Creating employee turnover reports that work: An ANZ guide

Quick maths time: if you're running a business with 100 staff in Australia or New Zealand, and your average salary sits at $75,000, losing just 15 people could set you back $2.25 million. That's right – with typical turnover rates sitting at 14-15% across Australia and New Zealand, and replacement costs reaching up to double an employee's salary, the numbers add up:

15 employees leaving (15% of 100 staff) x 2 average salary ($75,000 x 2 = $150,000) = $2,250,000

Makes you sit up and pay attention, doesn't it?

The thing about turnover is that most organisations track it, but few really understand what their data is telling them. It's a bit like having a fitness tracker but never looking at your stats – you know something's happening, but you're missing out on all the insights that could help you improve.

Right now, with skills shortages affecting virtually every sector across Australia and New Zealand, keeping your best people isn't just about saving money – it's about maintaining your competitive edge. But you can't fix what you don't understand.

That's where smart reporting steps in. By getting crystal clear on your turnover data, you can spot patterns, predict risks, and take action before valuable team members start updating their LinkedIn profiles.

Let's look at how to make sense of your turnover reports and turn that information into strategies that actually work.

Let's break down what turnover really costs your business – and trust us, it's more than just recruitment fees and job ads.

Direct costs (the tip of the iceberg)

The obvious stuff hits your budget first. We're talking recruitment costs, agency fees, advertising, time spent interviewing, and onboarding expenses. According to research, a direct replacement can cost companies up to 50-60% of a worker's annual salary, and that's without the indirect costs.

Hidden costs (the real budget drain) 

Think about what happens when someone leaves:

• Lost productivity while the role sits empty
• Extra load on your existing team (hello, unhappy team)
• Knowledge walking out the door with the departing employee
• Time spent (post-onboarding) training the new hire
• Productivity dips while the new person gets up to speed

During this time, you're paying a full salary but getting reduced output – it's like buying a full tank of petrol but only getting half the distance. And as we mentioned earlier, the full costs can add up to twice the leaving person’s salary, so it’s pretty easy to do the maths, all things considered.

Read more: Keep your A-Team grounded: identifying and managing flight risk in AU and NZ

The cultural impact

When people leave, it affects more than just the bottom line. Gallup found that businesses with engagement scores in the bottom quartile experienced 19% more turnover in low-turnover companies and 43% more turnover in high-turnover companies compared to businesses in the top quartile.

When someone leaves, it affects more than just operations. It impacts team dynamics, workplace culture, and overall employee morale. This can lead to what researchers call "turnover contagion" – where one person leaving triggers others to question their own position. Each departure can create a ripple effect, influencing engagement levels across teams and potentially sparking additional turnover.

The performance factor 

What makes this even trickier is that it's often your high performers who are most mobile in the job market. When they leave, you're not just losing any old team member – you're losing someone who drives results. This creates a disproportionate impact on productivity, making it crucial to identify turnover risks before they materialise.

If you want to get ahead of turnover problems, start by tracking the right numbers. From our experience working with businesses across Australia and New Zealand, these metrics give you the clearest picture of what's really going on.

Number of leavers 

This one's simple but crucial. Track all contract terminations, whether they resigned or had their contracts ended by your company. Look at the raw numbers across departments, locations, and time periods to spot any patterns or outliers.

Overall turnover rate 

Your turnover rate shows the percentage of staff who left during a specific period. But don't just look at the total - break it down into:

• Voluntary turnover (when people choose to leave)
• Involuntary turnover (when contracts are terminated)
• Regrettable turnover (losing people you wanted to keep)
• Avoidable turnover (when people leave for preventable reasons)

New hire turnover 

If it's high, this one's a big red flag. It tracks people who leave within their first year, which often points to problems with your recruitment process, your onboarding, or both. High numbers here might mean there's a gap between what candidates expect and what they experience on the job.

Experience and performance impact 

Two metrics that often get overlooked:

• Experience Loss: The total organisational knowledge that walks out the door with departing staff
• Performance Loss: The hit to productivity when high performers leave

Diversity impact 

Look at whether specific employee groups are leaving at higher rates than others. This can uncover potential issues with workplace inclusivity, equity, and cultural dynamics that need addressing.

Exit reasons 

Understanding why people leave gives you the power to prevent future departures. Common themes often emerge when you analyse exit surveys and interviews properly. Group these reasons into categories to spot trends and prioritise your retention efforts.

Looking at raw turnover numbers is one thing. Making them useful is a whole other kettle of fish. Here's how to turn those metrics into meaningful insights.

Breaking down your data 

Start by splitting your analysis into clear categories:

• Department patterns: Are some teams losing more people than others?
• Role-based trends: Look for positions with constant turnover
• Tenure insights: Do people typically leave after a certain time period?
• Demographics: Check if turnover affects certain groups differently
• Performance ratings: Are you keeping your top talent?

Connect the dots 

Your exit survey data becomes gold when you match it with other insights. For example, if many sales staff leave after two years, and your exit surveys show limited career progression as a common reason, you've found something worth fixing.

Spot the warning signs 

Research shows that people will tell you if they're planning to leave – you just need to listen. When asked directly about their future plans, employees who select "strongly disagree" to staying with the company typically leave within 1.18 years. Those who "strongly agree" stay for about 4.44 years.

The timeline often looks like this:

• "Strongly disagree" - 1.18 years
• "Disagree" - 1.81 years
• "Neither agree nor disagree" - 2.65 years
• "Agree" - 3.81 years
• "Strongly agree" - 4.44 years

Cost calculations 

Put numbers to your turnover by looking at:

• Recruitment expenses
• Training costs
• Lost productivity
• Overtime for remaining staff
• Knowledge transfer time

So you've got all this turnover data – now what? Let's turn those insights into practical steps that actually make a difference.

Read more: 7 reasons you need a single source of truth in your payroll and HR software

Well, after reading that, keeping track of all these metrics and turning them into action might sound like a big job. And it kinda is. That's exactly why we built Jemini with smart turnover tracking and analytics at its core.

Want to see how Jemini can transform your turnover tracking and retention strategies? Let's talk about making your HR data work smarter, not harder.

If we are being real, tracking all these metrics and turning them into action could be a full-time job. You'd almost need an extra HR team member just to stay on top of the data, run the reports, spot the patterns, and make it all actually mean something.

That's exactly why we built Jemini. Our platform handles the heavy lifting through smart analytics, automation, and easy-to-read dashboards. No spreadsheet juggling or spinning plates required. 

Ready to turn your turnover challenges into retention wins without the admin headache? Talk to us about making your HR data work harder. Our team helps organisations across Australia and New Zealand transform their approach to retention every day – and we'd love to show you how much easier it can be.