Workplace 101: A Profiles Global Business Blog

How much do you spend on recruiting and replacing an employee? It is estimated that most organizations spend between $4,000 and $40,000 per employee. With the upper end of that range equaling an entire year’s salary in some parts of the United States, managers are understandably reluctant to simply accept turnover as an everyday cost of doing business.

We recently wrote about the explosion of big data and its effects on human resources. HR metrics are the foundation of HR data analysis. They are also the only concrete way to measure the effectiveness of your HR efforts. Popular metrics that have been around forever include:

Consider this situation- you are hiring for a sales position at your company. You have two equally impressive employees. Both candidates had identical GPAs in college. Both candidates have sales experience at a major company. Both candidates were friendly and professional during their interviews. Who do you hire?

Do you know what is important to your prospective and current employees? Do you work hard to meet those needs? If you answered yes to both questions, then you probably have a low employee turnover rate. However, this is not the case for all employers and many companies struggle with the issue of employee turnover.

The days of marriage lasting forever and the days of an employee working at one company forever are long gone. Based on recent statistics, the average marriage only lasts 8 years, and let’s face it; it is uncommon for an employee to remain at one company for more than 5 years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employee tenure in 2010 was 4.4 years. Although companies cannot prevent employee turnover, they can take steps to reduce their turnover rate and increase employee tenure. So, why do employees choose to end the relationship and voluntarily leave a company?

Researched and edited by Jeffrey Meyers

Each year on March 17, everyone, regardless of their ancestral heritage, can claim to be Irish for the day. On St. Patrick’s Day people celebrate all things Irish by wearing green, decorating with shamrocks, and telling kids about Leprechauns with pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. (And don’t forget the Irish food and a pint!)