People Analytics For Dummies

Chapter 11

Attrition: Analyzing Employee Commitment and Attrition

IN THIS CHAPTER

Measuring employee attrition

Measuring employee commitment

Carefully examining the reasons why people leave

Example exit survey

Attrition refers to the number or percentage of employees who are leaving a company to work for other companies or who have decided to pursue other opportunities. Attrition rate is the measurement you'd use to determine the percentage of employees who have left a company in a given period. (Some might use other terms to refer to attrition rate — termination rate and exit rate come to mind — but they all mean the same thing.)

If you're convinced that, in the grand scheme of things, attrition is out of your control, you’re in for a rude awakening. To create an above-average company, you have to do three things well: a) hire employees capable of high performance b) activate those employees to a level of high performance and c) keep in the fold more employees with above-average performance than those with average or low performance. This chapter is about your ability to control ...