Employee Turnover Rate vs Employee Retention Rate (ERR)
Turnover rate and retention rate are inverses of each other — together they give a complete view of workforce stability. Turnover counts who left; retention measures who stayed. Tracking both separately is useful because voluntary turnover (resignation) carries different signals than involuntary turnover (layoffs).
At a Glance
Employee Turnover Rate
Percentage of employees who leave the organization over a period
Employee Retention Rate (ERR)
Percentage of employees who remain with the organization over a specific period
Key Differences
- Retention rate ≈ 1 − Turnover rate (they are near-inverses, though calculation windows differ).
- Turnover naturally highlights the problem; retention highlights what is working.
- Involuntary turnover (layoffs) should be separated from voluntary turnover to avoid distortion.
- Industry benchmarks differ widely — tech companies average higher voluntary turnover than manufacturing.
When to Use Each
Use Employee Turnover Rate when…
Use turnover rate to quantify the cost and disruption of employee exits. Segment by voluntary vs involuntary and by department or tenure cohort.
Full Employee Turnover Rate guide →Use Employee Retention Rate (ERR) when…
Use retention rate for year-over-year benchmarking, especially for specific high-value segments like senior engineers or top performers.
Full Employee Retention Rate guide →Formulas
EMPLOYEE TURNOVER RATE
Turnover Rate = (Number of Separations / Average Number of Employees) × 100
(Voluntary Resignations / Average Headcount) × 100EMPLOYEE RETENTION RATE (ERR)
ERR = ((Beginning Headcount - Departures) / Beginning Headcount) × 100
100 - Turnover RateCharts
Employee Turnover Rate
Employee Retention Rate (ERR)