Natoscha Golightly.

Business value

What keeping good people is worth.

What this costs

The gap is not abstract. It has a number.

Four problems, priced from peer reviewed and primary sources. Figures below assume a $60,000 average salary, 13 percent annual voluntary turnover, and replacement cost at the conservative low end of the published range.

100

1,000

10,000

Burnout, annual

$500K

$5M

$50M

Voluntary turnover, annual

$390K

$3.9M

$39M

The preventable share of that turnover

$200K

$2M

$20M

Value of one percentage point of retention

$30K

$300K

$3M

  • •Burnout costs $3,999 to $20,683 per employee per year depending on role. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2025.
  • •Replacing an employee costs 50 to 200 percent of salary, and 52 percent of people who quit say their exit was preventable. Gallup, 2019.
  • •Managers account for at least 70 percent of the variance in team engagement, and roughly 60 percent of new managers fail within 24 months. Gallup, 2015. Gartner.

Slow onboarding does not sit outside these numbers. It front loads them, because roughly a third of new hires leave within 90 days.

Jobvite, 2018. Bauer, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2007.

Leadership is the multiplier on all three. That is where I work.