Voluntary Attrition

Definition

When employees leave on their own, which companies celebrate because it's cheaper than layoffs. The "voluntary" part is debatable when the work environment is so intolerable that quitting is less a choice and more a survival instinct.

Example Usage

"Our voluntary attrition rate is 30%. Leadership is puzzled. They've tried nothing and they're all out of ideas." - An observant HR analyst

Related Terms

Beginner

Inclusion

The practice of making sure everyone feels welcome and valued at work, assuming "everyone" can navigate the 47 unwritten social rules required to survive the office kitchen. True inclusion is when the new person feels comfortable enough to take the last donut.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

reskilling

Training employees in entirely new skill sets to prepare them for different roles, usually because their current job is being automated or eliminated. It's the corporate way of saying 'your job is obsolete, but we like you enough to keep you around.'

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

side hustle

A secondary job or income stream employees pursue outside their primary employment, ranging from Uber driving to freelance consulting. It's what used to be called 'having two jobs' before we rebranded poverty as entrepreneurship.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

time-to-fill

The number of days between posting a job opening and a candidate accepting the offer. The metric that reveals how desperately understaffed you've been while HR 'sources quality candidates.'

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

compensable

Legalese for "we actually have to pay you for that," typically applied to workplace injuries, overtime, or time spent dealing with work nonsense. If it's compensable, congratulations—your suffering has monetary value! If it's not, well, that's just character building, apparently.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

FNG

The 'New Guy/Gal' (with a more colorful adjective), referring to the newest team member who doesn't yet understand unspoken rules, inside jokes, or why everyone hates the quarterly all-hands meetings. Every workplace has one, and we've all been one.

👥 Human Resources

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