Why does the employee turnover rate rise and what does it cost a business? Read about the psychological reasons people leave and how to retain employees.
"We can't find staff" and "the ones we find don't stay" are today the shared complaint of many factories and businesses across Anatolia. A job advert is placed, interviews are held, the new employee is trained; a few months later the same position is vacant again. The employee turnover rate shows the proportion of employees who leave a business in a given period, and when it rises it becomes a problem not only for HR but for production, quality and safety too. In this article I look at the psychological reasons for resignations that are often overlooked, and the concrete steps employers can take.
What Is the Employee Turnover Rate and How Is It Calculated?
The turnover rate is generally calculated by dividing the number of employees who leave in a given period (a month or a year) by the average number of employees in the same period. For example, if 50 people leave in a year from a facility with an average of 200 employees, the annual turnover rate is around twenty-five per cent.
However, a single rate does not tell the whole story. To get a more meaningful picture, the following distinctions need to be made:
- Voluntary and involuntary departures: An employee leaving of their own accord and an employer terminating the contract point to different problems.
- Early departures: The proportion of those who leave within the first three or six months shows the quality of recruitment and onboarding processes.
- Distribution by unit: Departures concentrated in a particular shift, department or manager's team are a strong clue to the source of the problem.
- Lost competence: The departure of an experienced master craftsman does not carry the same weight as that of someone who has just started.
The Cost of High Employee Turnover to a Business
The cost of someone leaving is often thought of as just the cost of recruitment. In reality, the true price is much broader:
- Direct costs: Advertising, interviews, pre-employment medical examinations, orientation and training expenses.
- Loss of productivity: It takes time for a new employee to reach full productivity; during this time the team works more slowly.
- Extra load on the team: The work of the vacated position is shared among the remaining employees. Overtime, fatigue and burnout increase, and this can trigger further departures.
- Quality and workplace safety: As the proportion of inexperienced employees rises, the risk of errors and accidents rises. Around 41% of the 766,039 workplace accidents recorded in Turkey in 2025 took place in the manufacturing sector (SGK Statistical Yearbook, 2025). Constantly changing staff make it harder for safe working habits to take hold.
- Loss of organisational knowledge: Practical knowledge that is not written down, meaning craftsmanship such as "this machine behaves like this in damp weather", leaves with the departing employee.
The link between resignations and mental health has also been shown by research. In an assessment carried out in the UK, around 40% of turnover costs were attributed to mental health problems; 28% of employees said they had left their job in the past year or planned to leave in the coming year (Deloitte, 2022). These figures are specific to the UK and cannot be transferred directly to Turkey; but they show that behind the decision to leave there is often a psychological burden.
Why Do People Leave Their Jobs? Psychological Reasons
The reason most often heard in exit interviews is "a better offer" or "pay". Pay really does matter, especially at times when the cost of living is high. However, research and observations in the field show that pay is often not the only reason, and that the decision to leave is the result of experiences accumulating over months. Employees usually decide to leave not all at once but step by step.
Relationship with the manager
The saying "people don't leave companies, they leave managers" is exaggerated, but it reflects an important truth. What shapes an employee's daily experience most is their direct supervisor. A manager who shouts, behaves unfairly, does not see people's efforts or criticises constantly can make even the best pay package meaningless. Managers are struggling too: globally, managers' engagement at work has fallen to 22% and has dropped 9 points since 2022 (Gallup, 2026).
Burnout
When chronic work stress is not managed, burnout can develop. The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon defined by exhaustion, mental distance from the job and a reduced sense of professional efficacy (WHO, 2019). A systematic review of 36 prospective studies showed that burnout predicts later job dissatisfaction, absenteeism and presenteeism (Salvagioni et al., 2017). The relationship between burnout and intention to leave has also been shown in many studies. The article on preventing employee burnout, in which I discuss the subject in detail, may be a useful guide in this respect.
Intense stress and workload
In Turkey, 66% of employees say they spent much of the previous day under stress; this is far above the global average (40%) (Gallup, 2026, 2025 data). Constant overtime, insufficient staffing and unrealistic targets bring the employee to the point of "I can't take any more of this".
Not being seen and not feeling valued
An employee who is not appreciated, whose suggestions are not taken into account and whose name is not known cannot develop a sense of belonging to the organisation. For someone with no sense of belonging, moving to another job is an easy decision.
Perception of fairness
A perception of unfairness in pay, promotion, shift allocation and the sharing of overtime is one of the strongest factors speeding up the decision to leave. People look not only at what they receive but at what they receive relative to others.
Psychological harassment and poor relationships
For an employee who experiences mobbing, humiliation or exclusion, leaving the job is often a way of protecting themselves. According to the ILO's 2026 report, 23% of workers worldwide have experienced violence or harassment at work at least once; the most common form, at 18%, is psychological violence (ILO, 2026).
A weak onboarding process
A new employee who is left alone in the first weeks, who is not told clearly what to do and who is not introduced to the team can quickly reach the conclusion that "this place isn't for me". A significant proportion of early departures stems from gaps in the onboarding process.
The reason given in an exit interview is often the last straw; what filled the glass is the experiences that built up over months.
Staff Turnover in Businesses in Turkey: Why Context Matters
The dynamics of leaving a job in Turkey cannot be separated from economic conditions. According to Gallup's 2026 report, the proportion of employees in Turkey who are truly engaged with their work is only 8%; 24% of employees fall in the "actively disengaged" group (Gallup, 2026, 2025 data). In the same report, the proportion who say it is "a good time to find a job" is 23%. This picture can produce two different outcomes at once: on one side, employees who stay in their jobs although unhappy because they worry about finding another, and quietly withdraw; on the other, employees who have not built a bond with the organisation and change jobs easily even for a small difference in pay.
