Staff Turnover & Replacement Cost Tracker Spreadsheet
What each person who leaves actually costs to replace, in five parts, only two of which ever reach a spreadsheet.
Turnover gets reported as a number with a per cent sign on it and nothing follows, so twenty-seven per cent sounds like a personnel problem rather than a bill. A leaver costs five separate things: the empty seat, recruiting, getting them in, the run-up while a new person is paid in full and not yet worth it, and whatever it took to cover in the meantime.
What is in it
- Five costs per leaver, priced separately: the empty seat, recruiting, getting them in, the run-up and anything else
- 200 rows, nine things per person, held by reference only — no names, so it can sit on a shared drive
- By Reason: what each way of losing somebody costs, including the people you decided to let go
- By Role: which seats are expensive to lose, in money and in weeks of what that seat is worth to you
- By Length Of Service: what a leaver cost per week they were actually with you
- The Run-Up, and what taking one week off every run-up would be worth, worked out from your own roles
Who it is for
Any business that loses people and has never put a bill next to the percentage. Nothing in the file is specific to a trade — the roles and the reasons are all named by you. It works from the first row, so three leavers a year is enough to be worth doing.
The worked example
In the worked year 44 leavers out of 160 on the payroll — turnover of 27.5% — cost $335,997 to replace, or $7,636 each. The run-up alone was $186,290, 55.4% of the whole bill, and it has never appeared on any report anywhere.
Somebody who had been there three months cost $8,433 to replace and somebody who had been there five years cost $7,730 — almost the same bill, but $499 a week against $32 for the time they were actually with you. The people who did not work out cost $11,362 each, and getting everybody up to speed one week sooner is worth $23,715 a year.
How it works
Compatible with Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create, nothing to install.
The download has two workbooks: one with the example above already filled in, so you can see what every column expects, and the same file completely blank for your own figures. A plain-English guide comes as a PDF. Buy it on Etsy — $9
Sold through my Etsy shop, ThePlainLedger, so the download, the payment and the buyer protection are all handled by Etsy.
A look inside the file
Questions people actually ask
How do I work out what it costs to replace somebody who leaves?
Add five things, only two of which normally reach a spreadsheet: the empty seat, recruiting, getting them in, the run-up while a new person is paid in full and not yet worth it, and anything else such as overtime to cover. In the worked year 44 leavers out of 160 on the payroll — 27.5% turnover — cost $335,997, or $7,636 each, and the run-up alone was $186,290, 55.4% of the whole bill.
We only lose two or three people a year, and we have one role rather than twelve.
Then the per-leaver figures matter more than the totals, and they work from the first row — three leavers is still a five-figure number in most businesses. One role is fine: put one line in Setup and everything else works exactly the same. Nothing in the file is specific to any trade, and the roles and the reasons are all named by you.
I don't know what a seat is worth a week — can I still use it?
Start with the wage plus a third and adjust it later; being roughly right beats leaving it out, which is what every turnover report does. Nine things go in per person over 200 rows. Seasonal or agency staff get their own role with a short run-up, which shows what that flexibility actually costs — usually the point of the exercise.
Will it work in Google Sheets, or do I have to have Excel?
Yes — the file is built as .xlsx, so it opens in Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, goes into Google Sheets through File → Import → Upload, and works in LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create, nothing to install and no subscription. You download a file and it is yours. Two hundred leaver rows, twelve roles and twelve reasons, with a filled-in worked year, a blank copy and a plain-English PDF guide.
Does it hold staff names, and is it an HR system?
No on both counts — a reference such as L-101 or L-102 is enough, so there is no personal data in it and it can sit on a shared drive without anybody worrying. It is not an HR system, a payroll system or an applicant tracker, it is not employment or legal advice, and nothing syncs or logs in. It will not stop anybody leaving; it tells you what each one cost, which seats are dear to lose, and that taking one week off every run-up is worth $23,715 a year.
Need it built around your business?
This file assumes you hire into named roles and can put a weekly value on a seat. If yours is different — seasonal crews taken on in blocks, a licence or a ticket somebody has to hold before they can start at all, agency-to-permanent conversions, or several sites recruiting out of the same local pool — I can build the same logic around how you actually work.
All other templates are listed on the Excel & Google Sheets Templates page.