Understand The Impact Of Employee Turnover And The Benefits Of Retention Scorm(1)

About this package

This package examines the impact of employee turnover and the benefits of retention, linking reasons for leaving with practical HR responses and organisational costs. It distinguishes voluntary, employee-initiated departures from involuntary, employer-initiated departures, then separates avoidable exits from those an organisation could not realistically prevent. These distinctions help learners identify where retention effort is likely to make a difference, rather than treating every departure as the same problem.

The first part explores push factors that drive people away from their current employer and pull factors that attract them elsewhere. Sector-specific examples connect these causes to the effects on managers, customers, finance and other stakeholders. Learners consider workforce stability in practical terms: maintaining sufficient skills and experience to deliver reliable performance. The content recognises that some movement is healthy, while repeated or poorly managed losses can disrupt service, workload and team continuity.

The retention content compares a range of approaches rather than presenting a single solution. It covers appraisals and performance conversations, training and development, lateral moves, flexible working and work–life balance. It also examines workplace characteristics, job enrichment, fair and equitable reward, career breaks and realistic job previews. Learners consider how these approaches address different reasons for leaving and compare options by cost, feasibility and likely effectiveness, supporting a more targeted retention plan.

The final part focuses on dysfunctional turnover: losses that damage organisational capability or performance. Learners calculate and interpret turnover measures, examine recruitment, selection, induction and initial training costs, and consider less visible effects such as lost productivity, knowledge, skills and morale. The package brings these elements together through total-cost estimates and a business case for retention investment. Its stated outcomes include analysing a provided case study and designing a concise retention plan for a specified organisational unit, with choices justified by the costs and causes identified.

Who it’s for

Suitable for HR and people professionals, managers with workforce responsibilities, and learners studying HR practice. The content suits those developing analytical skills in turnover measurement, retention planning and business-case preparation.

What’s covered

1. Understanding types of employee turnover

   Defines voluntary and involuntary turnover and distinguishes avoidable from unavoidable departures. Explains why these classifications matter when choosing an appropriate organisational response.

2. Reasons for leaving and workforce stability

   Explores push and pull factors influencing employees’ decisions to leave or stay. Uses sector-specific examples to consider stakeholder impacts, workforce stability and practical responses to patterns of turnover.

3. Appraisals and performance conversations

   Examines how performance reviews can support retention through clear expectations, fair treatment and development opportunities. Also considers how poorly handled appraisals can become a reason to leave.

4. Training, development and lateral moves

   Distinguishes training for current-role performance from wider development. Explores how learning opportunities and lateral moves can reduce stagnation and give employees reasons to remain.

5. Flexible working and work–life balance

   Considers changes to when, where or how people work and their role in reducing pressures associated with personal responsibilities and wellbeing. Links sustainable working arrangements to avoidable turnover and retention.

6. Workplace design and job enrichment

   Examines how working conditions, job structure, autonomy and meaningful work influence retention. Explains intrinsic reasons to stay that arise from the work itself rather than external rewards.

7. Reward, career breaks and realistic job previews

   Explores fair and equitable pay and benefits, career breaks, and realistic information about a role before someone joins. Connects these approaches to trust, changing personal circumstances and expectations that match the reality of the job.

8. Measuring and interpreting employee turnover

   Introduces turnover metrics and explains why consistent definitions and reporting periods matter. Considers how breaking down the figures can reveal where departures are affecting service and capability.

9. Direct costs of recruitment and onboarding

   Examines recruitment and selection expenditure alongside the staff time involved in replacing an employee. Covers leaver and starter administration, induction, initial training and the demands placed on managers and experienced colleagues.

10. Indirect costs of dysfunctional turnover

    Explores productivity losses before and after a departure, alongside the loss of skills and knowledge. Considers effects on morale, workload, service quality and the time needed for a replacement to become effective.

11. Total turnover costs and the retention business case

    Brings direct and indirect costs together to estimate cost per leaver and total turnover costs. Explains how these estimates can support a credible business case for reducing avoidable, dysfunctional turnover.

Learning outcomes

By completing this package, learners can:

• Define and distinguish voluntary and involuntary turnover, and avoidable and unavoidable turnover, using examples from organisational contexts.
• Explain and classify push and pull factors influencing why people leave or remain in organisations, and summarise their likely effects on workforce stability.
• Calculate and interpret basic employee turnover metrics, including overall and voluntary turnover rates, for a given dataset and explain what they indicate about organisational health.
• Compare at least four retention approaches using predefined criteria of cost, feasibility and likely effectiveness.
• Analyse the direct and indirect costs of dysfunctional employee turnover for a provided case study, including recruitment, induction, lost productivity and lost knowledge, and quantify them where possible.
• Design a concise retention plan for a specified organisational unit, combining approaches to reduce avoidable turnover and justifying choices using evidence from the costs and factors analysed.

Frequently asked questions

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