ISO/TS 30421:2021
(Main)Human resource management — Turnover and retention metrics
Human resource management — Turnover and retention metrics
This document describes the elements of workforce turnover and retention and provides comparable measures for internal and external reporting. This document also highlights issues that need to be considered when interpreting the turnover and retention data, especially when deciding on the appropriate intervention internally and when reporting this to external stakeholders (e.g. regulators, investors).
Management des ressources humaines — Indicateurs de mesure pour le renouvellement et la rétention
Le présent document décrit les éléments composant le renouvellement et la rétention de la main-d’œuvre et fournit des mesures comparables en vue de l’établissement de rapports internes et externes. Le présent document aborde également les questions qu’il est nécessaire de prendre en considération lors de l’interprétation des données liées au renouvellement et à la rétention, notamment lorsqu’il s’agit de décider des interventions internes appropriées ou d’établir des rapports destinés aux parties prenantes externes (par exemple, les législateurs et les investisseurs).
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TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 30421
First edition
2021-05
Human resource management —
Turnover and retention metrics
Management des ressources humaines — Indicateurs de mesure pour
le renouvellement et la rétention
Reference number
©
ISO 2021
© ISO 2021
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Turnover . 1
4.1 General . 1
4.2 Description . 1
4.3 Purpose of measuring turnover . 1
4.3.1 Internal benchmarking . 1
4.3.2 External benchmarking . . 2
4.3.3 Understanding why people leave . 2
4.4 Formula for turnover rate . 2
4.5 How to use the turnover figure . 3
4.6 Turnover trends and impact . 4
4.6.1 General. 4
4.6.2 Segmentation of turnover . 4
4.6.3 Criticality . 4
4.6.4 The cost of turnover . 5
4.6.5 Departure or termination transactions (e.g. leaving costs) . 6
4.6.6 Recruitment costs . 6
4.6.7 Onboarding and getting-up-to-speed costs . 7
4.7 Reducing turnover . 9
4.7.1 General. 9
4.7.2 Involuntary turnover . . 9
4.7.3 Voluntary turnover . 9
4.7.4 Regrettable and non-regrettable turnover . 9
5 Retention .10
5.1 General .10
5.2 Retention rate metric .10
5.2.1 General.10
5.2.2 Position based retention .11
5.2.3 Average tenure of workforce .12
5.3 Retention strategy .12
5.4 Trends in and impact of retention .13
5.5 The average tenure of those in critical positions .13
5.6 Improvement in retention of critical positions .13
Bibliography .14
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www .iso .org/
iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 260, Human resource management.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
iv © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Introduction
As well as understanding the workforce requirements (ISO 30400:2016, 10.1) of the organization
(ISO 30409) and how to bring the right people into the organization to fill vacancies (ISO 30405;
ISO/TS 30411), it is also important that the employee resourcing team is competent in retaining an
optimal mix of employees. This means ensuring that the right people don’t leave the organization and
consequently create vacancies that need filling, with the impact that has on job satisfaction, economy,
efficiency and effectiveness of the organization’s operations.
A central requirement in the design of this document is to provide practitioners with a standard tool
to determine crude turnover and retention with a view to further segmentation of the workforce
over several years. Both the metric and the interpretation of the metric in context should be used.
This document includes a description of assessments that lead to numeric results of corresponding
indicators and a description of calculation methods for the quantitative metrics.
The provided metrics and indicators are intended to assist the practitioner in the recruitment,
line management support and workforce planning function of human resources. Included in this
specification is the definition, the assembly and documentation techniques required to produce them.
This document contains a description of the internationally accepted metrics and indicators which
describe the turnover rate and measures for the retention of workforce in organizations.
Recognizing that organizations operate differently, this document allows for variance within
organizations while still providing a robust methodology. It enables a comparison of the turnover and
retention of hires between organizations, and divisions within an organization.
The turnover of the workforce in organizations is observed, analysed and described as follows:
Workforce turnover refers to the proportion of employees, contractors and contingent or temporary
labour leaving the organization over a defined period, usually a year, and is expressed as a percentage
of total workforce numbers. At its broadest, turnover encompasses leavers both voluntary and
involuntary. It is possible to calculate turnover by categorising voluntary and involuntary leavers by
reason for leaving, i.e. redundancy, retirement, resignation or dismissal.
Workforce retention relates to the extent an organization retains its workforce. It is measured as a
proportion of a workforce’s specified length of service, typically one year or more, expressed as a
percentage of overall workforce numbers.
In describing and defining turnover and retention in organizations, this document highlights issues
that should be considered when determining the nature and extent of any intervention for turnover and
retention. The discussion focuses on the care required in the interpretation of metrics.
