HR teams frequently ask for "industry benchmarks" on turnover. For many employers in Korea — especially mid-size manufacturers, logistics firms, and regional service companies — published industry rates are either unavailable, outdated, or based on samples that do not match their workforce.
Your own history is a better baseline
Calculate voluntary turnover by department for each of the last eight quarters. The median rate across those quarters becomes your internal benchmark for that department. When current-quarter turnover exceeds the median by more than three percentage points, flag it for review.
This approach accounts for your specific hiring practices, site locations, and role mix — factors that generic industry data ignores.
Adjust for known changes
If a department reorganized, changed shift patterns, or absorbed staff from a closed site, exclude the transition quarters from your baseline calculation. Note the exclusion in your report so readers understand why the benchmark starts from a specific date.
Compare departments to each other cautiously
Warehouse turnover will naturally exceed office turnover at most employers. Rather than expecting equal rates, compare each department to its own history. Cross-department comparison is useful only when role difficulty and labor market conditions are similar.
When external data helps
External benchmarks become useful for roles where you hire nationally — software engineers, specialized nurses, certified technicians. For site-based operational roles, local labor market conversations with peer HR contacts often beat published statistics.
We build department-level benchmarks as part of our Workforce Retention Assessment. See our methodology or contact us to discuss your records.