How to Reduce Staff Turnover and Improve Employee Retention

If your business feels like a revolving door of employees, you’re not alone. High staff turnover is a costly and frustrating challenge, impacting morale, productivity, and your bottom line. But here’s the good news: it’s not just a fact of life, it’s a fixable problem. Whether people are leaving after a few months or you’re losing long-time team members to better opportunities, the root causes often lie within your company’s control.

From hiring and onboarding to leadership and culture, every stage of the employee experience plays a role in retention. In this blog, we break down a clear, step-by-step strategy to help you reduce turnover, build stronger teams, and create a workplace where people genuinely want to stay.

What is Staff Turnover?

Staff turnover is basically the rate at which people leave your company and are replaced by new hires – and it can tell you a lot about the health of your workplace. It includes both those who quit on their own (voluntary turnover) and those who are let go (involuntary turnover). While some movement is natural, high turnover is often a red flag. According to SHRM, the average overall turnover rate across industries was 30% in the US, so if yours is significantly higher, it might be time to dig into the reasons why. Losing staff isn’t just inconvenient, it’s expensive. Gallup estimates that disengaged employees cost U.S. companies up to $8.8 trillion each year in lost productivity. Plus, if 28% of new employees leave within the first 90 days, the constant cycle of recruiting, training, and onboarding can quickly drain resources. Monitoring your turnover rate – and more importantly, understanding the why behind it, is essential for building a workplace where people want to stay.

How Do You Calculate Staff Turnover?

Calculating staff turnover might sound a bit HR-jargony, but it’s actually pretty straightforward – and incredibly useful for spotting trends in your workplace. To get your annual turnover rate, start by adding together the number of employees you had at the beginning and end of the year, then divide by two to get your average headcount. Next, take the number of people who left during the year, divide that by your average headcount, and multiply by 100. That’s your turnover rate as a percentage. For example, if your average team size was 50 and 10 people left, your turnover rate would be 20%. To put that in context, People Management state that a high turnover means 28% of employees quit within 90 days of their employment, and most companies should be aiming for 10%.

Don’t forget to benchmark within your industry too, what’s normal in retail or hospitality might raise eyebrows in tech or finance. Tracking turnover like this gives you a pulse check on employee satisfaction, management effectiveness, and overall workplace health.

What’s the Real Cost of Staff Turnover?

Losing an employee doesn’t just leave a gap in your team. It hits your bottom line too. The cost of staff turnover is often much higher than people think. When someone leaves, you’re not only dealing with recruitment fees and onboarding time, but also covering their workload (usually through overtime or temporary staff), and coping with the dip in productivity while their replacement ramps up. According to Oxford Economics, it costs an average of £30,000 to replace an employee in the UK, once you factor in hiring, training, and lost output.

High turnover can also impact morale, slow down growth, and damage your employer brand. When employees constantly see people leaving, it sends the message that something isn’t right. That’s why understanding the true cost of turnover isn’t just a finance issue. It’s a culture and retention issue too.

Why Do Employees Leave? Let’s Talk Internal Causes

When employees leave, it’s tempting to blame external factors, better salaries elsewhere, industry norms, or personal circumstances. But more often than not, the real reasons are rooted inside the business. Internal causes of staff turnover are things you can influence, fix, and even prevent entirely with the right approach. These are the everyday friction points that wear people down: lack of recognition, poor leadership, zero room to grow. When left unaddressed, they quietly chip away at morale, engagement, and trust, until your best people decide they’ve had enough.

Here’s a closer look at the most common internal causes of high staff turnover:

🔄 Lack of Development Opportunities

Ambitious employees want to grow and if they don’t see a path forward, they’ll create one elsewhere. Whether it’s upskilling, mentoring, or formal career pathways, development isn’t a perk anymore, it’s expected. According to LinkedIn’s 2018 Workforce Learning Report, 94% of employees said they’d stay longer at a company that invested in their career development.

🏆 Lack of Recognition

It’s human nature: we all want to feel appreciated. When hard work goes unnoticed or unrewarded, motivation takes a hit. Recognition doesn’t have to be flashy, but some moments deserve more than just an email.

👎 Poor Line Management

Managers can make or break the employee experience. A disengaged or untrained manager can lead to conflict, confusion, and frustration – often pushing top performers out the door. Gallup found that managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, which directly impacts turnover.

📈 Unmanageable Workloads

Chronic overwork is a fast track to burnout. Whether it’s due to understaffing, poor delegation, or unrealistic expectations, consistently unmanageable workloads erode wellbeing and performance. Eventually, employees will prioritise their health and leave.

🎭 Misalignment Between Job Description and Reality

When a role isn’t what was promised, trust breaks down. If an employee joins based on certain expectations, outlined in a job ad or interview, but the day-to-day experience doesn’t match, they’re likely to feel misled. That disconnect can quickly lead to disengagement and departure.

💼 Poor Company Culture

Culture isn’t just about perks or social events, it’s about how people feel at work every day. A toxic or disconnected culture makes it hard for people to thrive. Employees want to feel like they belong, that their values align with the company, and that their voice matters.