These issues include the need to understand the external operating environment. Possible relevant
factors include the employment levels in the area or industry sector; supply of the requisite skills;
labour mobility trends, migration, skills and competitor activity (which can include other sectors when
competing for scarce transferable skills).
There are also issues internal to the organization that impact turnover and retention. These can include
hygiene factors around the work itself or more subtle cultural and socio-legal factors that make an
organization an attractive place to work. The organization can have a change in strategic direction
or a reorganization, requiring considerable changes in the composition of the workforce’s skills and
competencies. There can also be issues around leadership, the quality of the managers and the practice
of people management across all teams, notwithstanding the espoused policies and procedures.
While these internal and external issues can impact turnover, it is important to understand that not
all turnover is bad. There is always a steady level of staff attrition due to retirement, illness and so
on, circumstances and conditions under which the organization has little or no control. Also, a
certain amount of functional turnover is desirable because it a
...
TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 30421
First edition
2021-05
Human resource management —
Turnover and retention metrics
Management des ressources humaines — Indicateurs de mesure pour
le renouvellement et la rétention
Reference number
©
ISO 2021
© ISO 2021
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Turnover . 1
4.1 General . 1
4.2 Description . 1
4.3 Purpose of measuring turnover . 1
4.3.1 Internal benchmarking . 1
4.3.2 External benchmarking . . 2
4.3.3 Understanding why people leave . 2
4.4 Formula for turnover rate . 2
4.5 How to use the turnover figure . 3
4.6 Turnover trends and impact . 4
4.6.1 General. 4
4.6.2 Segmentation of turnover . 4
4.6.3 Criticality . 4
4.6.4 The cost of turnover . 5
4.6.5 Departure or termination transactions (e.g. leaving costs) . 6
4.6.6 Recruitment costs . 6
4.6.7 Onboarding and getting-up-to-speed costs . 7
4.7 Reducing turnover . 9
4.7.1 General. 9
4.7.2 Involuntary turnover . . 9
4.7.3 Voluntary turnover . 9
4.7.4 Regrettable and non-regrettable turnover . 9
5 Retention .10
5.1 General .10
5.2 Retention rate metric .10
5.2.1 General.10
5.2.2 Position based retention .11
5.2.3 Average tenure of workforce .12
5.3 Retention strategy .12
5.4 Trends in and impact of retention .13
5.5 The average tenure of those in critical positions .13
5.6 Improvement in retention of critical positions .13
Bibliography .14
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www .iso .org/
iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 260, Human resource management.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
iv © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Introduction
As well as understanding the workforce requirements (ISO 30400:2016, 10.1) of the organization
(ISO 30409) and how to bring the right people into the organization to fill vacancies (ISO 30405;
ISO/TS 30411), it is also important that the employee resourcing team is competent in retaining an
optimal mix of employees. This means ensuring that the right people don’t leave the organization and
consequently create vacancies that need filling, with the impact that has on job satisfaction, economy,
efficiency and effectiveness of the organization’s operations.
A central requirement in the design of this document is to provide practitioners with a standard tool
to determine crude turnover and retention with a view to further segmentation of the workforce
over several years. Both the metric and the interpretation of the metric in context should be used.
This document includes a description of assessments that lead to numeric results of corresponding
indicators and a description of calculation methods for the quantitative metrics.
The provided metrics and indicators are intended to assist the practitioner in the recruitment,
line management support and workforce planning function of human resources. Included in this
specification is the definition, the assembly and documentation techniques required to produce them.
This document contains a description of the internationally accepted metrics and indicators which
describe the turnover rate and measures for the retention of workforce in organizations.
Recognizing that organizations operate differently, this document allows for variance within
organizations while still providing a robust methodology. It enables a comparison of the turnover and
retention of hires between organizations, and divisions within an organization.
The turnover of the workforce in organizations is observed, analysed and described as follows:
Workforce turnover refers to the proportion of employees, contractors and contingent or temporary
labour leaving the organization over a defined period, usually a year, and is expressed as a percentage
of total workforce numbers. At its broadest, turnover encompasses leavers both voluntary and
involuntary. It is possible to calculate turnover by categorising voluntary and involuntary leavers by
reason for leaving, i.e. redundancy, retirement, resignation or dismissal.
Workforce retention relates to the extent an organization retains its workforce. It is measured as a
proportion of a workforce’s specified length of service, typically one year or more, expressed as a
percentage of overall workforce numbers.
In describing and defining turnover and retention in organizations, this document highlights issues
that should be considered when determining the nature and extent of any intervention for turnover and
retention. The discussion focuses on the care required in the interpretation of metrics.
These issues include the need to understand the external operating environment. Possible relevant
factors include the employment levels in the area or industry sector; supply of the requisite skills;
labour mobility trends, migration, skills and competitor activity (which can include other sectors when
competing for scarce transferable skills).
