What is voluntary turnover costing your organization this year?
90 seconds.
Built on industry-standard turnover cost economics from Gallup, SHRM, and the Center for American Progress. Used by senior leaders, CHROs, and executives across legal, healthcare, financial services, and professional organizations.
The Calculator
Five fields. Four diagnostic questions. The output is yours.
Among the senior performers you'd want to keep — based on the inputs you provided.
The math, shown
Three-year compounded view
Over three years, with replacement ramp-up factored in (six months at roughly 50% productivity per replacement), the figure compounds to approximately —.
What this number does NOT include
The figure above is a conservative estimate. It does not include:
- Lost institutional knowledge (typically 6–18 months to rebuild)
- Lost client or customer relationships when senior people leave
- Time, energy, and morale cost on the team left behind
- Recruitment fees, onboarding, and ramp-up time for replacements
- Senior leader time spent managing turnover instead of leading
The real number is higher than the calculator says. The calculator is the floor.
Ready to Change the Story for Your Top Performer?
Turn voluntary turnover into a measurable win—one high-potential woman at a time.
The number won't move by itself. Preventable turnover is the work. The Choose Both™ Engagement is the playbook.
Here's how real progress happens:
- Biweekly 1:1 sessions—customized to her role, stage, and toughest decisions
- Cohort connection with peers navigating the same high-stakes tradeoffs
- Direct access to the full Choose Both™ Playbook, applied to her life and career
- On-demand support (email/text) for six months so she's never alone in the process
Industry research shows up to 75% of voluntary turnover is preventable (Work Institute, 2025 Retention Report)). This is where we focus—so your investment makes a real and lasting difference.
Business outcomes you can count on:
- Measurable shift in engagement, decision-making, and intent to stay
- Credibility that your top performers recognize as real investment
- A repeatable model you can extend to more leaders
Ready to Take the First Step?
Book a 30-minute call to:
- Map your turnover number to specific high-risk talent and patterns
- Scope the right-fit engagement for your unique needs
- Define what "success" will look like 12 months from now
This is the start of the work - tailored, actionable, and focused on results for your organization.
Book the callSample Personalized PDF Report
Voluntary Turnover
Cost Analysis
Prepared for [Your Organization]
May 4, 2026
Your Annual Cost
per year, in voluntary turnover among senior performers
How this was calculated
Replacement multipliers based on Gallup (2024): leaders/managers ≈ 200% of salary, professionals/technical ≈ 80% of salary. SHRM range: 50–200% depending on role.
How your organization compares
Your reported voluntary attrition rate among senior people is —.
The industry average for voluntary attrition among senior knowledge workers ranges from 7–15% depending on sector. Recent benchmarks from BLS JOLTS and industry-specific sources:
Selected industry benchmarks
- Law firm associates (NALP, 2024): 20% overall attrition; nearly 75% of departures occur within 4 years
- Physicians (US, 2024): ~7% voluntary turnover; average cost per departure ~$1M
- Healthcare overall (2024): 2.2% voluntary quit rate
- Hospital workforce (2024): 20.7% turnover
- Cross-industry preventable turnover (Gallup, 2024): 42% of voluntary departures could have been prevented
Where your rate falls relative to peers depends on industry, firm size, and tenure structure. The cost above is independent of benchmark — it is what your specific organization is paying.
What this calculator does not include
The figure on page 2 is a conservative estimate of direct replacement costs. It does not account for:
- Lost institutional knowledge. Typical rebuilding time: 6–18 months for senior knowledge workers.
- Client or customer relationships. A senior person walking out the door takes relationships with them.
- Team morale and momentum. The remaining team absorbs the work, the questions, and the doubt.
- Recruitment and ramp-up costs. External recruiter fees alone can equal 20% of the new hire's annual salary (SHRM).
- Senior leader time. The hours spent managing transitions are hours not spent leading.
Gallup estimates that voluntary turnover driven by burnout alone costs organizations 15–20% of their payroll budget annually. The calculator on page 2 is the floor, not the ceiling.
The calculator told you the size of the problem.
It did not tell you who on your team is likely to leave next.
A 30-minute retention diagnostic call maps the dollar figure on page 2 back to specific people on your team — the ones at highest risk, the patterns driving them, and the conversations that surface them before the resignation letter does.
The call is free. There is no pitch.
Book the diagnostic call
https://rachelfreyman.com/contact-cohort
About Rachel Freyman
Rachel is the leading authority on high-performer retention. As Senior Litigation and Regulatory Counsel for an $8 billion health system, she advises boards, executives, and federal and state enforcement agencies on some of the most complex matters in American healthcare. She is the creator of Choose Both™.
Methodology & Sources
This calculator uses replacement cost ratios that have been published and validated by the leading research organizations on workplace economics. The figures cited below are current as of 2024–2025 publication.
Replacement cost multipliers
Gallup (2024) estimates the cost of replacing leaders and managers at approximately 200% of annual salary, professionals in technical roles at 80% of salary, and frontline employees at 40% of salary. SHRM cites a broader range of 50–200% of salary depending on role tier, with replacement typically equivalent to 6–9 months of the departing employee's salary. The Center for American Progress synthesized 30 case studies and found exempt employee replacement costs reaching as high as 213% of salary.
This calculator applies a tiered multiplier:
- Senior leaders / Managing Partners / Executives: 2.0× annual compensation
- Directors / senior managers / specialists: 1.5× annual compensation
Voluntary attrition benchmarks
Industry-standard benchmarks pulled from BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data, the NALP Foundation's 2024 associate attrition report, and 2024 healthcare workforce data. Senior knowledge worker voluntary attrition typically falls in the 7–20% range depending on industry, with law firm associates at 20%, physicians at ~7%, and hospitals overall at 20.7%.
Ramp-up productivity assumption
Replacement employees are assumed to operate at approximately 50% productivity for the first six months. This is consistent with Bersin/Deloitte and SHRM research on senior hire ramp-up times, which typically run 6–18 months for full productivity in knowledge-worker roles.
Sources cited on this page
- Gallup, "42% of Employee Turnover Is Preventable but Often Ignored" (2024)
- SHRM, "The Myth of Replaceability: Preparing for the Loss of Key Employees"
- Center for American Progress, "There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees"
- BLS JOLTS — Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
- NALP Foundation, "Associate Attrition and Hiring (CY 24)"
- Work Institute on stay interviews and retention research
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