![]() ![]() Fully implemented clear objectives and key results (OKRs) on a companywide level, to enable aligned clarity and prioritization throughout the organization.And I’m proud to say we got goTenna’s attrition rate down to 29% in 2019. So by mid-late Q1 2019, we decided to really tackle the issue head-on. Growing pains - and inexperienced hiring managers (namely me) as well as a pivot from B2C to B2B/B2G might explain a lot of it.īut in 2018, we saw 44% turnover - up from 30% in 2017. Or that it was 50% when we were at 18 employees (in year 4, or 2016). Perhaps it’s unsurprising that when there were only 5 employees at goTenna (in year 2, or 2014), we had a 60% turnover rate. It doesn’t mean it’s ideal, but it’s certainly not abnormal. This means that goTenna, with an average attrition rate of 32.5% over its seven years is typical of similarly-situated companies. My key takeaway? Employee turnover of anywhere from 15 to 58% is entirely compatible with fast-growing tech startups. While four venture-backed tech startups hardly comprise a statistically-significant data-set, the directional learnings from a handful of peer NYC companies helped me contextualize goTenna’s performance with regards to employee attrition. including Company C which is post-Series A) is 31.9% The average annualized attrition rate for all four companies (i.e.The average annualized attrition rate for the three post-Series C startups is 33.6%.2 of 4 companies have been a bit up and down, but are overall decreasing in turnover (including goTenna).2 of 4 companies appear to be increasing in turnover (not including goTenna).2 of 4 companies were experiencing their worst year of turnover to-date in 2019 (not including goTenna).2 of 4 companies had (or were on track to have) 23-36% turnover in Year 7 (including goTenna).2 of 4 companies had 50-60% turnover in Year 5 (including goTenna).2 of 4 companies had 15% turnover in Year 3 (including goTenna).You can find the full spreadsheet here and embedded below, but here are some call-outs from the compiled data: Age of business trends: Three are post-Series C startups approaching profitability and growing somewhere between 60-200% year-over-year. Our companies range from four to ten years old, each employing roughly 50 to 80 people in 2019. In addition, the CEOs of three other venture-backed tech startups in New York City have allowed me to share their anonymized data. Given that no one talks about employee churn in tech startups other than in vague platitudes, I’m excited to share goTenna’s turnover data so we can have an open conversation about the realities every startup deals with. Anecdotally, a tier-one venture capital firm told me their portfolio companies see an average of 25% turnover each year. A 2018 LinkedIn study suggests the turnover rate in the tech sector is much higher, and at 13.2% is the highest of any industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics cites 3.7% as the average turnover rate for all employers in the United States in November 2019. In the year since, at least one of us brings up a topic related to employee turnover every time we meet.Įmployee attrition is a fact of any business. Rather than be shocked or appalled, the others all immediately shared stories (and data) regarding their own struggles with attrition. The first thing I ever shared in my CEO peer group was that I had logged onto our HR portal and was surprised to see goTenna had just as many past employees as we had current ones. Here's how we reduced ours by 65% in one year. ![]() A data-driven look at turnover at tech startups - and how we reduced attrition by 65% in one yearĮmployee turnover of 15 to 58% is entirely compatible with fast-growing tech startups. ![]()
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