There are also issues internal to the organization that impact turnover and retention. These can include
hygiene factors around the work itself or more subtle cultural and socio-legal factors that make an
organization an attractive place to work. The organization can have a change in strategic direction
or a reorganization, requiring considerable changes in the composition of the workforce’s skills and
competencies. There can also be issues around leadership, the quality of the managers and the practice
of people management across all teams, notwithstanding the espoused policies and procedures.
While these internal and external issues can impact turnover, it is important to understand that not
all turnover is bad. There is always a steady level of staff attrition due to retirement, illness and so
on, circumstances and conditions under which the organization has little or no control. Also, a
certain amount of functional turnover is desirable because it a
...
SPÉCIFICATION ISO/TS
TECHNIQUE 30421
Première édition
2021-05
Management des ressources
humaines — Indicateurs de mesure
pour le renouvellement et la rétention
Human resource management — Turnover and retention metrics
Numéro de référence
DOCUMENT PROTÉGÉ PAR COPYRIGHT
© ISO 2021
Tous droits réservés. Sauf prescription différente ou nécessité dans le contexte de sa mise en œuvre, aucune partie de cette
publication ne peut être reproduite ni utilisée sous quelque forme que ce soit et par aucun procédé, électronique ou mécanique,
y compris la photocopie, ou la diffusion sur l’internet ou sur un intranet, sans autorisation écrite préalable. Une autorisation peut
être demandée à l’ISO à l’adresse ci-après ou au comité membre de l’ISO dans le pays du demandeur.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Genève
Tél.: +41 22 749 01 11
E-mail: copyright@iso.org
Web: www.iso.org
Publié en Suisse
ii
Sommaire Page
Avant-propos .iv
Introduction .v
1 Domaine d’application . 1
2 Références normatives .1
3 Termes et définitions . 1
4 Renouvellement .1
4.1 Généralités . 1
4.2 Description . 1
4.3 Objectif de la mesure du taux de renouvellement . 2
4.3.1 Analyse comparative interne . 2
4.3.2 Analyse comparative externe . 2
4.3.3 Comprendre les départs . 2
4.4 Formule pour calculer le taux de renouvellement . 2
4.5 Utiliser le chiffre correspondant au renouvellement . 4
4.6 Tendances et impact du renouvellement . 4
4.6.1 Généralités . 4
4.6.2 Segmentation du renouvellement . 4
4.6.3 Criticité . 5
4.6.4 Coûts liés au renouvellement . 6
4.6.5 Opérations liées aux départs ou aux résiliations de contrats (par exemple,
coûts de départ) . 7
4.6.6 Coûts liés au recrutement. 7
4.6.7 Coûts liés à l’accueil et à la mise à niveau . 7
4.7 Réduire le renouvellement . 10
4.7.1 Généralités . 10
4.7.2 Renouvellement involontaire . 10
4.7.3 Renouvellement volontaire . 10
4.7.4 Renouvellement regrettable et non-regrettable . 10
5 Rétention .10
5.1 Généralités . 10
5.2 Mesure du taux de rétention . 11
5.2.1 Généralités . 11
5.2.2 Taux de rétention par poste .12
5.2.3 Ancienneté moyenne de la main-d’œuvre .13
5.3 Stratégie de rétention . 13
5.4 Tendances et impact de la rétention . 14
5.5 Ancienneté moyenne des employés aux postes critiques . 14
5.6 Amélioration de la rétention aux postes critiques . 14
Bibliographie .15
iii
Avant-propos
L’ISO (Organisation internationale de normalisation) est une fédération mondiale d’organismes
nationaux de normalisation (comités membres de l’ISO). L’élaboration des Normes internationales est
en général confiée aux comités techniques de l’ISO. Chaque comité membre intéressé par une étude
a le droit de faire partie du comité technique créé à cet effet. Les organisations internationales,
gouvernementales et non gouvernementales, en liaison avec l’ISO participent également aux travaux.
L’ISO collabore étroitement avec la Commission électrotechnique internationale (IEC) en ce qui
concerne la normalisation électrotechnique.
Les procédures utilisées pour élaborer le présent document et celles destinées à sa mise à jour sont
décrites dans les Directives ISO/IEC, Partie 1. Il convient, en particulier, de prendre note des différents
critères d'approbation requis pour les différents types de documents ISO. Le présent document a
été rédigé conformément aux règles de rédaction données dans les Directives ISO/IEC, Partie 2 (voir
www.iso.org/directives).
