High Turnover: A Good or Bad Sign?

“Turnover is characterized by the renewal of employees within a company over a period of 1 year.” 

In France, it is between 5 and 15% on average. Be careful though, a turnover above the average is not necessarily bad. And a low renewal rate is not always a good sign. High turnover can be due to lack of recognition, toxic management or low compensation. Conversely, a company with a low turnover may be a company that is not very open to new ideas and new blood.

However, there is a difference between the two types of turnover:

• Structural (related to seasonality and sector)
• Economic (relating to the internal and external situation of the company).

Structural turnover largely depends on the sector of activity, the attractiveness of the profession and the strategic context of the organization, while cyclical turnover depends on the company’s internal policy and external events (e.g. the health crisis).

Structural turnover can be explained in several ways:

• Demanding or pay-for-success jobs, such as dirty profiles, often have a high turnover rate
• Sectors with strong seasonality such as
  • hotels and catering in mountains and seaside
  • the agricultural environment have higher than average rates (ex: 70% turnover in the restaurant industry)
• In catering, many jobs are filled by students, which creates a higher turnover due to the pace of their studies.
• In contexts of strong growth, a company can call on teams on an ad hoc basis and for a fixed period to support this growth, which increases the turnover rate
• During a restructuring, the organization can make the decision to bring in new profiles to bring in new ideas and “new blood”.

This decision therefore automatically leads to a higher turnover

Deciding on further recruitment

• Don’t rely solely on the turnover rate, decode what’s behind it
• It is prudent to inquire with the recruiter, former employees and current employees in order to determine what is the climate and the real situation of the company
• Depending on the context, ask yourself: 
  • how your expectations are compatible with those of the company
  • how you can register in the long term

Recruitment firms are career specialists, as experts in your sectors and professions (agri-food sectors: agriculture, food processing, distribution and hospitality – catering), Leaderia consultants are also there to support you during the process recruitment. It is in the interest of the firm and the company to place you in a position that will suit you in the long term.