LABOR TURNOVER. The first definition of the term "labor turnover') that has been presented with any considerable degree of authority was offered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Depart ment of Labor, in 1918. Prior to this time there had been so great a diversity of opinion upon this subject that it was difficult to find two au thorities who agreed in every particular. At the National Employment Managers' Confer ence, held at Rochester, N. Y., in 1918, a special committee was appointed to define the term and fix a method of computing the percentages of turnover, but the original report of the com mittee was not favorably received, its rejection being due to the fact that it was based on net hirings instead of separations.
Adopting the conclusions that were reached by a majority of the delegates to the Roches ter conference, the Bureau of Labor Statistics prepared a report which has since been very generally accepted as the standard definition and method of computation in the matter of labor turnover. This report defines labor turn over as follows: ((Labor turnover for any period consists of the number of separations from service during that period. Separations include all quits, dis charges and lay-offs for any reason whatso ever' Computing Turnover.—The bureau's report was also the •first official attempt to establish a standard method by which the percentages of labor turnover might be computed. This follows: °The percentage of labor turnover for any period considered is the ratio of the total num ber of separations during the period to the average number of employees on the force report during that period. The force report gives the number of men actually working each day as shown by the attendance records.
°It is recommended that the percentage of turnover be computed for each week. All turn over percentages for a week or for any other period should always be reduced to a yearly basis.
°To compute the percentage of labor turn over for any period .find the total separations for the period considered and divide by the average of the number actually working each day throughout that period. Then multiply by
the properfactor to reduce to a yearly basis.
ple: Method of computing percent age of labor turnover for one week: , °Total number of separations during week, 300.
°Daily force report (workers actually on the job) : Monday, 1,020; 'Tuesday, L065 • Wednes day, 1,070; Thursday, 1,035; Fridly, 1,040; Saturday, 990. Average for week, 1,0i7.
°Percentage of labor turnover: 300 X 52=1,505 per cent.
1,037 `Method of computing percentage of labor turnover for one year (assuming that records of daily attendance are averaged for each month) : °Total number of separations during the year, 5,020.
°Average number working each month as determined from the force reports or daily at tendance records: May, 2,040; June, 2,100; July, 2,000; August, 1,980; September, 2,200; October, 2,220; November, 2,280; December, 2,240; January, 2,250; February, 2,170; March, 2,230; April, 2,400. Average for year, 2,176.
`Percentage of labor turnover: 5,020 per cent.
2,176 "In case the number employed by a plant or a department of a plant decreases because it is the deliberate policy of the plant manage ment to reduce permanently its working force, this fact should be explicitly stated." Cost of Turnover.—The large significance of employment matters in their relation to the cost of production is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the best authorities in industrial efficiency, both in the government service and in private industry, are devoting so much time to the study of these problems. They have long since reached the conclusion that the shift ing working force represents one of the most enormous sources of wastage with which the manufacturer has to contend, as well as one of the greatest avenues of personal loss for the individual worker, and they assert that time and money are not wasted when these expendi tures result in a reduction of the labor turn over.