As expected, the higher the complexity,
the higher the cost of turnover. The total
mean cost of turnover for lower-complexity
jobs was about $5,700, compared to almost
$10,000 for higher-complexity jobs (a statistically
significant difference at the .1 level).5
However, when we examined the percentage
of total turnover costs for each of the
primary cost categories, we found some
interesting and perhaps counterintuitive findings.
For the complex jobs, costs were significantly
higher for predeparture, recruiting,
lost productivity, and total cost. Given those
findings, one might expect that properties
would spend a greater proportion of their
total turnover costs in selecting individuals
for high-complexity jobs than for lowcomplexity
jobs. To the contrary, we found
that selection costs as a percentage of total