Employee attrition: What it is and how to calculate it

Like it or not, every organization loses people. But it’s worth paying attention to why people are leaving and whether it’s a pattern you need to act on.

This is where attrition comes into play. So, what is employee attrition? It’s a term that often comes up in HR conversations, especially around employee departures.

In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at what attrition means (including how it’s different from turnover), how to calculate your company’s attrition rate, and what to do with that number once you have it.

Key insights

• Attrition happens when an employee leaves and their role isn’t backfilled, which reduces headcount.

• Attrition and turnover are often used interchangeably, but they measure different things. Attrition describes an empty role that is disappearing entirely, while turnover refers to a role that gets refilled.

• Attrition rates are most useful when used with context. Industry, team, tenure, and growth stage all shape what’s worth digging into and what’s simply normal workforce movement.

What is attrition?

Here’s how we define attrition as simply as possible:

It’s when an employee leaves an organization and their role isn’t backfilled. Headcount is reduced. That’s the basic definition of employee attrition, and it’s what separates attrition from other kinds of workforce change.

HR teams use attrition to understand how the organization’s structure is changing over time. Employee attrition doesn’t focus on a single departure. It looks for the patterns that numerous departures reveal. 

Types of employee attrition

Employee attrition is typically broken down into a few different types:

1. Voluntary attrition: When someone chooses to leave, whether it’s for a new job, retirement, or personal reasons.

2. Involuntary attrition: When roles are eliminated by the organization itself, through layoffs or restructuring.

3. Internal attrition: When someone leaves a role or team but stays at the company, such as through a promotion or an internal transfer. The company doesn’t lose the person, but the original team still has a vacancy to plan around.

You might also hear the term natural attrition, a subset of voluntary attrition. It refers to employee departures that are tied to expected life events (like retirement, for example), rather than someone leaving because they’re dissatisfied or got a better offer elsewhere.

Voluntary and involuntary attrition reduce your organization’s overall headcount, while internal attrition shows up at the team level. Each reveals different things about what’s happening inside your workforce, so it’s worth tracking them separately.

Is attrition the same as turnover?

Attrition and turnover aren’t the same thing, though people sometimes use the terms interchangeably. There’s one big difference, and it’s what happens after the employee’s departure. Attrition describes a role that is going away entirely, while turnover refers to a role the organization still needs and plans to fill.

If someone quits and you hire a replacement, that’s employee turnover. If someone quits (or their role is cut) and the position just disappears, that’s attrition. 

Looking at your attrition rate vs. turnover rate can reveal a lot. A high turnover rate with a low attrition rate might mean you’re struggling to hold on to people you need. High attrition alongside modest turnover is more likely related to intentional headcount reduction or organizational restructuring.

What are common reasons for employee attrition?

People leave for a mix of reasons, but voluntary attrition in the workplace often involves certain factors. These include a lack of:

• Career growth: Employees who eventually leave tend to respond less favorably to survey statements about having good career opportunities at their company. In fact, limited development opportunities is one of the most commonly cited reasons employees leave.

• Role clarity and expectations: When people aren’t sure what’s expected of them or how their work connects to the bigger picture, they’re more likely to disengage. And disengaged employees are more likely to start job searching.

• Inclusion: Employees who don’t feel like they belong are likely to start looking elsewhere.

• Compensation: Pay matters, but it’s also not the full story. In many cases, pay is one factor among several, rather than the sole reason someone decided to leave.

• Culture and leadership: A single interaction probably won’t cause someone to exit, but day-to-day experiences with managers and leadership impact whether someone sees a future at the company. 

These factors are all connected. Someone might tolerate pay that’s slightly below market if they’re growing quickly. Or they might stick through a rough stretch if they really trust and respect their manager. It’s usually a combination of things that tips someone toward leaving.

What is an attrition rate?

Once you understand the basics of attrition, you may find yourself asking questions like: What does attrition rate mean, and how do you measure it

Measuring attrition is about calculating the percentage of employees who leave your organization over a given period of time, without being replaced. This quantifies attrition so you can track it, compare it across teams or time periods, and spot patterns you’d otherwise miss by only looking at individual departures.

Attrition levels can vary depending on your industry, company size, and growth stage. You might expect a high attrition rate in one situation (like an intentional restructuring), but find it alarming in another (like a growing team suddenly losing several people at once). As with any other metric, context usually matters more than the number itself.

How to calculate your attrition rate

Wondering how to compute your attrition rate? It isn’t complicated once you know what to plug in. You just need two numbers: how many employees left without being replaced during a set time period and your average headcount over that same period. From there, the attrition formula looks like this:

(Number of employees who left and weren’t replaced ÷ average number of employees) x 100 = attrition rate

Remember to apply the same time period to both numbers. Using your monthly departure count and your annual headcount average will throw off your result.

Example attrition rate calculation

Let’s say you want to calculate your attrition percentage for last quarter. Your company started the quarter with 200 employees and ended with 190. During that time, 15 employees left and weren’t replaced.

