15 employee retention statistics and figures to know ahead of 2025 (UK)

The global turnover rate 2024

• The global employee turnover rate has risen to approximately 20% in 2024 – this is up from 18% in 2023 (The Work Institute).

The average employee turnover rate

• The average employee turnover rate for UK workers is currently 35%.

That’s more than one third of UK employees leaving their jobs each year – so keep this in mind when setting your own retention goals and KPIs for your organisation.

According to the CIPD, this is made up of 26.9% of employees who move to another employer, and 8% who are not working one year later due to other reasons such as study, retirement, or a career break.

The average staff turnover rates by industry 2022 – 2023

• Gallup research suggests a healthy staff turnover rate is 10%.

However, many factors including location, industry, and company size contribute to what is considered ‘good’ – so we recommend only using this as a rule of thumb.

Cendex did a data analysis of voluntary turnover rates by broad industry sector over the 12 months from July 2022 – July 2023. Here’s what they found:

• Private sector services – 8.9% turnover
• Public sector services – 14.6% turnover
• Manufacturing and production – 8.1% turnover
• Charities and NFP – 19% turnover

The CIPD also has turnover rates by industry figures, however these are for 2020 – 2021 which was during the peak of the pandemic. The CIPD report shows:

• In the UK, accommodation and food services industries have the highest employee turnover.
• In the UK, extraterritorial organisations have the lowest employee turnover.

The average staff turnover rates by organisation size 2022 – 2023

According to the same Cendex research and analysis, smaller organisations experience higher turnover than larger organisations.

• 1 – 249 employees – 18.2% turnover
• 250 – 999 employees – 15.4% turnover
• 1000+ employees – 13.6% turnover

The cost of high staff turnover and poor retention

• The average cost of turnover per employee (earning £25,000 a year or more) is £30,614. (Oxford Economics).
• Similar research reported by Centric HR, shows that the average cost to replace an employee can cost between 6-9 months’ of their salary – this includes recruitment costs, training expenses relating to the new employee, and salary.
• UK employers invest around £42 billion in employee training every year. This averages out as a spend of 1530 per employee annually. (Department for Education UK).

With these figures in mind, just imagine the expenses involved if you are constantly needing to re-hire and train due to high turnover!

How to improve employee retention and reduce staff turnover

Stribe is award-winning employee engagement and survey software built to create happier, healthier teams.

Aimed at giving employees a stronger voice with customisable surveys, we work with organisations to create people-focused objectives that enhance wellbeing and culture – and that includes retention.

If you’d like to learn more, take a short tour with our interactive demo.

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About the author

Jade Madeley

Starting out her early career as a journalist, Jade Madeley is an accomplished content writer with 8+ years’ experience across business, personal finance, SaaS, human resources and employee engagement. Working with Stribe, she crafts insightful content that brings complex HR topics to life and drives meaningful action.