One resignation means weeks of recruitment, months of training, and hundreds of hours of extra work. All of that comes at a cost – and it isn't small. Yet most companies don't know the real cost of turnover. Not until the numbers start to really hurt.
Most Czech companies see turnover of 10–15% a year. Based on a survey, Grafton reports that more than half of companies consider turnover a major problem. In some sectors it's even worse: retail, manufacturing, or gastronomy, for example, report more than 50% of departures a year.
When an employee leaves, you're not just paying for a job ad on jobs.cz. The costs are made up of several layers:
- Recruitment and selection – HR time, advertising, agency fees.
- Onboarding – a new hire needs 2–4 months to get up to speed.
- Lost productivity – slower work, more frequent mistakes.
- Hidden losses – experience, know-how, an unhappy team, fatigue from repeated departures.
According to Grafton, a single departure can cost as much as CZK 300,000, depending on the position. And that's without counting the disrupted stability and morale of a team when yet another person leaves.
How to find out the real cost of turnover
How to calculate turnover
The basic formula is simple: (Number of departures in a given period ÷ Average number of employees in that period) × 100
If a company has an average of 100 employees and 12 people leave in a year, turnover is (12 ÷ 100) × 100 = 12%
How to translate it into money
The percentage alone, however, doesn't tell you how much it costs the company. That's why you need to convert it into financial terms.
- Determine the employee's average annual salary – in our example this is CZK 420,000 (CZK 35,000 a month).
- Calculate the cost of one departing employee – this includes recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity, and administration. Expert estimates range between 30–60% of annual salary. In our example, that's CZK 126,000–252,000 per person.
- Multiply this cost by the number of departures per year.
If a company has 100 employees, 12% turnover, and thus 12 departures a year, the cost is CZK 1.5 to 3 million a year.
Every improvement counts
Imagine you manage to cut turnover by just 2 percentage points – so instead of 12 people, only 10 leave. The savings? Up to half a million CZK a year. And that's just the financial side. If you also factor in the impact on team morale, stability, and employer brand, the benefits are even greater.
Why do people leave?
When you look at exit interviews or survey data, the reasons for leaving keep repeating. And it's not just about "higher pay elsewhere." The story is always more complex.
Salary isn't everything
The most common reason is still the same: money. An employee gets an offer that's a few thousand higher, and the company is unwilling (or unable) to match it. That's understandable – not every company has room for across-the-board raises. But it's important for HR to know that salary is often just the "trigger." If everything else about the job is fine, people are much less likely to leave just for a few thousand more.
A bad manager
The second common reason is a bad manager. Mainly because they don't communicate, don't give feedback, and can't motivate. The result is a feeling of invisibility: the employee feels their work doesn't matter or that no one appreciates it. And in that situation, it's tempting to try somewhere else.
No growth
People want to know they're moving forward. If they do the same thing for years, with no new projects or opportunities to learn, motivation gradually declines. And even if the salary is competitive, without career growth or development, an employee will start looking for other opportunities.
Benefits
Many companies offer benefits that people don't actually use much in practice – typically gym discounts, wellness vouchers, or fruit days in the kitchen. But the reality is that employees are more concerned with how they'll pay the rent or their kids' school trip. If benefits don't reflect real needs, they stay on paper and don't contribute to retention.
What can HR do about it?
Turnover can never be completely eliminated – people will always leave. But HR has the tools to bring departures down to a reasonable level. Here are a few tips that work well in practice:
Do the math!
Track your turnover numbers and break them down by department, age, and length of employment. The answer often lies in these details – you might find that new hires leave within the first six months, or that a specific department has the biggest problems.
Ask people
An exit interview is fine, but by then it's too late. Introduce a regular "pulse check" or short anonymous surveys. Or simply have managers ask: "What could I do to make working here better for you?" Often it turns out that a small thing is enough – better shifts, a clearer process, more feedback.
Offer benefits that make sense
Forget "paper" benefits that look nice in a presentation but that almost no one actually wants. Instead, reach for things that solve real life – flexible pay, a housing contribution, opportunities for education, more time off. Every employee has different needs, so it's a good idea to regularly review your benefits and ask what's working and what isn't.
Invest in managers
People often don't leave a company – they leave their boss. Good leadership can retain employees even without a big pay rise. So invest in manager training – communication, feedback, motivation, and empathy are skills that can be learned. A good manager is worth their weight in gold for retention.
Test and measure
Every step HR takes costs time and money – which is why it's important to verify what actually works.
- Did you introduce a new onboarding program? Track how many new hires leave in the first few months before and after the change.
- Are you training managers? Ask their teams for feedback, and track the impact on people's satisfaction and turnover in that department.
- Did you adjust work shifts or processes? Compare whether attendance improved, stress decreased, or productivity grew.
Turnover as a silent money-eater
When you talk to leadership about HR strategy, numbers are your strongest argument. Showing that cutting turnover by a few percentage points means hundreds of thousands to millions in the budget carries more weight than any "soft" argument.
And if you're looking for a quick and inexpensive way to retain people, take a look at financial flexibility – for example, the Earned wage access benefit. For employees, it can make a fundamental difference; for the company, lower turnover and savings in the millions.
