How Do I Write a Turnover Report?

Employee turnover can be extremely costly to a corporation. Not only is there a financial expense tied to the loss of employees, but there is a time component involved too. When employees leave, time and money must be invested to search and identify suitable replacements. Also, new employees typically undergo some type of training to prepare these individuals for the new responsibilities. Preparing a turnover report includes assigning a number to the rate at which employees are leaving a particular organization.

When writing a turnover report, you should incorporate a turnover ratio. This represents the rate of employee departures based on the number of existing and new personnel over a period. Just arriving at a percentage is not enough, and you should include the numbers and steps taken to get to those results. A glance at the numbers in an easy-to-read table will give readers, who may be supervisors and staff in a personnel department, an obvious indication of turnover. Data expressed in a turnover report should alert a management team if employee retention is a serious problem at an organization.

Several different items should be displayed in a table contained within a turnover report. You must identify a series of numbers to begin and a time period for which turnover is being measured. First, recognize the number of employees at the start of the period. Include a column for any additional employees who were hired during that period to create a subtotal after those new workers are accounted for.

Next, create a column in the same table identifying the number of employees who left during the period. It doesn't make a difference if those individuals resigned or were terminated. Just include any employees who are no longer working for the company. The next column should represent the number of employees who remain after the turnover.

A turnover ratio can be created next, and this can be the last column in the turnover report. The equation is to divide the number of departing employees by the total headcount including new hires during a period. Multiply the result by 100, and you have the turnover ratio.

Certain industries might rely on part-time workers during certain seasons of the year or to support temporary projects. For instance, a landscaping company might need additional personnel following a severe snowstorm. In this case, you can create an additional turnover ratio without including seasonal personnel. The higher the turnover ratio is, the more of an issue employee retention is at a company.