Staff turnover
Staff turnover is the share of a consulting roster that leaves over twelve months. In services firms each departure also removes future billed days, so it feeds the revenue forecast and bench planning.
Definition
Staff turnover is the standard HR metric for departures, applied here to a consulting roster: the people who left over the last twelve months divided by the average headcount, expressed as a percentage. It answers one question, how fast the roster renews itself.
In a services firm a departure is never only an HR event. The person carried future billed days, so turnover shows up directly in the revenue forecast and in bench planning. Targets depend on the market and the model, not on a universal benchmark.
Formula
Turnover rate = departures over the last 12 months / average headcount x 100.
Example: 6 departures in 12 months with an average roster of 40 gives 6 / 40 x 100 = 15% turnover.
Why it matters
A departure takes more than a headcount slot. Recruitment has to be paid for, the replacement needs time to ramp up, and knowledge built on ongoing missions is lost on the way out. When the departing consultant was client facing, continuity itself is at stake, and the client feels it. Turnover concentrates these costs in the same places: the teams and accounts that lose people carry the loss twice, in delivery and in future billed days.
How to measure turnover well
- 1
Measure turnover on a rolling twelve months. Monthly swings are noise and push you to react to a handful of departures.
- 2
Split voluntary from involuntary departures. The two call for different responses, and mixing them hides what is actually happening.
- 3
Watch departures team by team. Turnover concentrates in specific teams and accounts long before it shows up in the company average.
How Okouro shows it
Okouro keeps consultant profiles and assignment history, so the roster record stays clean enough to count departures and see their effect on planned billed days. It is a record of consultants and assignments, not an HR suite, and a free plan exists.