Business Tool

Employee Turnover Cost Calculator

What does losing one employee really cost your business? Most owners count only the job advert. This calculator shows the full picture, including the hidden part, in Tanzanian shillings.

The figures below are a worked example so you can see how the calculator works: Mrs Neema's best salesperson, earning TSh 1,200,000 a month, resigned. Change any number and the results update instantly. When you're ready, press "Clear all" and enter your own figures.

A. The employee

Monthly salary (TSh) Gross monthly pay

Months the position was empty From resignation to the replacement's start

B. Visible costs (on receipts)

Finding a replacement (TSh) Adverts, agency fees, printing

Interview time (TSh) Interviewers' hours × their hourly value

Training and equipment (TSh) Initial training, uniform, phone, computer

Final payments to the leaver (TSh) e.g. unused leave, per contract (0 if none)

C. Hidden costs (never on a receipt)

Lost output per month while the position was empty (TSh) Lost sales or service, plus overtime paid to colleagues covering the work

Empty position total = lost output × months empty–

Months for the new hire to reach full productivity Typical learning period for this job

New hire's productivity during that period (%) e.g. 50 = half as productive as an experienced person

Learning-period cost = salary × months × (100% − productivity)–

Supervisor / coaching time (TSh) Supervisor's coaching hours × their hourly value

Lost customers and opportunities (TSh) Profit from customers or tenders lost because they left

Early mistakes by the new hire (TSh) Damaged goods, rework (0 if none)

The real cost of this departure

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Visible: – Hidden: –

% of annual salary

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Share that was hidden

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Annual salary

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D. The yearly picture

How many employees resigned in the last 12 months? Count voluntary resignations only

Estimated yearly cost (resignations × cost above)–

Saving if you prevented half of them–

Benchmark: research by Gallup estimates the cost of replacing an employee at half to twice their annual salary, and found that more than half of voluntary leavers say their manager or organisation could have done something to keep them. Source: Gallup, "This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion". This calculator gives an estimate to guide decisions; it is not accounting advice.

Prefer a spreadsheet?

Download the same calculator as an Excel file to save, share with your team or keep for your records. It opens with the same worked example filled in.

⬇ Download the Excel calculator (free)

📘 Now that you know the cost, how do you stop paying it?

This calculator comes from the e-book Good Employees Don't Leave for Nothing by Juma Killaghai: 15 proven strategies to keep your best people, plus 13 ready-to-use tools as editable Word files, including a 90-day onboarding checklist, a stay interview guide and a team temperature survey.

👉 Get the e-book ($12)

Kiswahili edition: Wafanyakazi Bora Hawaondoki Bure · Free article: Why good employees leave, and 15 ways to keep them · Team licences and workshops: +255 754 281 131