Attrition & Retention in the Workplace MANPOWER

Incorporating SkillsGroup
The Manpower SkillsGroup Attrition & Retention survey is based on data gathered from a sample of over 650 companies in Ireland and Northern Ireland and across 11 Industry sectors. The main focus of the survey was to find out what the attrition levels in Ireland were and the main reason behind them. This survey can act as a guideline for HR professionals, providing insight into attrition levels throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland, and highlighting contemporary benefits and initiatives offered by companies, for the continuous development of HR initiatives.

The Questions
Employers were asked two questions: 1. What are the attrition (staff turnover) levels at your location?

2. What are the main reasons for staff attrition?

Main Findings
The main findings show that the average attrition levels (staff turnover) for the Republic of Ireland is 8% and for Northern Ireland 9%. The highest proportion of employers in the ROI (67%) and NI (64%) said that staff turnover levels were between 0-5%
9 9 8.5 8 8 7.5

Sectors with higher average staff turnover levels include Restaurants and Hotels (14%), Wholesale and Retail (11%), Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing (11%) Average staff turnover in the ROI was 14% for Micro companies, 12% for Small companies, and 8% for Medium/Large companies. Regionally, average staff turnover in was 9% for Dublin, 9% for Leinster, 8% for Munster, and 4% for Connaught. In both the ROI and NI the largest proportion of employers (32% and 45% respectively) cited voluntary departure as the main reason for staff attrition.

Republic of Ireland

Northern Ireland

In the ROI, sectors with lower average staff turnover levels include Pharmaceuticals (4%), Community, Social and Personal Services (5%), Transport, Storage and Communications (6%), and Electricity & Gas, Water (3%). 1

Republic of Ireland
Overall Attrition (Staff Turn over) Levels
As can be seen from Chart 1, the largest proportion of employers, 67%, said that they had a staff turnover level of between 0-5% at their location. The second largest proportion, 11%, said that the staff turnover level at their location was between 6-10%. Overall, a further 11% of respondents said that their staff turnover level was 21% or above.

Chart 1: Overall Levels of Staff Turnover in the Republic

0 -5 % 6 -1 0 % 1 1 -2 0 % 2 1 -3 0 % 3 1 -5 0 % 51% + N o t s ta te d 3% 5% 3% 3% 7% 11%

67%

Attrition levels by Industry Sector

Table 1 shows the mean percentage turnover of staff for all of the sectors in the Republic. As can be seen from the table, the sectors with higher average staff turnovers are Restaurants and Hotels (14%), Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing (11%), and Wholesale and Retail (11%). Sectors Sector Electricity and Gas, Water Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Mining and Quarrying Community, Social, Personal Transport, Storage and Communications Construction National Average Wholesale and Retail Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing Restaurants and Hotels with lower staff turnovers include Electricity and Gas, Water (3%), Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services (4%), Pharmaceutical (4%), Manufacturing (4%), Mining and Quarrying (4%).

Mean % turnover of staff 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 8 11 11 14 Table 1: Mean staff turnover

Chart 2 shows the proportion of employers within each sector whose turnover levels are 05%, 6-20%, and 21% or above. As can be seen from Chart 2, there is considerable variation between the sectors in terms of their staff turnover.

proportions of employers saying that their staff turnover is over 20%. These sectors can therefore be seen as sectors with lower staff turnover in comparison with the national average.

Sectors with Lower Attrition levels

The average proportion of employers saying that their turnover is between 0-5% is 67%. Overall, 8 out of 11 sectors are above this average. The sectors with the highest proportion of employers saying that their turnover is between 0-5% are: Pharmaceuticals (81%) Community, Social and Personal Services (79%) Transport, Storage and Communications (78%) Electricity & Gas, Water (78%) As can be seen from Chart 2, these sectors can also be seen to have correspondingly low

Sectors with Higher Attrition levels

Sectors with few employers estimating the lower range of turnover are: Restaurants & Hotels (41%) Wholesale & Retail (60%)

These sectors also have relatively high proportions of employers saying that their staff turnover is 21% or above. The national average proportion of employers saying that their staff turnover is 21% or above is 12%. Sectors with a higher than average response are: Restaurants and Hotels (24%) Wholesale and Retail (20%) Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing (18%)

Chart 2: Turnover levels by sector

*Please note that the base sizes for Community, Social and Personal Services, Transport, Storage and Communications, Electricity & Gas, Water, and Mining & Quarrying are below 50 and should be treated with caution.

