This post was written by a guest contributor.
Employee turnover remains a key concern for US businesses. With the average voluntary turnover rate at 13% between 2024 and 2026, not to mention that a whopping 77% of employees who left voluntarily did so within three months of job searching.
Across sectors, this number varies, with hospitality turnover rates hitting 70-80%, which is much higher compared to other sectors such as administration, which sees much lower rates of about 25%.
The question is, why do companies have high turnover, and as a jobseeker, how can you avoid one when looking for work this year?
We’ve put together a guide to spotting signs of high turnover in a workplace and the red flags to look out for in your next job interview — what you need to know before it’s too late to walk away.
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How to tell if a company has high turnover
A high turnover rate means that a significant percentage of employees — higher than expected in the company’s line of business — quit within a specific period.
This suggests there are potential issues within the company that drive workers away, such as poor management, a toxic culture, and excessive workloads.
Worse still, if new hires leave within six months, this is a sign that the company also has poor onboarding strategies and perhaps misleading job descriptions too. This is usually the case when you see the same job position being reopened in just a matter of months.
Let’s take a closer look at eight signs of high employee turnover that should serve as warnings when you’re considering a job offer.
8 signs of high employee turnover
From increased absenteeism to toxic culture and poor management, here are definitive signs that the company you’re interviewing for may have a high employee turnover rate.
1. Increased absenteeism
The number one sign that a company has high staff turnover is an increase in absenteeism. If employees can’t afford to leave the company immediately, disengagement tends to show in different ways, such as increased sick days and frequently arriving late.
This could also suggest that they’re interviewing elsewhere or have simply lost their passion for the role. Otherwise known as ‘quiet quitting’, increased absenteeism is the first sign of a company struggling with high turnover.
2. Lack of interest in professional development
If you notice that employees around you are no longer interested in development opportunities within the company, it’s a probable sign that they’re planning to leave soon.
A lack of enthusiasm for training or professional development suggests they’re disengaged from the role and unhappy in the workplace.
3. Increased job-seeking behavior
Are employees frequently updating their LinkedIn profiles? Do they have a profile marked ‘open for work’?
This could indicate that a worker is seeking a new role and hoping to leave the company for a better one. These kinds of workers are also likely to stop long-term planning and start dipping out of the office for interviews elsewhere.
4. Absence of employee recognition
All workers want to be reminded that their efforts matter to the company. When leaders fail to acknowledge their employees’ achievements and development, workers start doing the bare minimum as they search for new opportunities.
Recognition can be informal, which is as simple as thanking an employee for a job well done, or formal, which includes gifting bonuses based on performance. The point here is that recognition helps drive motivation and reduces turnover.
If you see employees complaining about their lack of recognition, it’s a probable sign that the company could be an unhappy workplace.
5. Toxic culture and poor management
High turnover can also stem from a toxic work environment driven by micromanagement and favoritism, which can lead to a breakdown in trust.
It’s crucial to spot signs of toxic culture early, especially if you want to avoid accepting a job in a potentially high-stress environment. Read Glassdoor reviews and Indeed ratings ahead of time to see what employees really think about the company’s leadership post-exit.
6. Excessive workloads
If workers are constantly given excessive workload, you’ll find that turnover is much higher. This is because when employees work themselves to exhaustion, they often burn out fast, which also contributes to poor mental health and wellbeing. Without a solution or improvement, employees will eventually just pack up and look for companies with more reasonable workloads.
7. Negative attitudes
Negative attitudes are another sign of unhappy workers, and could indicate that they’re planning to leave soon.
Worst still, negative employees also bring down the morale of the remaining team, resulting in a discouraging work environment for everyone involved.
If you catch constant negative talk about the business, or witness uncooperative behavior from employees, this could be a sign that they’re unmotivated and unhappy.
8. Reduced cooperation
Teamwork plays an essential role in any company. When an employee stops cooperating with their peers, it could indicate that they are unsatisfied with their role.
Before turnover comes quiet quitting, which often starts with a lack of team morale and reduced cooperation. Watch out for this, especially if workers respond negatively to instructions regularly.
How to know if a job is bad before accepting an offer
To save yourself from entering a company with a high turnover rate, it’s important to learn how to know if a job is bad before accepting it.
Here are some of the red flags to look out for during the interview stage that could indicate a company has a high turnover rate.
How to spot the red flags in a job application
- Ever-evolving job descriptions: If the role consistently changes throughout each interview stage, this indicates that previous employees may have left due to taking on a job that was misadvertised, or it’s actually a collection of roles sold as one.
- Defensive or evasive answers: If the interviewer becomes increasingly frustrated, vague, or defensive when asked about turnover rates, this could indicate that a toxic workplace is to blame for high turnover. Make sure to ask why the previous person left, and also ask about the company culture.
- Repeated job postings: If you’re constantly seeing the same job posting from a business in a short span of time, or repeatedly hearing "the team is growing", this could be masking a serious turnover problem.
- Unprofessional interviewers: Are the interviewers professional? Poor communication, last-minute cancellations, or interviewers who seem unprepared are clear signs of a chaotic, stressful working environment.
- "Family" culture narrative: Watch out for terms like "we are a family" or "work hard, play hard". This could be a sign of a business that uses clichés to justify poor work-life balance and a toxic working culture.
When to walk away
So when should you walk away? Not all signs of employee turnover mean that staff are in and out of a revolving door, but they should be one of your biggest considerations when looking to join a new company. If you see more than three of these red flags, it’s probably best to move on to another job application to be safer.
In conclusion
Getting a job offer is like getting a key to a new house — and it’s literally your key to new beginnings as a professional. But remember, you’ll spend a lot of your waking hours at work interacting with your colleagues, in an environment that could easily affect your personal life too at the end of the day. So, it’s only right to be wary when considering new companies and make sure you end up with one where you’ll feel safe to grow in for the years to come.