One hundred forty-nine organizations provided data on turnover and sick time statistics for the calendar year 2021.
Impacts of COVID-19
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are exploring ways to manage their workforce. Hence, the Council added COVID-19 questions as requested by the survey group.
Over one-third of participants, 34.9% reported that their staffing levels have been impacted due to COVID-19. Of the fifty-two organizations reporting an impact on employee count, 71.2% reported a decrease in their employee count, while 21.2% reported an increase in employee count. Of those experiencing an increase in employee count, most were in the healthcare or social services industry.
Participants were requested to share if their workforce was affected by layoffs (full termination on a permanent basis) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the participants, 87.3% reported that they did not permanently downsize the workforce via layoffs in 2022, a 9.3% increase from 77.9% in 2021. Similar results were provided for temporary downsizing via furloughs (reducing hours and pay to zero, but with the intention of bringing back employees at pre-furlough pay and schedules). Majority of participants, 93.3% reported they did not have furloughs, an increase of 11.4% from 81.9% in 2021.
New Hire Turnover
New hire turnover refers to the number of new employees who leave an organization within their first year on the job. Over one-fourth, 26.8% of participating organizations reported that they track new hire turnover separately within their organization. One hundred thirty-five participants provided new hire/termination counts so that we could provide the following new hire turnover statistics.
The three industries with the highest new hire turnover rates are, Social Services (40.2%), Other – not elsewhere classified (30.9%) and Transportation/Utilities/Warehouse (28.5%).
Most industries experience higher new hire turnover compared to overall turnover except for Health Services.
Overall Annual Turnover Rates
The overall turnover rate for all industries calculated at 18.9% for the calendar year 2021 which represents a 2.7% increase over the previous year. The separations, not including layoffs, calculated at 18.3% which is up 4.1% from last year. This may have been due to employee’s seeking new employment as the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were eased and job opportunities increased as businesses began to recruit for their return of business.
|
Calendar Year |
Overall Turnover Rate |
Separations No Layoffs |
Voluntary Turnover Rate * |
Involuntary Turnover Rate* |
Layoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2021 |
18.9% |
18.3% |
14.9% |
1.7% |
0.6% |
*Voluntary and Involuntary Turnover Rates are provided by participating organizations that track voluntary and involuntary turnover separately.
Highest Turnover by Industry
The two industries that have been part of the top five industries experiencing high levels of turnover for three years in a row are Retail / Wholesale Trade and Social Services. Leisure / Hospitality Service, which was not in the top five last year, came in at third, followed by Finance/Other Financial Institutions. Health Services which has not been in the top five the last three years, has emerged this year, in fifth place.
Industries experiencing the highest level of turnover for the past three calendar years are noted below in order of highest to lowest:
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
|---|---|---|
|
Retail / Wholesale Trade 34.2% |
Other, not elsewhere classified 62.2% |
Natural Resources / Agriculture 31.8% |
|
Social Services 30.7% |
Retail / Wholesale Trade 33.3% |
Leisure / Hospitality Services 31.4% |
|
Leisure / Hospitality Services 29.0% |
Social Services 26.6% |
Retail / Wholesale Trade 26.2% |
|
Finance / Other Financial Institutions 16.4% |
Professional / Business Services 21.8% |
Social Services 25.7% |
|
Health Services 17.0% |
Finance / Other Financial Institutions 16.4% |
Finance / Banking 21.1% |
Turnover & Unemployment
On April 14, 2022, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced Hawaii’s annual unemployment rate was at 4.1% for March, which has decreased from 9.0% in March of last year. As a reference point, the National US Unemployment rate was reported at 3.6% for March 2022.
| Calendar Year | Overall Turnover Rate | Hawaii Unemployment March |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 4.1% | |
| 2021 | 18.9% | 9.0% |
| 2020 | 16.2% | 21.9% April/May 2020 2.1% March 2020 |
SICK TIME STATISTICS – SURVEY SUMMARY HIGHLIGHTS
Sick Time Statistics
The average number of sick days provided has increased slightly at 13.0 days. Surprisingly, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of sick days used decreased slightly by (.5%), averaging at 4.2 days. The overall average number of paid sick days provided and used per year by full-time employees is presented below. The overall average number of sick days used for most industries falls between two to eight days.
HEC conducts a variety of compensation and benefits surveys to provide data useful in developing and administering compensation and benefit plans, and personnel policies. Custom snapshots and comparison reports from our compensation surveys are available, along with customized, proprietary surveys conducted on your behalf. Our Survey & Compensation experts can also work with members on employee opinion surveys to identify gaps between being an employer of choice and being merely an employer. For more information, please contact Dawn Mitchell, Manager, Survey & Compensation Services (dmitchell@hecouncil.org), or Susan Amuro, Survey & Compensation Analyst (samuro@hecouncil.org).