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

12 14

7 7

6 1 15 14 24 20 17 9 15

0 16

1 18

0 23

0 13

18 1

22 67 79 72 78 60 41 63 78 81 71 75 72

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing

Mining & Quarrying*

Manufacturing

Pharmeceuticals

Electricity & Gas, Water*

Construction

Wholesale and Retail

Restaurants and Hotels

Transport, Storage and Communications*

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services

Community, Social & Personal Services*

National Average

0-5% 6-20% 21% +

Attrition levels by Company Size

Micro establishments have a higher average % staff turnover (9%) than small or medium/large establishments (7% and 6% respectively). As can be seen from Chart 3, both small and medium/large companies have a small proportion of employers who say that their staff turnover is 21% or above (5% and 3% respectively). In contrast, micro companies have a significantly higher proportion of employers who say that their staff turnover is 21% or above (16%). Micro companies also have the highest proportion of employers saying that their turnover levels are between 0-5% (69%). This is significantly higher than the proportion of medium/large companies who say that their turnover levels are between 0-5% (58%), and higher than the proportion of small companies that have a turnover of between 0-5% (65%), which is in line with the national average (67%). This suggests that Micro companies suffer from more extreme levels of turnover, with higher proportions with very low levels of turnover or very high levels of turnover.

Chart 3: Turnover levels by size

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 National Average Micro 0-5% 6-20%

12 14

5 16 7 27

3 29

67

69

65

58

Small 21%+

Medium/Large

Attrition levels by region

As can be seen from Chart 4, there is considerable regional variation in terms of staff turnover. Leinster, Dublin and Munster all have a significant proportion of employers with a high turnover of over 20%. However none of the employers in Connaught said that their turnover was above 20%. The regions with the highest average turnover are Dublin and Leinster (both at 9%) followed by Munster (8%). In contrast, employers in Connaught say they have a lower average turnover of 4%.

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

0 16 13 17 13 76 56 10 8 25

69

68

L e in s t e r

D u b lin
0 -5 % 6 -2 0 %

M u n s te r
21% +

C onnaught

Chart 4: Turnover levels by region

*Please note, the figures for Ulster have not been included as they are based on a base size of well below 50.

Northern Ireland
Chart 5 shows the overall turnover levels in Northern Ireland. As can be seen from Chart 5, the largest proportion of employers said that their staff turnover levels were between 0-5%. A further 12% of employers said that their staff turnover levels were between 6-10%, and 3% of employers said that their staff turnover levels were between 11-20%. A significant proportion, 14%, also said that their staff turnover levels was between 31-50%. No respondents said that their staff turnover levels were between 21-30% or above 50%.

Chart 5: Overall turnover levels in Northern Ireland* Due to small base sizes, it is not possible to analyse the
findings from Northern Ireland by sector or size

0 -5 % 6 -1 0 % 1 1 -2 0 % 2 1 -3 0 % 3 1 -5 0 % 51% + N o t s ta te d 6 14 3 12

64

Main Reasons for the Attrition

Republic of Ireland
Chart 6 shows the main reason for attrition in the Republic overall. As can be seen from Chart 6: The largest proportion of employers, 32%, said that the main reason for employees leaving is voluntary departure A significant proportion of employees, 16%, said that the main reason for employees leaving was seasonal change No career progression was cited by 8% of employers as the main reason for attrition Only small proportions of employers cited Unsuitable for position and Lack of skills as the main reason for employees leaving. As low proportions of employers gave unsuitable for position and lack of skills as the main reasons for employees leaving, only voluntary departure, seasonal change and no career progression will be analysed by sector,

32

16 8 5 3

Voluntary departure

Seasonal change

No career progression

Unsuitable for position

Lack of skills

size and region. Chart 6: Main reasons for attrition overall*

* Please note that these figures do no include respondents who said Other or Dont know

