17 years helping Canadian businesses
choose better software
Attrition
Attrition refers to employee departure from a company for any reason. Departures may be voluntary or involuntary, including resignation, firing, death, or retirement. Attrition is a natural process that occurs over the course of normal business operations. Organizations may welcome a certain amount of attrition if they want to slowly downsize or reduce their staffing budget. In this case, the roles of departed employees may go unfilled for a while or be eliminated.
What Small and Midsize Businesses Need to Know About Attrition
Attrition is an important metric to monitor over time for any SMB. High attrition rates should be a cause for concern; they often indicate a bigger issue with an organization’s culture, such as poor management or lack of upward growth. Recruiting and training new employees plus lost productivity are all costs associated with high attrition.
Related terms
- Absence Management
- Furlough
- Onboarding
- Attrition
- Right to Work
- Employee Self-Service (ESS)
- Background Check
- Equity Theory
- Performance Management
- Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)
- Gamification
- Center of Excellence (COE)
- Succession Planning and Management
- Workforce Analytics
- Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
- Employee Resource Group (ERG)
- Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)
- 9-Box Model
- Enterprise Applications
- People Analytics