The turnover of employees in Hong Kong has reached a record high of 4.54% in the third quarter of 2007.

According to the Third Quarter 2007 Survey of Manpower Statistics conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM), the overall manpower turnover rate was recorded at 4.54%, 0.32 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter and 1.31 percentage points higher than in the same period in 2006.

The survey shows that the highest turnover was recorded in retail (9.6%), followed by business services / professional services (7.7%), and wholesale, import / export & trading (7.6%).

In terms of staff grade, the highest turnover was found in clerical / frontline staff (5.2%), followed by middle management / non-managerial professional segment (4.5%).

In the survey, data on absenteeism was collected. It is found out that the overall absence rate for the 42,000 employees was 1.58%. Community / social / personal services recorded the highest absence rate (2.3%), followed by financial services / banking / insurance (1.7%). In terms of staff grade, clerical / frontline staff recorded the highest absence rate (1.3%). “Absence” is defined here as an unscheduled absence of one or more days, including paid or unpaid sick leave, emergency leave and casual leave.

The HKIHRM comments that high staff turnover may affect general staff morale, and cause higher recruitment and training expenses. Corporations are advised to identify the major reasons for attracting people to stay with an organization, as well as the push factors that contribute to employee resignation.