Main reasons for attrition by sector

As can be seen from Chart 7, the largest proportion of employers said that the main reason for staff attrition was voluntary departure in all sectors except Restaurants and Hotels and Agriculture and Fishing. Sectors with a significant proportion of employers saying that seasonal change was the main reason for staff leaving include Restaurants and Hotels (52%), Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing (27%), Wholesale and Retail
Chart 7: Main reasons for attrition by sector

(20%), Finance, Real Estate and Business Services (16%), and Manufacturing (16%). Sectors with a significant proportion of employers saying that no career progression was the main reason for employees leaving include Wholesale and Retail (14%), Restaurants and Hotels (13%), and Construction (13%).

56 52 52 49

59

39

38

36 27 20 27

26 22 16 8 3
Community, Social, Personal

13

14 7

13 7 3 3
Electricity and Gas, Water

14 9 8 2
Manufacturing Mining and Quarying

10 0
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing

2
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and BusinessServices

1 2
Restaurants and Hotels Construction Transport, Storage and Communications Wholesale and Retail

0
Pharmeceutical

Voluntary departure

Seasonal change

No career progression

*Please note the base sizes for Community, Social, Personal, Transport Storage and Communications, Electricity and Gas, Water, and Mining and Quarrying are below 50 and should therefore be treated with caution.

Main reasons for attrition by size

As can be seen from Chart 8, the highest proportion of employers from all size categories said that the main reason for staff leaving was voluntary departure. However, the proportion of employers from Micro companies who said that the main reason for staff attrition was voluntary departure was significantly lower, at 25%, than the proportion from small companies (45%) and medium/large companies (47%). The proportion of employers who gave seasonal change as the main reason for staff leaving was similar across all size categories: 16% for micro companies, 18% for small companies, and 17% for medium/large companies. There was also a difference between employers according to their size in terms of the proportion of them who gave no career progression as a reason for staff attrition. The proportion of employers from medium and large companies who said that the main reason for staff attrition was no career progression was 16%, with 13% of employers from small companies saying it was the main reason. In contrast, only 5% of employers from micro companies gave no career progression as the main reason for staff attrition.

Chart 8: Main reasons for attrition by size

45 47

25 16 5 18 13 17 16

M ic ro
V o lu n ta ry d e p a r tu r e

S m a ll
S easonal C hange

M e d iu m /L a rg e
N o c a re e r p r o g re s s io n

Main reasons for attrition by region

Chart 9 shows the reasons for staff attrition by region. As can be seen from Chart 8, the highest proportion in all regions said that voluntary departure was the main reason for staff attrition. Regarding seasonal change, the region with the highest proportion of employers giving this as the main reason for staff attrition was Munster (22%). Lower proportions of employers giving seasonal change as the main reason were found in Leinster (12%) and Dublin (15%). There were significant differences between the regions in terms of the proportion of employers who gave no career progression as the main reason for their staff leaving. Leinster and Munster had similar proportions of employers (10% and 14% respectively) giving no career progression as the main reason. In contrast, both Dublin and Connaught had much lower proportions of employers saying that the main reason for staff leaving was no career progression (2% and 3% respectively).

Chart 9: Main reasons for attrition by region

* Please note the figures have not been included for Ulster as the base size for Ulster is well below 50.

46 39

29 22 17 12 10 2 L e in s t e r V o lu n t a r y d e p a r t u r e D u b lin Seasonal change M u n s te r 3 18 15 14

Connaught N o c a re e r p ro g re s s io n

Northern Ireland
Chart 10 shows the main reasons for attrition in Northern Ireland overall. As can be seen from Chart 10, the main reason given by employers for their staff leaving is voluntary departure. Overall, 45% of employers said that the main reason for attrition was voluntary departure. The other reasons, no career progression, seasonal change, and unsuitable for position, were all cited by less than 5 % of employers as the main reason for attrition at their site. Due to small base sizes, it is not possible to analyse the findings from Northern Ireland by size or sector.

45

3 Voluntary departure No career progression

2 Seasonal change

2 Unsuitable for position

Chart 10: Main reasons for attrition overall*

* Please note that these figures do no include respondents who said Other or Dont know.