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What Causes Employee Turnover? · The Science of Leading

• 0:00
  Alright, welcome back to The Science of Leading,
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  everyone.
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  I'm Claire Monroe, and-okay, I know we always start with a big topic,
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  but this one's everywhere right now.
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  Edwin, let's talk about turnover.
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  It's not just some random HR stat-when someone leaves,
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  you're losing way more than just a seat at the desk,
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  right?
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  Absolutely, Claire.
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  Losing an employee, especially a high performer,
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  is like losing the gears in your machine.
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  Productivity drops.
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  Institutional knowledge walks out the door-and it's not just that person's
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  work.
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  You're looking at lost relationships,
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  context, and the, uh, informal connections that keep teams moving.
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  Each exit, especially an early one,
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  comes with disruption far beyond what's on a spreadsheet.
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  Yeah,
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  and it's interesting because-not all turnover is the same.
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  We love to lump it all together,
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  but there are these shades.
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  You've got voluntary exits, involuntary ones,
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  and even functional turnover-like when,
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  honestly, someone leaves and the team actually gets stronger.
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  But dysfunctional turnover, that's where it stings-the top talent or
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  the irreplaceable folks, that's where leaders really need to pay attention,
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  right?
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  Exactly, Claire.
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  Functional turnover-when lower performers leave-can be a sign of a healthy
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  system recalibrating.
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  But dysfunctional turnover, that's the red flag.
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  That's high performers, linchpins-when they depart,
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  it's a sign something deeper isn't working.
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  And timing matters, too: Early exits,
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  say, in the first 90 days, usually signal onboarding or expectation gaps.
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  Later exits might point to missing growth opportunities,
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  pay clarity, or just plain burnout.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  I actually felt that myself.
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  So, story time-my first job, right out of college,
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  I lasted maybe six months.
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  There was no real feedback, no growth path,
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  nothing to tell me how I was doing or where things could go.
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  I kind of felt invisible, honestly.
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  It's funny, now I see how those early missteps in onboarding or clarity
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  can lead to that quick turnover pattern...
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  and it's not a "bad apples" thing-it's the system that failed.
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  That's
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  a great point, Claire.
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  It's rarely just one person's fault-it's almost always rooted in consistent
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  patterns.
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  When you notice early exits, it's time to examine your hiring,
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  onboarding, and communication practices.
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  And honestly, even the difference between "high" and "excessive" turnover
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  matters.
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  It's not about matching benchmarks-it's about seeing where your patterns
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  repeat, who's leaving, and why.
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  So,
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  for the numbers people out there-let's talk about how you actually track
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  all this.
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  There are formulas, and then there's... reality.
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  But if you're just looking at your one,
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  average, company-wide turnover rate-Edwin,
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  are folks missing the plot?
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  They are,
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  Claire.
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  The simple formula-number of employees who left,
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  divided by average headcount, times a hundred-gives you a rate,
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  sure.
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  But if you just look at that average,
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  you risk overlooking the real trouble spots.
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  I always suggest segmenting the data-cut it by department,
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  by tenure, by job family, by, uh,
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  direct manager.
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  The patterns you'll see there,
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  well-that's where the root causes come to light.
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  And I love that idea.
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  Because, you can have one team falling apart while the company "looks
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  fine" on paper, right?
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  You really need that kind of-almost CSI, like, where's the pattern?
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  Who's leaving before the 90-day mark, who's burning out after three years... that
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  sort of thing.
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  Exactly.
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  Let me give you a real example.
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  There was a U.
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  S.
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  tech firm I worked with-not a huge one, but their early turnover rate was through
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  the roof.
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  Everyone assumed it was about salary.
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  But when we broke out turnover by tenure and job family,
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  we found most departures were new hires.
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  The real culprit was onboarding gaps, not pay, and once they focused on
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  strengthening how new folks came onboard, their early turnover rate dropped by
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  half.
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  It wasn't about chasing higher salaries-it was about fixing the
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  experience for newcomers.
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  That's so good because companies love to blame "the market" or use averages.
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  But it's, like, if you ignore tenure or lump everyone together,
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  you just end up fixing the wrong problem.
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  And I feel like this comes up a lot with clients-people only look at turnover in
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  isolation, but what about mixing it with engagement or performance feedback?
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  That's the next step.
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  If you're just staring at HR exit data, you're missing the story.
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  You've gotta compare turnover patterns with things like engagement scores,
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  manager surveys, even pulse-checks on performance.
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  Turnover tells you what happened.
