A 200-person call center loses about $1.8 million a year to employee turnover.
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This turnover cost calculator for call centers starts from a turnover rate of 38% (SQM Group press release, 13 April 2023, on its call center benchmarking) and an average pay of $46,600 a year (May 2025), and it works out what a year of turnover costs at a replacement cost of 50% of pay. Change any number to match your company.
The rate is for call center agents and the pay is the average for customer service representatives, the BLS job that comes closest to an agent, so put your agent headcount in the employees box.
Don't know it? Use our turnover rate calculator first.
Gallup estimates replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary. 50% is the low end of that range and a conservative place to start for a mixed team.
Estimated departures per year
76
Estimated cost per departure
$23,300
Estimated annual cost of turnover
$1,770,800
Potential annual savings
$139,800
if turnover drops by 3 percentage points
Your annual turnover rate of 38% is 1.7 points below the US average of 39.7%.
At the US average of 39.7%, a team of 200 would lose 79.4 people a year, and at 50% of a $46,600 salary that costs about $1,850,020, against $1,770,800 at your rate.
Averages are exits per 100 jobs over 2025, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. See every industry, year by year.
200 people at 38% turnover lose 76 people a year, at $23,300 each.
- Departures a year
- 200 employees × 38% turnover
- 76
- Cost per departure
- $46,600 salary × 50% replacement cost
- $23,300
- Annual cost
- 76 departures × $23,300
- $1,770,800
- Saving from a 3-point cut
- 200 employees × 3% × $23,300
- $139,800
The replacement cost percentage holds everything from the job ad to the months a new hire takes to get up to speed.
Turnover costs a 50-person call center about $443,000 a year, a 200-person one about $1.8 million and a 1,000-person one about $8.9 million.
| Company size | People who leave a year | Cost of turnover a year |
|---|---|---|
| 50 people | 19 | $442,700 |
| 200 people | 76 | $1,770,800 |
| 1,000 people | 380 | $8,854,000 |
People who leave = employees × 38%. Cost of one departure = $46,600 pay × 50%. Cost of turnover = people who leave × cost of one departure, the same sum as the calculator above. The highlighted row is what the calculator opens with.
These three sizes use the same 38% rate and $46,600 pay. Your company is different, so put your own headcount, pay and rate in the calculator above, or start from the main employee turnover cost calculator.
The turnover rate among call center agents was 38% in 2022, as SQM reports it.
call centers, 2021 to 2022
- Yearly turnover
The source gives 2 years: 35% in 2021 and 38% in 2022.
Every industry is in the turnover rate by industry table, year by year.
Call center agent turnover ran from 20% to over 200% across the centers SQM benchmarked.
These are the reasons and figures the survey publishes, each with its source.
- Call centers in SQM's 2022 and 2023 benchmarking ran from 20% agent turnover to over 200%. Source: SQM Group, 13 April 2023
- SQM lists these causes: overall job dissatisfaction, a low unemployment rate and work from home that make it easy to job-hop, undesirable schedules and repetitive work, poor career opportunities, agents who feel unappreciated, weak supervisor coaching, and dealing with dissatisfied customers. Source: SQM Group, 13 April 2023
- 47% of the managers SQM surveyed said high agent turnover and absenteeism is their biggest problem in running a call center. Source: SQM Group, 13 April 2023
Average pay in this page is $46,600 a year, which is 70% of the $66,500 average for all private employers (BLS series OEUN000000000000043405104 and CEU0500000011, May 2025).
A 5-point cut in turnover would save a 200-person call center about $233,000 a year.
At $46,600 pay and a 50% replacement cost, one departure costs $23,300. A 5-point cut in turnover keeps 10 of 200 people a year, and 10 × $23,300 is $233,000. Move the "cut turnover by" slider in the calculator to try your own target.
Gallup found that 52% of employees who left voluntarily say their manager or organization could have done something to prevent it, and 51% say that in the three months before they left, nobody spoke with them about their job satisfaction or their future with the company.
- SQM's list of causes includes career opportunities, recognition and supervisor coaching, three things a company can change. Source: SQM Group, 13 April 2023
The rate and the pay on this page come from public sources, and both are inputs you can change.
| Number | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover rate | 38% | SQM Group press release, 13 April 2023, on its call center benchmarking. SQM Group reports the average share of call center agents who left in a year. The latest year in its release is 2022, so the rate is older than the other pages here. |
| Average pay | $46,600 a year | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, series OEUN000000000000043405104: the average yearly pay of customer service representatives in the US, for May 2025, to the nearest $100. |
| Replacement cost | 50% of pay | Gallup, March 2019: replacing an employee costs one-half to two times annual salary. 50% is the low end of that range. |
| Company sizes | 50, 200, 1,000 | Chosen for comparison. The calculator opens at 200 people, and you can enter your own headcount. |
The wider group of jobs has a page of its own: Professional and business services.
Three industries with a turnover rate near 38% each have a calculator page of their own.
- 39.8% turnoverOther services
- 40.2% turnoverMining and logging
- 34.5% turnoverHealth care and social assistance
The main calculator lists every industry. To see which of your own people are at risk, run the free flight risk check.
Here are four questions about the cost of turnover among call center agents, answered.
- How much does employee turnover cost among call center agents?
- At the 38% rate and $46,600 average pay, turnover costs a 50-person call center about $442,700 a year, a 200-person one about $1,770,800 and a 1,000-person one about $8,854,000. That assumes each departure costs 50% of a year's pay, the low end of what Gallup found.
- What is the employee turnover rate among call center agents?
- It was 38% in 2022 (SQM Group press release, 13 April 2023, on its call center benchmarking). SQM Group reports the average share of call center agents who left in a year. The latest year in its release is 2022, so the rate is older than the other pages here.
- How does the calculator work out the cost?
- It multiplies the people who leave by the cost of replacing each one. For 200 people at 38%, that is 76.0 departures a year. At $46,600 pay and a 50% replacement cost, each costs $23,300, so the year costs $1,770,800.
- What pay does the calculator use for call centers?
- $46,600 a year, which is the average yearly pay of customer service representatives in the US, for May 2025 (BLS series OEUN000000000000043405104), to the nearest $100. Put your own average pay in the calculator for a closer figure.
Turnover is cheaper to prevent than to calculate.
TeamPredict flags resignation risk early from public LinkedIn signals, giving you lead time to retain your best people before they hand in notice.
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