The fact that many businesses close to one another in organised industrial zones draw from the same labour pool also affects the turnover rate. Say a newly hired operator at a facility feels that no one takes an interest in them in their first week, that their foreman is constantly in a hurry and that they get sharp answers to their questions. A slightly higher pay offer from another factory a few hundred metres away is merely a pretext for this employee; the real reason is that they felt "I'm not wanted here" in their first days. The same offer could have been far less attractive to an employee who had been welcomed and supported.
In small towns, a business's reputation spreads quickly by word of mouth. The information that "people don't stay there" discourages qualified candidates from applying and turns the turnover rate into a self-reinforcing cycle.
Signs Seen Before Someone Leaves
Most employees give off certain signs before leaving. Noticing them early creates an opportunity for a conversation:
- Marked silence in meetings and within the team
- Lack of interest in future projects, avoiding long-term plans
- An increase in short periods of leave
- Unexplained fluctuations in performance
- Frequent statements such as "I'm tired", "I'm fed up"
- Indifference to matters they used to care about
These signs do not mean an employee will definitely leave; but they show that it is time for the manager to ask, "Is everything all right?"
What Can Employers Do to Reduce the Employee Turnover Rate?
Retaining employees is possible not only through pay rises but by improving the whole work experience. The steps that can be put into practice are these:
1. Know your data
Report departures regularly by unit, shift, manager, length of service and reason for leaving. Any intervention made without knowing where the problem is concentrated is based on guesswork.
2. Make exit interviews meaningful
If possible, have the exit interview conducted by HR or an independent person rather than the direct supervisor. So that the departing employee can speak freely, state clearly that the interview will not affect references or severance processes. Ask not only "Why are you leaving?" but also "What would have made you stay?"
3. Hold stay interviews
Listening to those who leave is valuable, but listening to those who stay is even more important. Short conversations in which managers ask their team members, a few times a year, "What keeps you here? What could make you think about leaving?" make problems visible before a decision to leave is made.
4. Train managers
Noticing an employee who is struggling, talking to them without judgement and distributing workload fairly are skills that can be learned. In the WHO's guidelines on mental health at work, the recommendation with the strongest evidence is mental health training for managers (WHO, 2022). For detailed information on this, you can read the article on mental health training for managers.
5. Structure onboarding
Assigning a "buddy" from the first day, holding short feedback meetings at the end of the first week and the first month, and putting task expectations in writing are some of the most practical ways of reducing early departures.
6. Manage psychosocial risks
Psychosocial risk factors such as workload, shift pattern, role ambiguity, interpersonal conflict and mobbing are among the sources of hazard that must be included in the risk assessment under Article 8 of the Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment Regulation. Addressing this area systematically matters both for legal compliance and for retaining employees.
7. Provide access to psychological support
It matters that an employee experiencing personal or work-related difficulty has a confidential support channel to turn to before leaving. Employee assistance programmes are one of the structures that meet this need. Difficulties outside work, such as divorce, bereavement, stress about debt or the illness of a relative, also often lay the ground for a decision to leave. At such times, having a support option with guaranteed confidentiality can allow the employee to try to resolve the problem by getting support rather than by leaving the job.
How to Start in Your Organisation
Work to reduce staff turnover gives the best results with a systematic process:
- Needs analysis: Examine departure data for the last year or two by unit and by reason; support the data with an anonymous employee survey and focus group discussions. Identify where departures are concentrated and which psychosocial factors stand out.
- Programme: According to the findings, plan together manager training, restructuring of the onboarding programme, workload and shift arrangements, and psychological support options for employees. The ILO stresses that individual measures should not replace organisational measures but complement them (ILO, 2026).
- Measurement: Monitor the turnover rate, the early-departure rate and employee survey results at regular intervals. Among the monitoring indicators the ILO recommends are also turnover, absenteeism and employee surveys (ILO, 2026).
You can find analysis and programme options suited to your organisation's needs on the corporate services page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What employee turnover rate is considered "normal"?
There is no single correct rate; it varies greatly by sector, region, type of position and the state of the labour market. Comparing with your own business's past data and looking at the differences between units is more meaningful than comparing with a general average.
Is a pay rise enough to solve staff turnover?
A fair and liveable wage is the basic condition for retention, but it is not enough on its own. If problems such as a poor relationship with the manager, excessive workload or mobbing continue, a pay rise may only postpone departure.
Do employees tell the real reason in exit interviews?
Not always. Out of concern about references or a wish not to "burn bridges", most employees give neutral reasons such as pay. Having the interview conducted by an independent person, guaranteeing confidentiality and supporting it with stay interviews let you obtain more realistic information.
Does staff turnover affect workplace safety?
Yes, it can. A high proportion of inexperienced employees makes it harder to recognise risks and for safe working habits to take hold. The extra load and fatigue on the remaining employees can also increase lapses of attention. For this reason, staff turnover should be treated as part of the occupational health and safety (OHS) agenda too.
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Eda Erkan Alapala
Klinik Psikolog. İstanbul Kent Üniversitesi Klinik Psikoloji Tezli Yüksek Lisans mezunu; bilişsel davranışçı terapi, çocuk merkezli oyun terapisi ve çocuk-ergen psikoterapisi alanlarında eğitimlerini tamamlamıştır.
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