Well, two things come to mind:
Often the term “staff turnover” is used in connection with fluctuation in staff levels, which means staff leaves the company – for whichever reason. How large or small staff turnover in a company typically is I do not know, but large staff fluctuations are not good for any business. It usually indicates problems during the hiring process or management problems within the company.
The other use of the term “staff turnover” could be in relation to the monetary turnover for a business a staff member will generate, versus the turnover generated by the business owner. This is assuming this staff member is employed in a sales capacity. Here it would be desirable to have a large turnover, of cause.
In both cases it is true to say, it does not matter what kind of small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, you run. It may be more related to things like:
- Market segment;
- Management environment;
- Staff experience, to name but a few.
You can always speak with some other small business owners or get some market segment data from information agencies, maybe they can give you a better idea of where you should be with numbers, comparing yourself to your peers is always a good idea.
I like the question, it makes for some interesting planning exercises for bootstrappers. ST.
Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below – I’d be most grateful.
