What metric measures the percentage of workers who leave a firm per year?

• A. Absenteeism rate
• B. Labor turnover
• C. Attrition rate
• D. Retention rate

Answer: (B)

This measures workforce stability by showing how many employees leave the firm in a year relative to the size of the workforce. It captures staff churn and is useful for understanding recruitment needs, training costs, and overall morale.

The typical way to quantify it is labor turnover: the number of employees who leave during the year divided by the average number of employees during the year, multiplied by 100. For example, if 20 people leave and the firm has an average of 200 employees, turnover is 10%.

Absenteeism is about not showing up to work on certain days, not leaving the job. Retention rate focuses on how many stay, which is the opposite of departures. Attrition rate can be used similarly in some contexts, but the standard term that specifically describes the percentage of staff who leave is labor turnover.