⚖️ Discrimination or Inequality

Lack of inclusion, unequal treatment, or even subtle bias can all contribute to staff turnover, especially among underrepresented groups. Not only is this unethical, but it’s also a legal risk and a brand killer. A truly inclusive culture retains talent by treating everyone fairly and equitably.

🚫 Lack of Trust or Faith in the Business

If employees sense instability, poor leadership, or a lack of vision, they’ll lose faith. Whether it’s fears of redundancy, leadership changes, or unclear direction, uncertainty can drive people away, especially your top performers who have other options.

👇Stop Scrolling & Download Our Employee Appreciation Toolkit. Start building a workplace your people won’t want to leave. 👇

Here’s what you’ll get inside:

• Ready-to-use ideas for celebrating employees meaningfully and reducing turnover.
• Practical guides to build recognition into your daily culture
• Fresh insights on why appreciation drives retention and wellbeing
• Unique, human-first strategies that go beyond generic HR advice

Sometimes It’s Not You, It’s Everything Else: External Causes of Staff Turnover

While many turnover issues can be traced back to internal challenges, some causes are driven by external forces outside of your immediate control. These broader market trends and lifestyle shifts play a huge role in shaping employee expectations and behaviour. That said, even though you may not control these external causes, understanding them allows you to adapt your approach and stay competitive in today’s evolving work landscape.

Here are some of the most common external reasons employees leave:

💼 Better Opportunities Elsewhere

We’re in a talent-driven market, and top performers often have multiple options on the table. If a competitor offers better pay, benefits, flexibility, or development opportunities, it’s no surprise some employees will make the jump.

This is especially common in high-demand fields like tech, healthcare, and sales, where companies are actively poaching skilled workers. According to a Glassdoor study, 45% of employees cited salary as their top reason for leaving a job, but many also left for better career prospects or work-life balance.

🔁 Boredom or Repetitive Tasks

Routine work with little variety can lead to disengagement. Employees – especially younger generations – are increasingly driven by meaningful, dynamic work. Roles that lack challenge, autonomy, or opportunities for creativity often lead to boredom and, eventually, resignation. This is particularly common in sectors like retail, customer service, and admin-heavy roles, where repetitive tasks dominate the day-to-day experience.

🌍 Gig Economy and Remote Isolation

With the rise of the gig economy and freelance platforms, more workers are stepping away from traditional employment models in favour of flexibility and autonomy. Add to that the rise of remote work, and some employees may begin to feel disconnected from the company culture, their team, or even the purpose of their role. This isolation can accelerate disengagement.

How to Reduce Staff Turnover: Strategies That Actually Work

High staff turnover isn’t inevitable. While some level of attrition is normal, consistently losing great people is often a sign that something needs to change. The good news? You can do something to improve your employee retention. From culture to communication to career progression, there are proven strategies that help businesses not only retain talent, but also boost engagement, productivity, and morale.

Here’s what makes a real difference when it comes to reducing staff turnover:

🗣️ Listen to Employees and Act on Their Feedback

Want to know why people are leaving? Ask the people who are still here. Regular employee feedback -through anonymous pulse surveys, one-to-ones, or stay interviews – gives you real-time insights into what’s working and what’s not. More importantly, acting on that feedback shows you’re serious about making work better.

🧠 Perfect Your Hiring Process

Reducing turnover starts before someone even joins your team. Make sure you’re hiring not just for skills, but for culture fit, values, and long-term potential. Be honest and clear about what the job really involves to avoid misaligned expectations. Hiring right means fewer surprises for the employee, and fewer early exits for you.

🏆 Recognise and Reward Your People

Appreciation goes a long way. Employees who feel valued are more likely to stay engaged and loyal. Recognition doesn’t need to be flashy, sometimes a public “thank you” or a thoughtful gesture has more impact than a bonus. In fact, companies with high-recognition cultures have a lower voluntary turnover!

📚 Invest in Learning and Development

When employees grow, they stay. Offering opportunities for upskilling, mentoring, or cross-functional training makes people feel invested in, and more likely to invest back into your company. LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report found that companies with strong learning cultures have retention rates significantly higher than those that don’t.

🏡 Support Work-Life Balance

Burnout is one of the fastest ways to lose good people. Flexible working hours, remote options, and a culture that respects personal time all help employees feel supported beyond their job title.

🧭 Train and Support Your Managers

Great managers don’t just lead teams. They retain them. Invest in leadership training that helps your managers communicate clearly, give feedback, handle conflict, and recognise success. Employees who trust and feel supported by their managers are far more likely to stay.

🧩 Build a Strong, Inclusive Culture

Culture is about values, belonging, and psychological safety. Inclusive, transparent workplaces where people can be themselves foster loyalty and reduce the likelihood of disengagement. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being consistent, fair, and human.

Reducing staff turnover is an ongoing strategy rooted in understanding, empathy, and accountability. The payoff? A more committed team, a stronger culture, and a lot less time and money spent on replacing your best people.

