HR calculator
Employee Retention Rate Calculator
Calculate employee retention rate from the workforce present at the beginning of a month, quarter, year, or custom period. This cohort-based view keeps new hires separate so HR teams can understand how many original employees stayed.
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Employee Retention Rate Formula
Employee Retention Rate = (Employees from the Starting Workforce Who Remained / Employees at the Start of the Period) × 100
Inputs used in this calculator
- Employees at Start of Period: Employees employed when the selected period began.
- Employees Remaining From Starting Group: Original employees who remained through the period end.
- Employees at End of Period: Optional headcount context; new hires do not increase retention.
How to use the result
- Choose the month, quarter, year, or custom period you want to review.
- Enter the employees who were employed at the start of that period.
- Enter how many employees from that same starting group remained through the end of the period.
- Use ending headcount only as optional context; do not use new hires to increase the retained starting group.
- Compare the cohort result with a separately defined turnover rate, and investigate causes before drawing a retention conclusion.
Method, scope, and sources
Cohort retention = starting-cohort members continuously employed through the stated end date ÷ members in that starting cohort × 100. Both compact and advanced views exclude later hires from retained members. The advanced view also displays the arithmetic complement as starting-cohort non-retention and shows ending headcount only as context.
Define continuous employment and the treatment of transfers, leave, status changes, contractors, acquisitions, and separated-and-rehired workers. Starting-cohort non-retention is not necessarily turnover or a formal separation rate. Ending headcount must not replace the retained starting cohort, and the result does not establish cause, culture, engagement, or a required response.
Method status: Supported.
Worked example
Hypothetical cohort: 84 people are in scope on June 1 and 75 of those same people remain continuously employed on August 31. Fourteen later hires are excluded. Retention = 75 ÷ 84 × 100 = 89.29%; starting-cohort non-retention = 10.71%. Neither figure is automatically the organization’s turnover rate.
Sources
- Society for Human Resource Management — Data Will Show You Why Your Employees Leave or Stay: Directly states the formula as employees remaining employed for the entire measurement period divided by employees at the start, times 100. It says not to count hires made during the period and permits targeted periods and worker groups.
- International Organization for Standardization — ISO/TS 30421:2021 Human resource management — Turnover and retention metrics: Supports treating turnover and retention as distinct workforce measures and notes interpretation issues, but its public abstract does not supply the calculator formula.
Questions about this calculation
What is employee retention rate?
Employee retention rate is the percentage of employees from a starting workforce group who remain employed through the end of a selected period.
How is employee retention rate calculated?
Divide the employees from the starting group who remain by the employees at the start of the period, then multiply by 100.
Is retention rate the opposite of turnover rate?
Not always. Turnover metrics can use different populations, departure definitions, periods, and denominators, while this retention rate follows the workforce present at the start. Hiring during the period can make the measures non-complementary.
Should new hires be included in employee retention rate?
New hires can be included in ending headcount context, but they should not be counted as retained employees from the starting workforce cohort.
Can retention be calculated monthly?
Yes. The same cohort calculation can be used for a month, quarter, year, or another consistent period definition.
Why should HR track retention and turnover separately?
The metrics answer related but different questions. Retention shows who from the starting workforce stayed, while turnover measures departures relative to average workforce size.
Read the companion guide
Employee Retention Rate Guide: How to Measure the Starting Workforce That Stayed
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