Employee turnover calculator
Enter your headcount and separations to get your turnover rate, an annualized figure, and what the churn costs you. Built from your numbers, not industry averages. Free, no sign-up.
What's your turnover rate?
Enter your headcount and separations. The formula updates with your numbers as you type.
Your annual turnover rate
15.7%
Average headcount = (120 + 110) ÷ 2 = 115
Turnover rate = 18 ÷ 115 × 100 = 15.7%
- Separations per year 18
- Cost to replace one person $7,500
- Estimated annual cost of turnover $135,000
That's about 2.5 average salaries in replacement costs every year.
Replacing people is expensive. Hiring the right person the first time starts with screening. Truffle combines resume screening, one-way interviews, and talent assessments so you shortlist with evidence. AI surfaces it. You decide.
How to calculate turnover rate
Turnover rate is separations divided by average headcount, multiplied by 100.
Turnover rate = separations ÷ average headcount × 100
Average headcount smooths out growth or shrinkage during the period. Take your headcount on day one, add your headcount on the last day, and divide by 2.
Here's the default example in the calculator. You start the year with 120 people and end with 110. Along the way, 18 people leave. Average headcount is (120 + 110) ÷ 2 = 115. Turnover rate is 18 ÷ 115 × 100 = 15.7%.
Use average headcount, not starting headcount. If you hired aggressively mid-year, dividing by your January number overstates the rate. If you shrank, it understates it.
Annualizing a monthly or quarterly rate
A monthly or quarterly rate looks small until you project it across a year. Multiply a monthly rate by 12, or a quarterly rate by 4.
Say 5 people leave in a quarter on an average headcount of 100. That's a 5% quarterly rate. Multiply by 4 and you're trending at 20% for the year. The calculator does this for you when you pick month or quarter as your period.
Treat the annualized number as a run rate, not a forecast. One rough month after a reorg can make a whole year look worse than it is, so confirm the trend over two or three periods before you escalate it.
What counts as a separation
Count everyone who left the company during the period, voluntary or involuntary. Resignations, terminations, layoffs, and retirements all count.
Internal moves don't. A promotion, a transfer to another team, or a change of manager isn't a separation. The person is still with you.
Split voluntary from involuntary when you review the number. Fifteen resignations tell a different story than fifteen layoffs. One points at retention and the quality of your hires. The other points at planning.
What turnover actually costs
There's no universal cost of turnover, so this calculator doesn't pretend there is one. It multiplies your separations by your own estimate of what replacing one person costs.
To build that estimate, count what you actually spend: position ads, agency fees if you use them, the hours your team puts into screening and interviews, onboarding, and the output you lose while the seat sits empty.
If you don't know that number yet, work it out with the cost per hire calculator first, then add onboarding and ramp time on top. Replacing someone always costs more than the hiring invoice.
Turnover rate questions, answered
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How do you calculate employee turnover rate?
Divide separations by your average headcount for the period, then multiply by 100. Average headcount is your starting headcount plus your ending headcount, divided by 2. So 18 separations on an average headcount of 115 is a 15.7% turnover rate.
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What is a good employee turnover rate?
There's no universal number. Turnover varies widely by industry, role mix, and seniority, and most published averages blend all three. Compare this quarter against your own last four quarters instead. Your trend tells you more than someone else's average.
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What counts as a separation?
Anyone who left the company during the period: resignations, terminations, layoffs, and retirements. Internal moves don't count. A promotion or a transfer isn't turnover because the person stayed. Whatever you include, keep it consistent from period to period.
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How do you annualize a monthly or quarterly turnover rate?
Multiply a monthly rate by 12 or a quarterly rate by 4. A 4% quarterly rate annualizes to 16%. Treat it as a run rate, not a forecast. One unusual month can swing the projection, so check it against a longer stretch before acting on it.
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What's the difference between turnover and attrition?
Turnover counts everyone who leaves, and you usually plan to refill the seat. Attrition usually means departures you don't backfill, like a role you retire after a resignation. Most teams track turnover as the headline number and note attrition separately.
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How much does employee turnover cost?
It depends on your roles and your hiring process, which is why this calculator multiplies your own separations by your own replacement estimate instead of quoting an industry figure. Count position ads, agency fees, your team's screening and interview time, and onboarding when you estimate the cost to replace one person.
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- Interviewing Interview question generator Pick a role family, seniority, and the competencies you care about. Get a structured question set with a scorecard.
Turnover starts with who you let in
High turnover and a high cost per hire usually trace back to the same place: who gets through screening. Truffle is a candidate screening platform that combines resume screening, one-way video interviews, and talent assessments, so you shortlist with evidence before anyone gets an offer. AI surfaces the evidence. You make the call.
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