Industries and Roles with the Highest Turnover

Not all industries are created equal when it comes to staff turnover. Some sectors naturally experience higher churn due to the nature of the work, the level of pay, or even generational expectations. But while high turnover might be “normal” in certain industries, that doesn’t mean it should be ignored. Understanding where turnover tends to spike can help you set realistic benchmarks, and find smarter ways to retain top talent, even in high-churn environments.

Here’s where turnover tends to run the highest:

🍽️ Hospitality

Think hotels, restaurants, catering and events. The hospitality sector is notorious for high turnover due to long hours, physically demanding roles, unpredictable scheduling, and often, limited career progression.

🏥 Healthcare

Nursing, care work, and medical support roles are emotionally and physically demanding—and often under-resourced. Burnout is a major driver of turnover here.

🛍️ Retail

Entry-level and part-time retail roles tend to see fast turnover. Employees may move on for better pay, more stable hours, or new opportunities. With many retail workers being students or in transitional roles, turnover rates remain high in retail.

☎️ Customer Service & Call Centres

High pressure, low autonomy, and repetitive tasks are a recipe for quick exits. Many workers in call centres move on within a year.

💻 Technology

This might surprise some, but the tech sector also sees high turnover, just for very different reasons. In-demand digital skills mean developers, engineers, and designers are constantly being headhunted. High mobility, start-up culture, and remote opportunities all contribute to average tenure being just 2–3 years in many tech roles.

🧒 Childcare and Education Support

Childcare professionals, especially in private nurseries and early years education, face high emotional labour and low pay, leading to frequent staff changes. Staff turnover in UK nurseries, for example, can be as high as 25% a year.

🥂 Sales

Sales roles, especially commission-based or high-pressure targets, often experience churn as people move for better incentives or burn out from the pace. Inside sales, telesales, and field roles are particularly volatile.

Understanding which industries and roles are prone to high turnover allows businesses to be proactive in retention strategies, recruitment, onboarding, and employee support. If you’re operating in one of these sectors, turnover might be common but it doesn’t have to be constant.

Step-by-Step Strategy to Reduce Staff Turnover

Here’s a practical step-by-step strategy any organisation can follow:

Step 1: Audit Your Current Turnover Data

• Why it matters: You can’t fix what you don’t understand.
• Review your current turnover rate and benchmark it against industry standards.
• Analyse exit interviews, employee surveys, and HR data to identify trends (e.g. department-level attrition, tenure drop-off points).

Step 2: Improve Your Hiring Process

• Why it matters: A strong start sets the tone.
• Create realistic, honest job descriptions that reflect day-to-day responsibilities.
• Hire not just for skill, but for cultural fit and long-term potential.
• Involve team members in the interview process to align expectations early.

Step 3: Optimise Onboarding for Engagement

• Why it matters: The first 90 days are critical.
• Develop a structured onboarding experience with clear milestones.
• Assign mentors or buddies to help new hires integrate faster.
• Use welcome gifts or personalised touches to build emotional connection.

Step 4: Invest in Manager Training

• Why it matters: Managers directly influence engagement and retention.
• Train line managers in emotional intelligence, feedback, and people leadership.
• Provide regular support and coaching for managers to improve team dynamics.
• Encourage weekly 1:1s and consistent recognition of individual efforts.

Step 5: Create Development and Growth Pathways

• Why it matters: Employees stay where they can grow.
• Offer structured career development programs or internal mobility plans.
• Support with training budgets, learning platforms, or cross-functional projects.
• Set clear goals and regularly revisit progression plans.

Step 6: Recognise and Reward Your People

• Why it matters: Feeling valued drives commitment.
• Build a culture of recognition – peer-to-peer, manager-led, and company-wide.
• Celebrate milestones (work anniversaries, wins, birthdays) with thoughtful, tangible gestures.
• Offer performance-based rewards that align with your company’s values.

Step 7: Support Wellbeing and Work-Life Balance

• Why it matters: Burnout drives attrition.
• Encourage flexible working and allow employees control over their schedules.
• Promote mental wellbeing support, including EAPs, mental health days, or wellness gifts.
• Normalize open conversations about stress, workload, and personal needs.

Step 8: Continuously Gather and Act on Feedback

• Why it matters: Engagement is dynamic.
• Run regular employee pulse surveys and anonymous feedback tools.
• Share key findings transparently and show what actions are being taken.
• Use “stay interviews” to understand why employees choose to remain – and what might push them to leave.

This approach turns reactive turnover management into a proactive retention strategy – one rooted in trust, development, and culture.

Staff Retention Starts with the Right Strategy

Reducing staff turnover is about consistent, meaningful action across every touchpoint in the employee experience. From hiring the right people to supporting their growth, recognising their efforts, and listening to their feedback, retention is built one moment at a time. When your team feels valued, supported, and seen, they’re far more likely to stay, grow, and thrive with your business.

Need a head start? Download our free Employee Appreciation Toolkit packed with ideas, templates, and tangible ways to recognise your team and strengthen engagement across your organisation. Because when appreciation becomes part of your culture, retention follows naturally.