How much employee turnover actually costs in 2024
Most business owners in Lodz and the surrounding area treat an employee's departure as a standard HR problem. The truth is, it's a huge hole in the budget through which cash needed for development escapes. At Solvium Strategia Sp. z o.o., we analyzed data from 114 audits conducted in 2024 and we know that replacing one specialist costs an average of 23,480 PLN.
Recruitment is just the beginning of expenses
Many entrepreneurs only count the cost of an ad on popular portals, which in 2024 costs an average of 740 PLN for a 30-day run. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our senior consultant, Mariusz Laskowski, checked time logs in three manufacturing companies from the Lodz region. Result? Managers spend an average of 34 hours just reviewing CVs and conducting interviews for one vacancy. At a manager's hourly rate of 92 PLN net, selection alone costs the company over 3,128 PLN in lost time that could have been spent on overseeing production or acquiring clients.
Added to this are administrative and operational costs. At Solvium Strategia Sp. z o.o., we see that the process of signing documents, preparing a workplace, and buying software licenses is another 12 hours of work for the HR and IT departments. In 2024, we noted that companies lose an average of 1,840 PLN just on 'paperwork' for a new workstation. We count every zloty, so we can't ignore the fact that during this time the position is empty and not earning for itself. Each day of vacancy is an average of 410 PLN in lost margin, which for a process lasting 28 days gives a colossal sum of 11,480 PLN even before the first day of work for the new person.
Analyzing 423 recruitment processes that we have supported since March 2018, we noticed a repetitive pattern. Companies often do not include employee referral costs, which in the logistics industry currently amount to about 2,500 PLN gross. Summing all these elements, it turns out that finding a person who only has 'potential' has already consumed nearly 15,000 PLN. This is concrete money that could have stayed in the company's cash box if retention processes were organized as we do during our management system implementations.
Managers spend an average of 34 hours just reviewing CVs. That's 3,128 PLN thrown away even before hiring.
Onboarding period, or a salary paid for learning
Hiring a new person is not the end of costs, but the beginning of a period of low productivity. Our measurements show that during the first 22 business days, a new employee achieves only 37.4% of their predecessor's efficiency. This means you are paying a full salary while receiving a fraction of the work. If a specialist earns 7,400 PLN gross, in the first month the company 'burns' about 4,630 PLN on their learning and mistakes. This isn't theory – this is data from ERP systems that we implement and monitor for our clients nationwide.
One cannot forget about the new person's 'mentor.' It's usually the best employee in the department who, instead of doing their job, spends 14.2 hours a week explaining basics to the newcomer. This causes the entire team's efficiency to drop by about 18% on a monthly scale. At Solvium Strategia Sp. z o.o., we always put facts on the table: if your best sales rep is teaching a new person how to use the CRM instead of selling, you are losing real sales opportunities worth up to 12,500 PLN per month. These are losses not seen in the payroll sheet, but visible in the annual balance sheet.
Onboarding is a process that takes time. Our statistics from the last 17 months show that an employee achieves full independence only in the 4th month of work. Until then, the company has added a total of 9,120 PLN to their position in the form of training, error corrections, and other employees' time. No fluff about visions – if you don't have written procedures and standards, this cost grows by another 23%. That's why at Solvium we focus on fixing processes so that onboarding takes less time and is less painful for the owner's wallet.
Team overload and hidden overtime
When one person leaves, their duties do not disappear. They are redistributed among the remaining team members, leading to an avalanche of problems. In 2024, we measured that the remaining team works an average of 11.5 hours more per week to 'fill the hole.' Overtime is a direct cost, but the real killer is fatigue. In one trading company in Lodz that we've worked with since September 2022, the turnover of one warehouse worker caused the number of shipping errors to increase by 14.7% in just two weeks.
Errors resulting from overload cost the most. Complaints, goods returns, and customer dissatisfaction are losses that are hard to recover. The average cost of handling one complaint caused by a new person's or tired employee's error is 184 PLN. With 50 such mistakes a month, the company loses an additional 9,200 PLN. At Solvium Strategia Sp. z o.o., we believe a stable team is not a luxury, but a foundation for profitability. Every employee departure increases the risk that another two will start looking for new jobs due to burnout.
The situation becomes critical in small and medium-sized companies where knowledge is often 'in the head' of the employee, not in the system. When such a specialist leaves, they take with them relationships with suppliers and unique ways of solving problems. Recreating this knowledge takes an average of 84 business days. This is time when the company operates 'at half speed,' and competitors who have organized processes take over the market. We help organize these processes so the company is not a hostage of a single employee.
The remaining team works an average of 11.5 hours more per week. This is a direct path to more resignations.
Newcomer mistakes and lost opportunities
A new employee is always a risk. Even with the best recruitment, the first 3 months are a period of 'fuses.' Our audits show that new employees make an average of 3.2 times more errors than people with over 14 months of experience. In the service sector, this might mean a misentered invoice; in production – a batch of goods for disposal. In one Lodz printing house, a new machine operator's error in May 2024 cost the company 16,340 PLN in wasted material and energy costs alone.
Lost opportunities are another item in the loss column. If your company is in sales, the absence of an experienced sales rep for 6 weeks means missed calls and unanswered emails. We calculated that a medium-sized B2B company loses inquiries worth 42,000 PLN per year this way. These are real contracts that go to the competition because in your office on Piotrkowska, no one knew how to quickly quote a complicated inquiry that only 'the one who left' knew.
At Solvium Strategia Sp. z o.o., we teach how to build knowledge bases that protect the company from such losses. Thanks to the implementation of simple management systems, the time needed to learn procedures is shortened by 38%. This translates into real savings of around 4,700 PLN on every new hire. We don't look for innovation for the sake of it – we look for holes through which your money leaks and we simply patch them using proven IT tools and operational audits.
How Solvium helps stop these leaks
The solution to the turnover problem is not just giving raises, but creating an environment where work is organized. At Solvium Strategia Sp. z o.o., we start with an audit that usually lasts 3 business days. We pinpoint exactly those places in the process that frustrate employees and force them to leave. It often turns out that the reason isn't money, but chaos in communication or outdated systems that force typing the same thing three times into different Excel sheets.
Our implementations allowed clients in 2024 to reclaim an average of 3.4 hours per week for each employee. This is time people can devote to substantive work instead of fighting the system. When an employee sees the company investing in tools that make their life easier, their loyalty grows. Our observations show that in companies with organized processes, turnover drops by 21.4% within the first year after implementing changes. This is a saving of 50,000 - 100,000 PLN per year for a medium-sized company.
If you want to know exactly how much turnover costs in your team, don't guess. Schedule a specific conversation with our team. We will analyze your numbers and show where you lose the most. We don't promise miracles; we promise an audit that shows the truth about your operations. Our headquarters is located at ul. Piotrkowska 102 in Lodz, but we work for clients all over Poland, regaining control over their business and their own time for them.
