What to do next
Talk it through
Walk through your numbers with us and get recognition options sized to your locations. Call 630-954-1287 or email gkern@select-your-gift.com, Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5 Central.
Start with your supervisors
Supervisor's Guide to Keeping Good Employees gives supervisors the daily habits and hard conversations that shape whether good people stay. Bulk copies are available for multiple locations. See the book
Explore recognition
See how spot award cards and milestone award packets work, and how gift of choice lets each employee pick a reward that means something to them. See recognition options
Frequently asked questions
These are estimates to help you plan, not financial advice.
How much does it cost to replace an hourly employee?
Research from the Center for American Progress puts the cost at about 16% of a year's pay for jobs paying under $30,000. For a part-time employee earning $15.25 an hour, that's about $3,200. The calculator applies this to your own pay rate and hours, or lets you build the cost item by item.
What is a normal employee turnover rate?
It depends on the industry. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 2025 shows private employers overall lost about 43% of their workforce. Restaurants and hotels lost about 66%, transportation and warehousing about 48%, construction about 48%, retail about 46%, health care and social assistance about 35%, manufacturing about 29%, and government about 18%. These figures include all employees, so turnover among hourly frontline roles usually runs higher.
How do I calculate my turnover rate?
Divide the number of employees who left in the last 12 months by your average number of employees. A location averaging 40 employees that lost 30 people has a 75% turnover rate.
What's the difference between turnover and retention?
Turnover counts the people who leave. Retention measures the people who stay. They aren't simply opposites: a location with 75% turnover hasn't necessarily lost three-quarters of its original team, because some positions turn over several times in a year while a steady core stays. Improving retention means keeping more of the people you hire, especially in their first months.
Where do the calculator's starting numbers come from?
The starting numbers are an example based on restaurant industry data, where turnover runs highest. Replace them with your own headcount, pay rate, hours, and departures. If you don't track turnover, use the typical rate for your industry from the table above.
Why is this cost lower than some figures I've seen?
Some widely quoted figures come from older studies, focus on a single industry, or are based on salaried roles. This calculator uses research on lower-wage jobs and counts only costs you can measure: hiring, training, overtime, and a new hire's learning curve. It leaves out lost sales, missed production, and strain on the team, so your true cost is likely higher.
How can employers improve retention of hourly employees?
Most of the opportunity lies in the first weeks and months, when new hires are most likely to leave. Two practical steps make the biggest difference: supervisors who run the workday well and handle problems early, and recognition that notices good work when it happens and marks early milestones. This calculator shows what each would need to accomplish to pay for itself.
Does recognition actually reduce turnover?
Research consistently links recognition to lower turnover. Gallup and Workhuman tracked nearly 3,500 employees and found that those who received high-quality recognition were 45% less likely to have left their jobs after two years. No one can promise a specific result for your organization, so the calculator starts with a conservative estimate and lets you change it.
How are the starting estimates calculated?
The calculator starts by assuming stronger supervision keeps 10% of the people you would otherwise lose, and recognition another 10%. Research comparing the best and worst managers, and well-recognized and poorly recognized employees, finds much larger differences for each one alone. Together, the two estimates stay within Gallup's finding that the most engaged teams have about 21% less turnover than the least engaged. You can replace them with your own numbers.
Why start with supervisors?
Supervisors shape how an hourly employee's workday goes more than anyone else. Stronger daily habits cost little: at the starting numbers, books and training time come to about $764 per location, which pays for itself if it helps keep one person a year.
What does the Retention and Recognition Program include?
The program pairs Spot Award Cards, which supervisors hand out the moment good work happens, with award packets at three early milestones: 90 days, 6 months, and 1 year. Each card and packet is redeemable for a gift of choice: $30 for each card, and $40, $60, and $80 for the milestone packets. The calculator starts with one card a month for every five employees, which you can change. Certificates can be customized with your company name and logo, the milestone, and the employee's name for a small additional charge.
Can I use this for more than one location?
Yes. Enter your per-location averages and the number of locations, plants, stores, or sites. Results show per location and for all your locations together.
Is my information saved?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is saved unless you ask us to email your results.
Where do these numbers come from?
Turnover benchmarks come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, wages from its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, and payroll costs from its Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey. Replacement costs come from the Center for American Progress. We update the figures each year as new data is released.
