Checklist-Interpreting your turnover numbers

Looking at your turnover rates can help you figure out whether your company is doing something to drive people away. Not all turnover is necessarily bad, and some occurs for reasons that management is neither responsible for nor capable of controlling.

To determine if you have a turnover problem, you need to look at your company's true turnover rate, which excludes employee departures that are unavoidable. Once you know your true turnover rate, the following questions will help you interpret it and determine whether this year's departing employees represent a retention problem:

• What is the difference between the turnover rates of men and women?

• What is the turnover rate among all demographic groups?

• Are there significant differences between any of these groups? If so, why?

• How does the true rate compare over time? If the rate has changed, why?

• How does the true rate compare to other local employers? Employers within the same industry?

• What is the tenure of all employees compared to those who have left?

• Were there any red flags in the applications of employees who quit or were fired very soon after starting?

• Are there divisions or managers within the company whose turnover is significantly greater than the norm? Why?