For Distribution & Manufacturing Leaders
What Does Turnover Really Cost You?
Recruiting is just the visible part. Overtime to cover the gap, supervisor hours, and weeks of ramp-up are where the real money goes. Plug in your numbers and see it.
Your Numbers
Base pay before benefits — we'll add the loaded cost for you.
From the day they leave to the new hire's first day.
Be honest — 'safe and certified' isn't the same as 'fully productive.'
Cost of losing one employee
$11,430
That's 25% of this role's annual wages ($45,760).
Where the money goes
Overtime premiums plus the work that simply doesn't get done.
Ads, fees, and your team's time in the hiring process.
Supervisor and trainer hours pulled from their own work.
Paying full wages for partial output until they're up to speed.
And that's the conservative number.
This doesn't capture what's hardest to measure: safety risk with a green employee on the floor, errors and rework, the institutional knowledge that walked out the door, the customers who noticed, or the morale hit on the people left covering the gap. Turnover is a people problem long before it shows up as a dollar problem.
This calculator tells you what turnover costs. It can't tell you why people are leaving — that answer is on your floor, in your breakrooms, and in conversations your surveys never reach. That's what the Frontline Culture Diagnostic uncovers: an on-site, observation-and-interview-based assessment that produces a clear report and a practical roadmap to fix what's driving people out.
Learn About the Frontline Culture Diagnostic →Or email me directly at hello@traciesponenberg.com
Built by Tracie Sponenberg · Strategy. Culture. Impact.