Employee turnover is usually discussed in percentages: 5%, 10%, 15% a year. The figure sounds harmless until you convert it into money. When an owner or CFO sees “minus 6.75 million ₸ a year” instead of “2.5% turnover”, the conversation about why people leave changes fundamentally.
The job of HR tech here is simple: collect turnover data automatically and present it not as an abstract KPI but as a cost line comparable to marketing or rent. Below — how to calculate it and what to do about it.
How to calculate the cost of turnover
The formula needs no complex analytics — four numbers are enough:
Annual losses = Number of leavers × Cost of replacing one employee, where Replacement cost = Average salary including contributions × a multiplier in monthly salaries.
The multiplier depends on the level of the role: ≈ 3 monthly salaries for frontline roles, 6–9 for managers — the more senior the role, the longer and more expensive the replacement. This cost includes the vacancy standing empty, hiring, onboarding and the team's lost speed while it helps the newcomer.
Worked example:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Headcount, people | 200 |
| Left during the year, people | 5 |
| Average salary including contributions, ₸/month | 450,000 |
| Replacement cost multiplier | 3 monthly salaries |
| Annual turnover | 2.5% |
| Cost of one replacement, ₸ | 1,350,000 |
| Annual losses, ₸ | 6,750,000 |
| Losses per remaining employee, ₸ | 33,750 |
With seemingly low turnover of 2.5%, the company loses 6.75 million ₸ a year — the budget for several positions or an entire HR tech system. For management roles, the same formula with a multiplier of 6–9 gives a figure 2–3 times higher.
Why turnover hurts the business — and what to do about it
| Consequence | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Direct financial losses | Recruitment, training and vacant positions cost money that is rarely visible as a separate line in the budget. | Track the cost of turnover as a separate metric in the HR dashboard, not just the turnover rate; budget for replacements in advance rather than as an unplanned expense. |
| Drop in team productivity | While the newcomer ramps up to full capacity, colleagues cover their tasks and lose their own speed. | Systematic onboarding with a buddy and a clear plan for the first 90 days shortens the time to full productivity. |
| Loss of knowledge and client relationships | An experienced employee takes undocumented knowledge and personal client relationships with them. | Maintain a knowledge base and process guidelines, and introduce cross-functional backup for key roles so that no single person is the sole holder of context. |
| Lower morale and engagement among those who stay | Frequent departures make the team doubt the company's stability, and turnover often becomes cyclical. | Hold stay interviews with key employees and explain the reasons for departures to the team openly rather than keeping quiet about them. |
| Damage to the employer brand | Reviews from former employees on hh.kz and social media affect who applies for the next vacancy. | Run exit interviews with everyone who leaves, monitor reviews and respond to recurring complaints rather than ignoring one-off reviews. |
| Overloaded managers | Constant hiring and onboarding of new people takes the manager's time away from management and strategy. | Automate the recruitment funnel with an ATS and hand initial screening to a recruiter, leaving only the final decision to the manager. |
Conclusion
Turnover will never be zero — and that is normal. But when a company sees it in money rather than percentages, the conversation with management changes: the question shifts from “why is HR asking for an onboarding budget” to “how much are we losing if nothing changes”. HR tech is not the goal here but a tool: it collects the numbers automatically and keeps the topic on the agenda at every management meeting.
