Turnover

18 The overall turnover⁶ rate for Public Service departments was 13.3%⁷ (14.5% for women, 11.8% for men) for the year to 30 June 1999, which is lower than the rates for the past three years (see Table 3). However, these turnover figures exclude separations where fixed term contracts have come to an end, which have increased in number over the last year. A total of 2,124 fixed term contracts ended during the year to 30 June 1999, which is an increase of 28% over last year's figure.

Table 3:
Public Service Turnover Rates (%) for years ending June 1995 to June 1999

19 The Public Service turnover rate for the last year is lower than private sector rates of 14% and 20% from two recent surveys conducted by management consultants.⁸ Turnover rates by department varied from 6.4% to 26.3%. Two departments had turnover rates outside this range but were both special cases, one because of its small size and the other because of the transfer of a major function. The latter was also the only department where turnover due to restructuring was greater than 10%. Low turnover rates (below 10%) were found in larger departments and those at the upper end of the range (above 20%) were nearly all in smaller departments.

⁶ Turnover measures the rate at which staff are leaving the organisation. It is defined as the total number of staff leaving during a specified period, divided by the average number of staff employed for that period, and is expressed as a percentage.

⁷ Turnover information presented here differs from that presented in the Cabinet Report. It has been revised due to corrected data being received after the Cabinet Report had been submitted to the Government.

⁸ Source: Hay Management Consultants (September 1998) and Watson Wyatt (May 1999).