A bank reports that its employee turnover rate has increased from 8% to 14%. The HR department concludes that its retention strategy has failed solely on the basis of this figure. Which criticism is most appropriate?

The quality and context of turnover matter. HR should ask: • Which employees are leaving? • Are they high performers? • Is turnover voluntary or involuntary? • Which departments have the highest turnover? • Why are employees leaving? • Is the turnover concentrated among new employees? • What is the replacement cost? For example, a high turnover rate among consistently underperforming employees may have different implications from high turnover among critical high performers. Therefore, a single aggregate number cannot provide the complete diagnosis.