More than half of UK employers believe the recession affected their turnover rates last year, according to the 2010 IRS survey on staff turnover rates and costs, published exclusively by XpertHR.
The report, based on a survey of 269 employers, showed the national median voluntary resignation rate of 8.6% in 2009 (2008:10%).
More than half (53%) thought the challenging economic situation had influenced their 2009 staff turnover rates. Almost two-thirds (64.4%) of this group said their organisation’s voluntary resignation rate had fallen during 2009.
The highest voluntary resignation rate was in private sector services employers, with a median rate of 9% compared to 6% in manufacturing and production and 8.4% in the public sector. London employers saw the highest turnover, with a median resignation rate of 29%.
The cost of labour turnover was £544 per employee in 2009, when averaged across the entire workforce, although fewer than one in 10 (8.2%) were able to put a figure on the financial impact.
“The difficulty in obtaining costs from respondents about the financial impact of staff turnover on their organisations persisted in this year’s IRS survey,” said XpertHR editor and report author Rachel Suff.
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“Most employers counted nothing more than the recruitment budget involved in finding replacement staff, but the knock-on effects of staff turnover can be much higher if other costs – such as overtime payments, temporary staff fees and reduced customer service and productivity – are taken into account.”
For more analysis on these figures, see Personnel Today‘s feature on staff turnover.
