The business cost of labour turnover

An interesting insight here from accountants PwC which helps us make some useful points when teaching about staff or labour turnover. PwC estimate that the annual cost to UK businesses of staff turnover is in the region of £42bn, when account is taken of the cost recruiting and training replacement staff + the lost productivity when experienced staff move on. A nice benchmark in the survey too. The average annual labour turnover in the UK is estimated at 10%, compared with 7% in the USA and 5% in France and Germany. The savvy business student will appreciate, of course, that staff turnover rates will vary considerably from industry to industry, and from firm to firm within the same industry. The key questions for them to consider are why…and what can a firm do about it?