How to read a leaver analysis report (and what to take to the board).

1. Check the base before the bars

   Before any chart, find four facts: the period covered, how many people left, how many responded, and which leavers are included (all leavers, or voluntary leavers only). If the completion rate is low, read everything that follows as indicative. If the report does not tell you these things, ask.

2. Start with the split

   A good leaver report divides leavers into three groups:

   • Involuntary leavers left for reasons outside their control, such as ill health. Some reports also count retirement here, and some include dismissal or the end of a contract.
   • Happy leavers were satisfied with both their job and the organisation and are leaving for life reasons: retirement, a move, study, a step up.
   • Unhappy leavers were dissatisfied with the job, the organisation or both.

   Check which convention your report uses for retirement; either works if the report says which. The unhappy group is the turnover you could have influenced – which is not to say you would have wanted to keep all of them. Its size, and whether it is shrinking, is the first number to take away.

3. Read reasons with the right lens

   Reason questions usually let a leaver mark each item as a key reason, a minor reason or not a reason, and pick as many as they like, so the percentages will not add up to 100. Other formats use reason / contributing factor / strength; key maps to reason and minor to contributing factor. Check the base of every percentage: all leavers, unhappy leavers only, or only those going to a new job.

   As a rule of thumb in our own reports, we flag an item as a key reason when at least a fifth of leavers mark it as key, and as a main source of dissatisfaction when more than two-fifths mark it as key or minor. Grouping items into a few themes – the job itself, relationships, reward and progression, confidence in the organisation, the working environment – shows the story behind the list.

4. Look at strengths as well as reasons

   Items that few leavers mark as a reason are what people valued while they were with you. They are what to protect when you change things, and they belong in the board summary as much as the problems do.

5. Read the brand measures

   Would they recommend the organisation as a place to work? Would they come back? The share who would not recommend you tells you how many people are now describing you unfavourably to others. The share of unhappy leavers who would still return is a pool of experienced people worth staying in touch with.

6. Treat “where they went” with care

   Destination data – new employer, sector, pay – is often based only on leavers going to another job, so its base is smaller than the report’s. Definitions matter: our reports, for instance, count “higher pay” as an increase of 10% or more. And a pay rise at the new job does not mean pay was the reason for leaving. Check it against the reasons people gave.

7. Break it down, carefully

   The overall picture tells you whether there is a problem; breakdowns by team, site, manager, role, length of service and demographic group tell you where. Every breakdown needs a minimum group size below which nothing is reported, and even above it, small groups swing: in a group of five, one person is twenty percentage points. Look for patterns that persist over several periods rather than a single bad quarter, and combine periods or neighbouring teams to reach a usable size.

8. Read the comments last, and count them

   Leavers’ own words explain the numbers, but a vivid comment is still one person. Sort comments into themes, count how often each appears, and only then choose quotes – anonymised, and never from a group small enough to identify the writer.

Illustrative. Team A looks like the hotspot, but with four responses it falls below a five-person reporting minimum and should not be reported on its own: one different answer would move it by 25 points. Team B, close to the organisation’s figure on a much larger base, is the more reliable read. Combine Team A with another period before drawing conclusions. The reporting threshold checker shows which breakdowns can safely be shown.

Drawn from great{with}talent’s guide Understanding your leaver analysis report (2015), rewritten for anyone reading a leaver report from any provider. The key-reason and main-source thresholds are the conventions our own reports use, offered as a rule of thumb. The table is illustrative. LastOpinion produces leaver reports at board, team and individual level.