how do we calculate staff turnover percentage

Turnover is outflow divided by average headcount

Staff turnover is usually calculated as the number of employees who left voluntarily or involuntarily during a period, divided by the average headcount over that period, multiplied by one hundred. VSME requests this figure on an annual basis, usually as a percentage of total staff. It concerns headcount, not FTEs — someone who worked three days and then left counts as one departure and one in the headcount.

Where it often goes wrong: some businesses count only dismissals by the employer, others also include retirement and end of fixed-term contract. For the average headcount, take the average of the opening and closing figures for the period, or the average of the monthly figures if you keep track of those — both are standard practice, choose one and stick with it so the figure is comparable from year to year. If you don't have a separate separation register, the payroll administration often suffices: hirings and departures are by definition recorded there. This figure is often asked about in the same breath as the male-female distribution within the workforcebecause both come from the same personnel data.

Base module of VSME, personnel indicators

The base module of EFRAG VSME includes staff turnover under social indicators, as part of the minimum package that unlisted SMEs can report to customers and financiers. Directive (EU) 2022/2464, which forms the CSRD, is the reason that larger customers in the supply chain ask for this type of SME standards in the first place: they must themselves report on their value chain and translate that obligation into questionnaires for suppliers. If you don't have the exact definition or calculation method clearly defined, that is no obstacle to proceeding with related questions such as occupational health and safety policy — these are separate from the turnover calculation and require a different type of evidence.