Here’s how the math works:

• Average headcount: (200 + 190) ÷ 2 = 195

• Employees who left: 15

• Attrition rate: (15 ÷ 195) x 100 = 7.7%

The inevitable next question is whether or not that number is “good,” and the answer is a little more complicated than you might expect.

What is considered a “good” attrition rate?

There isn’t one clean number that applies across every organization. What counts as high attrition in one company, industry, or team could be entirely normal in another. For example, a fast-growing startup and a mature enterprise are going to look completely different.

Instead of chasing a universal benchmark, it’s more useful to track what your company’s attrition rate looks like over time, along with whether it’s concentrated in a specific area. A steady rate across the organization tells you something different than a spike in one department.

Put simply, don’t set your sights on hitting a magic number. Instead, focus on understanding who’s leaving, why, and whether it’s something you need to act on.

Why is it important to track your attrition rate?

Attrition in HR isn’t just a number you report to leadership. If you’re tracking attrition consistently enough to notice when something shifts, it’s a sign to explore that change and the reasons behind it.

Without consistent monitoring, a slow uptick in attrition can go unnoticed until it’s already affecting productivity, team morale, or your reputation as an employer. 

Tracking your rate over time (and breaking it down by team, tenure, or role) gives you the chance to catch a pattern early and figure out what’s behind it, rather than reacting after several people have walked out the door.

5 tips for improving attrition

“Improving attrition” doesn’t mean eliminating it. Some attrition is expected and even useful. When people talk about improving attrition, they’re really talking about improving your ability to understand attrition so you’re in a better spot to take any necessary action. Here’s how:

1. Don’t treat every departure as a failure: Zero attrition isn’t the goal. Instead, ask whether you’re seeing normal workforce movement or a pattern that’s worth digging into.

2. Look past pay as the default explanation: If raises or bonuses are your go-to moves when you see attrition ticking up, you might retain someone for a few months without ever addressing why departing employees started looking elsewhere in the first place. Growth opportunities, leadership, inclusion, and workload usually matter just as much.

3. Treat managers as partners: Managers are closest to the day-to-day experience of their team, which makes them well-positioned to help investigate a pattern and follow through on any changes.

4. Judge your rate against your own context: An industry average can offer a starting point, but it won’t tell you whether your own rate is a problem. Your workforce mix, strategy, and growth stage all shape what’s “normal” for you.

5. Look for patterns across multiple exits: One exit survey response (or even a handful) can be misleading. Compare trends across several departures against feedback from current employees before deciding what’s really pushing people out.

Look for patterns (not just the percentage)

Attrition isn’t something you can (or even should) eliminate. But you can get better at reading it so you can spot any trends, understand what’s behind them, and figure out what’s worth acting on.

That’s easier when you have the right data in front of you. Culture Amp’s Retention Insights connects your engagement survey data with actual workforce movement, so you can see which groups and experiences are worth investigating instead of guessing from a single number. Exit surveys capture the story behind departures while it’s still fresh. Pair that with ongoing engagement feedback from your current employees for an even fuller picture.

Every organization loses people, so you don’t need to chase the lowest number. You just need to know how to ask the right questions.

Take effective action and start improving attrition today

Learn how Culture Amp can help

FAQs about attrition rate

How do I calculate attrition rate? 

To calculate your attrition rate, you just need two numbers: how many employees left without being replaced during a set time period and your average headcount over that same period. For more details, see the formula and examples in the article above.

What does a high attrition rate mean?

A high attrition rate usually means your organization is losing more people than expected for its size, industry, or growth stage, without replacing those roles. What counts as high depends heavily on context. The same number could be a red flag for one company and completely normal for another, so it’s worth looking at where the attrition is concentrated before assuming something’s wrong.

What does natural attrition mean?

Natural attrition refers to departures tied to expected events, like retirement or a planned career change, rather than dissatisfaction or a competing job offer. It’s considered a subset of voluntary attrition and tends to be easier to anticipate and plan around than other types.

Does attrition include termination?

It depends on the type of attrition you’re looking at. Involuntary attrition can include terminations, particularly when a role is eliminated through layoffs or restructuring. However, if an employee is terminated and their role is backfilled with a new hire, that’s typically counted as turnover rather than attrition.

How is attrition different from retention?

Attrition vs. retention measures two sides of the same coin. Attrition tracks the employees who leave and aren’t replaced, while retention tracks the employees who’ve stayed over a given period. A low attrition rate and a high retention rate often go hand in hand, but they’re calculated differently and can highlight different patterns.

What are some examples of attrition in the workplace?

Attrition examples include an employee retiring and their role not being refilled, a company eliminating a position during a restructuring, or when a team member leaves for another job and their organization redistributes their responsibilities instead of hiring a replacement. Each of these reduces headcount without an intent to backfill, which is what separates attrition from turnover.