How Costly is Turnover? Evidence from Retail / Peter J. Kuhn, Lizi Yu.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kuhn, Peter J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Yu, Lizi.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w26179.

NBER working paper series no. w26179

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2019.

Summary:

We estimate turnover costs in small retail sales teams using daily sales data and an advance notice requirement to address endogeneity concerns. In addition to short-staffing and onboarding costs, we identify two less familiar sources of turnover costs: incumbent workers' recruitment activities, and reductions in team morale after a departure is announced. Our estimates of total turnover costs are relatively modest, however: Ten percent higher turnover is about as costly as a 0.6% wage increase. We attribute these low costs to a set of complementary personnel policies which ensure that only 25 percent of departures result in a short-staffing spell.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2019.