Regrettable Attrition

Why track it separately

Two teams can each have 12 percent voluntary turnover and be in very different shape. In one, most leavers were struggling performers who would have been managed out. In the other, the top three engineers and the only person who knows the billing system have gone. Overall turnover treats those cases the same; regrettable attrition does not.

That is why many enterprise HR teams report regrettable attrition to executives as their main retention measure, with a target. It focuses attention and budget on keeping the people who matter most, rather than reducing turnover across the board.

Deciding what counts as regrettable

The definition has to be set before people leave. If managers decide afterward, almost everyone becomes regrettable (it reflects badly on the manager to say otherwise), or almost no one does (it reflects badly to admit losing someone good). Common criteria:

• Most recent performance rating at or above a set level, such as "exceeds" or the top two points on a five-point scale.
• Holding a role on the critical-roles list, or a role that takes more than a set number of days to fill.
• Identified as a high-potential employee or as a successor in talent reviews.
• Rare skills, licenses or customer relationships.

Some organizations allow a manager override with HR approval, but keep it rare and recorded. Code every voluntary exit as regrettable or non-regrettable in the HRIS at the time of exit.

Non-regrettable turnover

Non-regrettable turnover covers voluntary exits the company is neutral or positive about: low performers, people in roles being phased out, and some exits from roles with easy, cheap replacement. A moderate level of non-regrettable turnover is healthy. It refreshes teams and avoids difficult performance conversations becoming terminations.

Be careful with frontline roles, though. In a contact center, an average-performing agent with 18 months of tenure who leaves may be "non-regrettable" on paper but still costs several thousand dollars to replace and train. For high-volume roles, many teams count any exit after the first 90 days as regrettable unless the agent was on a performance plan.

Benchmarks

There is no official benchmark, because definitions differ so much. Many organizations set targets in the low single digits for regrettable attrition rate, and track whether the regrettable share of voluntary exits is falling. A common warning sign is a regrettable share above about half: it suggests strong performers are leaving faster than weaker ones, often because of pay compression or a lack of advancement for top people.

How to reduce regrettable attrition

• Know who is at risk. Combine flight risk indicators (time since last raise or promotion, manager change, pay below market, declining engagement) with the regrettable criteria to create a short watch list.
• Hold stay conversations. Ask top performers what would make them leave and what would keep them. Act on the answers quickly.
• Pay the market for top performers. Merit budgets spread evenly do little to retain the people other employers are trying to hire. Differentiate.
• Create moves. Many regretted leavers go for a promotion they could not get internally. Internal mobility and clear career paths keep them.
• Review managers. If regretted exits cluster under particular managers, address that directly.
• Track counteroffers carefully. They can work for a short time, but if the reason for leaving was not pay, people often go within a year anyway.

Common mistakes

• Classifying exits after the fact, based on how the manager feels.
• Using performance ratings that are inflated, so nearly everyone qualifies.
• Reporting only the regrettable rate and losing sight of total turnover costs in frontline roles.
• Forgetting involuntary exits are excluded; layoffs of strong performers are a different, though related, problem.