ABSTRACT
Staff turnover continues to be a contentious issue in the hospitality industry. Many managers see the process of staff leaving and being replaced as a natural and inevitable feature of industry employment. This chapter argues that staff turnover can represent a considerable additional cost to the business. Some reasons for unavoidable staff turnover include: retirement, illness, death, marriage, pregnancy, leaving the area, and cases of students returning to college or home. The reasons for avoidable staff turnover are many and include dissatisfaction with wages, the relationship with management, lack of training, and work pace and stress. Staff turnover represents both direct and hidden costs to the business. In the case of direct costs, it is possible to calculate direct expenditure related to filling each vacancy. Hidden costs include lost investment in training and lost staff expertise. The staff retention rate helps to feature the general extent, or limited nature of the turnover taking place.
