Attrition: what it is and what it means

Attrition is the share of natural staff exits — retirement, end of a project, end of a contract — and it differs from turnover because it does not include voluntary resignations or early terminations. Many companies lump the two indicators together, which produces a distorted reading of the problem: confusing attrition with turnover leads you to underestimate the share of exits you can act on and to build retention policies on unreliable data.

Distinctive: natural staff exits
Distinctive: does not include voluntary resignations
Essential: retirement, end of a project, end of a contract
Constant: natural staff exits

Glossary

Attrition

The share of natural staff exits — retirement, end of a project, end of a contract — as distinct from turnover, which also includes voluntary resignations and early terminations.