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 staff 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 speak to our friendly team about how we can help, simply book a chat, or you can get started with these free and helpful resources!

Employee retention survey questions

How to keep your best employees from leaving

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.