The latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development''s (CIPD) Labour Turnover survey shows a marked decrease in labour turnover in 2001. The survey shows an overall labour turnover rate of 18.2%, moving back into line with the pattern shown since the survey began in 1995. The rate was almost exactly the same as 1999, but well down on the 26.6% recorded in 2000.
The Labour Turnover 2002 survey, which showed a noticeable increase in 2001, was out of step with recent trends, and came against a backdrop of a sharp slowdown in manufacturing and technology, a continued boom in the service sector and steadily falling unemployment.
CIPD Chief Economist, John Philpott says: This combination had a perverse impact on labour turnover by simultaneously boosting the level of redundancies and the number of people quitting their jobs to seek alternatives.
The 2002 survey, which covers the year 2001, shows that while the redundancy rate continued to rise during the year, the quit rate fell sharply, as the pace of total employment growth slowed in line with lower private-sector recruitment activity, dragging down the overall turnover rate.
Sales staff had the highest turnover rate, at 23.9%, which was significantly higher than that for managers, at 12.0%. Craft and skilled manual employees has the lowest turnover rate at 9.6%.
Philpott says: Sales staff were the only occupational group to buck the overall trend and show an increase in turnover last year. In the retail sector this might be to do with a continued strong performance, and employers competing for staff to meet buoyant consumer demand.
Other key findings
* Almost half of the organisations surveyed (47%) made redundancies in 2001 - this figure remains unchanged from the previous year. The most commonly cited reason was reorganisation - reported by 53% of organisations that made staff redundant.
* The proportion of respondents that operated a recruitment freeze climbed from a quarter in 2000 to almost a third (32%) in 2001.
* Sixty-nine per cent of respondents experienced difficulties in recruiting in the first half of 2002, down from 77% in the same period in 2001. Organisations took an average if 9.5 weeks to fill a vacancy in the first six months of 2002 - down from 11.1 weeks in the same period in the previous year.
* The average cost of labour turnover per employee in 2001 was 3,462 per leaver. Turnover among managers incurred the highest costs, at an average of 5,699 per leaver.
* Most respondents (66%) reported that labour turnover had a negative effect on the performance of their organisation in 2001. Just less than 10% thought that the effect of turnover on performance was positive.
* A copy of the survey can be downloaded from:
Survey shows marked slowdown in labour turnover
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