce the employee attrition rate. It sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it requires a lot of effort and strategy. Let’s take a look at some of the best practices that help improve your organization and reduce the employee attrition rate.
Reducing attrition starts with making your company a place where people want to work. Sounds simple, right? But it requires a mix of strategy, care, and intentional effort. Let’s look at some proven ways to reduce attrition.
7 Strategies to Reduce Employee Attrition
1. Improve Employee Engagement
Loyalty begins when people feel involved, trusted, and engaged. For that, you need to check in with your team regularly, have conversations, and make them feel important. This will help you ensure they feel connected to their work and your organization’s mission. You can do this by using surveys, one-on-ones between seniors and juniors, holding town halls, and most importantly, offering growth and development opportunities and guidance.
2. Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits
This is an obvious one, employees want to be fairly compensated for the work they do and the value they add to your organization. Analyse the market, review salary benchmarks and offer competitive salaries to your employees. Salary isn’t the only compensation though, additional benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, etc. can go a long way to keep the employees happy.
3. Succession Planning
Succession planning is a very important aspect in any business. When employees know that your organization wants them to grow and succeed, they see that they have a future in your organization. And when employees feel that, they’re much more likely to stay than leave.
4. Improve the Onboarding Process for New Hires
First impressions last, and it’s quite true when it comes to employees having their first experience of the organization. A strong onboarding experience can get the journey going on the right foot. Make sure the employees feel welcomed and well-integrated into the company culture. Make them feel like a part of the company and not just another employee.
5. Analyse Attrition Data
This is quite a critical process, because how can you fix a problem without knowing anything about it? So it’s important for you to regularly analyse your attrition data. This can help you identify the major reasons behind the problem, maybe a trend or a pattern when it comes to employees leaving. You can then use all the information you have to rectify the problems and create retention strategies.
One of the things where you can get vital information like this is the exit interviews. Ask they employees why are they leaving. What do they like or dislike about your organization? How can you improve the organization? etc. Conduct deep and thoughtful exit interviews. Once that is done, gather all the insights and make improvements to your organization.
6. Analyse Turnover Data
Just like analysing attrition data, it’s important to analyse your organization’s turnover data as well. Are people leaving in two years? Why are they leaving? For better pay or better roles? Understanding these things will help you create measures to retain your employees for longer.
7. Improve Work Culture
This is a very very important factor for an employee. Company culture is one of the most critical factors when employees are deciding whether to stay or leave the organization. Focus on creating a positive, inclusive, and collaborative work environment in your organization. Employees shouldn’t feel like it’s a place where they just come to work, they should love the place and the place should make them feel at home as well. Celebrate wins, have open conversations, be transparent, and most importantly make everyone feel valued, loved, respected, and seen. This will go a long way in reducing your organisation’s employee attrition rate.
Conclusion
Now let’s be honest, reducing your organization’s employee attrition rate isn’t just about statistics. It’s much more than just numbers, it’s about creating an atmosphere, a culture where people want to stay for a long period of time. It’s about creating a place that feels like home and the teams feel like a family, it should be more than just a workplace.
When people feel valued, when they see growth opportunities, when they have a healthy work-life balance, they won’t leave the organization. And by that we mean that they won’t just stay in the organization, but they’ll thrive. They’ll bring the best version of themselves to work every day, good morale leads to good performance, and this will eventually help your organization grow.
