What is Attrition?
Attrition is the rate at which employees leave a company over a given period, whether through resignation, retirement, or termination, and is not backfilled or is more broadly used to describe overall workforce reduction over time.
Why does Attrition matter?
Rising attrition, especially voluntary attrition among strong performers, is often an early warning sign of deeper problems with compensation, management, or culture that are worth investigating before they compound.
How does Attrition work?
Organizations calculate attrition rate by dividing the number of employees who left during a period by the average number of employees during that period, then track the trend over time, often broken down by department, tenure, or manager.
Frequently asked questions
Is attrition the same as turnover?
The terms are often used interchangeably, though some organizations use turnover to include replaced departures and attrition specifically for roles that are not backfilled.
What is considered a healthy attrition rate?
This varies significantly by industry, but many organizations target overall annual attrition in the range of 10% to 15%, treating anything notably higher as a signal worth investigating.
How BrightMove helps
BrightMove’s Wisdom analytics platform tracks attrition trends alongside hiring data, connecting departures back to source and hiring process. See BrightMove’s recruiting analytics.