Free tool · For owners and HR
Employee turnover cost calculator.
How much does it cost to replace an employee? Move the sliders to see what turnover cost your business last year, using Gallup’s replacement-cost figures by role. No sign-up, nothing to download.
Gallup
Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their yearly salary.
U.S. businesses lose about $1 trillion a year to turnover
Every person who leaves costs about
$16,000
People who left last year6 (24% of your team)
What that cost you$96,000
If sincere recognition helped you keep just 2$32,000 stays
Replacement cost by role: Gallup, 2024. The math is yours. We don’t promise a number.
The answer
How much does it cost to replace an employee?
Gallup estimates that replacing an employee costs between one-half and two times their yearly salary, depending on the job. The more skill and trust a role carries, the more it costs to replace.
That cost includes recruiting and hiring, training the new person, the work that doesn’t get done while the seat is empty, and the months it takes a new hire to get up to speed.
Gallup, “This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion,” and “Employee Retention Depends on Getting Recognition Right,” 2024.
What one departure costs, by role
| Frontline worker paid $35,000 about 40% of pay | ≈ $14,000 |
| Technical or professional, $70,000 about 80% of pay | ≈ $56,000 |
| Manager or leader, $90,000 up to 200% of pay | up to $180,000 |
Simple math on Gallup’s percentages. Your real cost depends on your business.
The cheapest fix
People stay where they feel seen.
You can’t always give a raise. You can always say something true. Recognition is one of the few things that costs nothing and still shows up in who stays.
less likely to have left two years later, for employees who received high-quality recognition.
Gallup and Workhuman, 2024as likely to say they will quit within a year, for people who don’t feel recognized.
Gallupof U.S. workers strongly agree they were praised for good work in the last seven days.
Gallup, May 2026These are correlations across large groups, not a promise about your team. Recognition alone won’t fix low pay, a broken schedule or a bad supervisor. What it will do is stop you losing people you could have kept, and it costs nothing to try for thirty days.
Questions
About turnover costs.
How much does it cost to replace an employee?
Gallup estimates one-half to two times the person’s yearly salary. By role, that is about 40% of pay for frontline workers, about 80% for technical and professional workers, and up to 200% for leaders and managers.
Why does replacing a manager cost so much?
Managers carry relationships, know-how and the trust of their team. When one leaves, the team often slows down or loses people too, and finding and training a replacement takes longer.
Can recognition really reduce turnover?
In Gallup and Workhuman’s research, employees who received high-quality recognition were 45% less likely to have left two years later. Recognition is not the only reason people stay, but it is one of the cheapest to fix.
How do I use this calculator?
Set your team size, average yearly pay and how many people left in the last year, then pick the kind of role most of them had. The calculator multiplies pay by Gallup’s replacement-cost percentage for that role.
What does Compliments for Change do about turnover?
We teach your leaders and teams to give sincere recognition in person, by name, and to receive it, then keep it going every day with a free team wall. Programs start at $500, and every price is on our pricing page.
Stop paying for silence.
Thirty minutes is enough to start. Dawn will show your team how to say it, and how to take it.
