What is regretted attrition?
Definition
Regretted attrition is a departure the company did not want: someone whose performance, skills or relationships you would have paid to keep.
Last updated
A regretted exit is one you would have paid to prevent.
Some teams say regretted turnover, or call the person a regretted leaver. The idea is the same: the exit cost you someone whose performance, skills or relationships you wanted to keep.
The opposite is non-regretted attrition, an exit you were neutral about or relieved by. Every departure can be tagged one way or the other, separately from whether it was voluntary.
One exit, three separate tags
One departure
Who chose?
VoluntaryThe employeeInvoluntaryThe companyDid you want to keep them?
RegrettedYou would have paid to keep themNon-regrettedNeutral or relievedWhat did it do to the organization?
DysfunctionalDamaged itFunctionalLeft it better off
Leaders should look at the regretted number before the total.
It is the number leaders should act on. A flat overall turnover rate can hide a rising regretted share, which is the version that hurts.
Total turnover treats every exit as the same loss. The regretted share tells you whether you are losing the people the business depends on, which is the question a retention budget is meant to answer.
You track regretted exits as a share of all exits.
The manager tags each exit as regretted or not, ideally at the exit interview, then you track regretted exits as a share of all exits.
Formula
Regretted share = regretted exits ÷ all exits × 100
You can also set it against headcount, as a regretted attrition rate: regretted exits ÷ average headcount × 100. The share tells you what kind of people are leaving. The rate tells you how fast you are losing the ones you want.
Here is a worked example with round numbers.
Take an invented company with an average headcount of 300 that had 30 exits this year, the same as last year. This year managers tagged 12 of the 30 as regretted. Last year it was 6.
Worked example
Average headcount
300
Exits each year
30
Regretted last year
6
Regretted this year
12
- Last year's regretted share6 ÷ 30 × 100 = 20%
- Regretted attrition rate2% last year, 12 ÷ 300 × 100 = 4% this year
This year's regretted share
12 ÷ 30 × 100 = 40%
Total turnover stayed at 10% both years.
The regretted share rose from 6 ÷ 30 = 20% to 12 ÷ 30 = 40%. The regretted attrition rate went from 6 ÷ 300 = 2% to 12 ÷ 300 = 4%. Turnover stayed flat at 10%, and the year still got worse.
A steady or falling regretted share is the healthy direction.
Zero turnover is not the goal. A healthy pattern is a regretted share that holds steady or falls while some non-regretted exits continue. The warning sign is the one in the definition above: a flat overall rate hiding a rising regretted share.
These mistakes make the regretted number unreliable.
- Tagging exits months later from memory instead of at the time, when the manager still knows why the person mattered.
- Letting the departing person's manager be the only judge. A second view from HR or the manager's own manager keeps the tag honest.
- Tagging almost every exit as regretted to signal a loss, which makes the share meaningless.
- Reporting the share without the count. On a small team, one exit moves the share a long way.
Find out who is showing exit signals.
Regretted exits are the ones worth seeing coming. Score one person against ten factors in five areas, in a few minutes, and see which signals are contributing most.
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These related terms are in the glossary too.
Non-regretted attrition is a departure the company is neutral about or relieved by, usually a poor fit or a sustained performance problem.
Dysfunctional turnover is a departure that damages the organization: a high performer, a specialist, or someone hard to replace at any price.
Voluntary turnover is a departure the employee chose: a resignation, a retirement, or a move to another employer.
An exit interview is a structured conversation with a departing employee about why they are leaving and what would have changed their mind.
Flight risk is the likelihood that a specific employee leaves in the near future, based on observable signals rather than a manager's hunch.
Employee turnover is the movement of people out of a company over a set period, counted as the employees who leave and are replaced.
These pages on this site go deeper.
Back to the HR glossary, where all 52 terms are defined.