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  But drop-offs in engagement or satisfaction-those are the uh,
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  flashing-warning signs, the predictors of who might leave next.
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  Don't wait for resignations to wake you up.
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  And, not to harp on this, but I love seeing how segmenting your data is
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  actually an act of empathy.
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  Because you're seeing real people behind each metric-not just numbers,
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  but reasons, and, like, root causes you can influence.
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  That's way more actionable than "let's chase our average."Absolutely, Claire.
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  The goal isn't to explain away turnover.
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  It's to find the piece you can control-and then go after it,
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  systematically.
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  So let's roll up our sleeves a bit-because this is where I think
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  listeners want practical ideas.
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  Once you spot the root causes, what do you actually do?
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  Edwin, I know you've seen the "snack bar equals retention" myth a few times.
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  What real levers work?
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  Well, the short answer is: focus on manager quality, pay fairness, growth,
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  and work design, Claire.
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  Strong managers are the number one difference-maker for retention.
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  The data is clear-people don't quit companies, they quit managers.
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  So, invest in weekly 1 on 1s, make success criteria ridiculously clear,
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  and train managers in basic coaching and feedback.
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  If turnover clusters in one spot, you fix the system by starting with the
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  manager-not by launching another culture campaign.
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  And I think sometimes companies avoid the pay topic, hoping it'll just, like,
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  magically get better.
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  But clarity, even more than the exact number,
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  makes such a difference.
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  Employees want to know the why and how behind pay bands, raises, what they can
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  expect if they grow... otherwise it just feels random.
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  Well said.
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  If you do just one thing around pay, make it explainable.
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  Transparent pay bands, open conversations about what drives increases, and making
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  sure managers don't dodge those talks.
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  It's the fairness and consistency that move the needle.
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  So that's manager quality and pay, but what about growth and development?
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  Like, not every company can offer a promotion every year.
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  Is it still worth mapping out skill growth or internal mobility?
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  Or is that just a feel-good distraction?
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  It's not a distraction at all, Claire.
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  High-performing employees leave when they stop seeing ways to grow.
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  You can create skills maps, show what "good" looks like at each level, and give
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  people pathways-even if it's a lateral move or a chance to take on projects with
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  more impact.
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  Internal mobility and clearer paths retain talent,
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  even if promotions are rare.
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  Can I just jump in with something on onboarding again?
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  Because, after my own early exit, I've always thought companies underinvest in
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  the first 90 days.
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  Things like 30/60/90-day check-ins, weekly manager touchpoints, and actual
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  feedback loops make a difference.
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  Those little rituals send the message: "We actually care if you
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  succeed."Precisely.
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  A structured onboarding plan, with real commitments-weekly check-ins and
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  milestones-turns uncertainty into progress.
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  You can often prevent early exits just by making expectations and support visible
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  from day one.
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  And sometimes, too, it's redesigning the job itself-reducing the meeting overload,
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  protecting deep work time, making sure workloads are realistic.
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  You've said before it's not about "wellness programs"-it's about the
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  reality of work, not the perks.
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  Absolutely.
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  It's not about yoga stipends.
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  It's about setting rules for recovery after crunch periods,
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  making "urgent" actually mean something, and protecting people from the always-on
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  spiral.
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  Those design choices keep top performers from burning out and heading for the
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  exit.
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  And you've got one of my favorite stories about this, Edwin.
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  I think it was a branch you coached where turnover was-what, forty percent?
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  Yes, that's right.
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  It was actually a client branch struggling with 40% staff loss per year.
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  We discovered most of it was tied to inconsistent management-people didn't
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  know how to get promoted, or even if they could.
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  So, we worked on manager coaching and rolled out clear,
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  transparent promotion paths.
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  Within a year, turnover fell to just 12%.
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  So, sometimes it's not about grand gestures.
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  It's about getting the basics right and making them consistent.
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  It's just so actionable.
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  If our listeners take away anything, it's that reducing turnover isn't
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  mysterious-study your patterns, repair the system, and go root first,
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  not symptom first.
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  Precisely, Claire.
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  Preventing turnover is always easier-and cheaper-than replacing the talent you've
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  lost.
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  And that work, it never really ends.
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  Alright, that wraps us for today.
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  Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom, Edwin-and thanks to everyone listening.
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  If you want to see some of these ideas in action, head over to OAD.
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  ai.
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  We'll catch you next time on The Science of Leading!
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  Thanks, Claire.
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  And thank you all for joining us-see you on the next episode.