L'attention est attirée sur le fait que certains des éléments du présent document peuvent faire l'objet de
droits de propriété intellectuelle ou de droits analogues. L'ISO ne saurait être tenue pour responsable
de ne pas avoir identifié de tels droits de propriété et averti de leur existence. Les détails concernant
les références aux droits de propriété intellectuelle ou autres droits analogues identifiés lors de
l'élaboration du document sont indiqués dans l'Introduction et/ou dans la liste des déclarations de
brevets reçues par l'ISO (voir www.iso.org/brevets).
Les appellations commerciales éventuellement mentionnées dans le présent document sont données
pour information, par souci de commodité, à l’intention des utilisateurs et ne sauraient constituer un
engagement.
Pour une explication de la nature volontaire des normes, la signification des termes et expressions
spécifiques de l'ISO liés à l'évaluation de la conformité, ou pour toute information au sujet de l'adhésion
de l'ISO aux principes de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) concernant les obstacles
techniques au commerce (OTC), voir www.iso.org/avant-propos.
Le présent document a été élaboré par le comité technique ISO/TC 260, Management des ressources
humaines.
Il convient que l’utilisateur adresse tout retour d’information ou toute question concernant le présent
document à l’organisme national de normalisation de son pays. Une liste exhaustive desdits organismes
se trouve à l’adresse www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
Introduction
S’il est important de comprendre les exigences relatives à la main-d’œuvre (ISO 30400:2016, 10.1) d’une
organisation (ISO 30409) ainsi que de savoir recruter les bonnes personnes pour pourvoir les postes
vacants (ISO 30405; ISO/TS 30411), il est tout aussi crucial que l’équipe en charge du recrutement des
employés sache retenir une diversité optimale d’employés. Cela implique de s’assurer que les bonnes
personnes ne quittent pas l’organisation, sous peine de devoir pourvoir leurs postes et gérer les
répercussions au niveau de la satisfaction au travail, de l’économie, de l’efficacité et du rendement des
opérations dans l’organisation.
L’une des exigences centrales liées à la conception du présent document est de fournir aux professionnels
un outil normalisé pour déterminer les taux bruts de renouvellement et de rétention ainsi qu’une
perspective de segmentation plus approfondie de la main-d’œuvre sur plusieurs années. Il convient
d’effectuer à la fois les mesures et l’interprétation des mesures en contexte. Le présent document décrit
les évaluations menant aux résultats chiffrés des indicateurs correspondants et les méthodes de calcul
utilisées pour les mesures quantitatives.
Les mesures et indicateurs fournis visent à aider les professionnels en vue du recrutement, du soutien
aux responsables hiérarchiques et de la planification de la main-d’œuvre dont le service des Ressources
humaines est en charge. La présente spécification définit ces mesures et indicateurs et détaille les
techniques de regroupement et de documentation des données utilisées pour les obtenir.
Le présent document décrit les mesures et indicateurs internationalement acceptés qui permettent de
définir le taux de renouvellement et les mesures de rétention de la main-d’œuvre dans les organisations.
Étant donné que les organisations fonctionnent différemment, le présent document prend en compte les
variations au sein des organisations tout en fournissant une méthodologie solide. Il permet de comparer
les taux de renouvellement et de rétention des personnes embauchées entre les organisations et entre
les services d’une même organisation.
Le renouvellement de la main-d’œuvre dans les organisations est observé, analysé et décrit comme ci-
après.
Le renouvellement de la main-d’œuvre fait référence à la proportion d’employés, de prestataires et de
travailleurs occasionnels ou temporaires quittant l’organisation au cours d’une période définie (un an,
en général) et est exprimé en pourcentage du nombre total de l’effectif. Dans son acceptation la plus
large, le renouvellement comprend à la fois les départs volontaires et les départs involontaires. Il est
possible de calculer le taux de renouvellement en classant les départs volontaires et involontaires en
fonction de leur motif: suppression de poste, départ en retraite, démission ou renvoi.
La rétention de la main-d’œuvre renvoie à la capacité d’une organisation de conserver sa main-d’œuvre.
Elle est mesurée en tant que durée de service spécifique (un an ou plus, en général) d’une proportion de
la main-d’œuvre et est exprimée en pourcentage de l’effectif général.
Pour décrire et définir le renouvellement ainsi que la rétention au sein des organisations, le présent
document soulève des problématiques qu’il convient de prendre en compte au moment de déterminer
la nature et l’étendue de toute action relative au renouvellement et à la rétention. Le présent document
insiste sur le soin qu’il est nécessaire d’apporter à l’interprétation des mesures.
Ces problématiques incluent le besoin de comprendre l’environnement de travail extérieur. Les facteurs
potentiellement pertinents sont: les niveaux d’emploi dans le domaine, le secteur ou l’industrie, l’offre
relative aux compétences exigées, les tendances liées à la mobilité de la main-d’œuvre, la migration, les
compétences et les activités des concurrents (ce qui
...
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