---
title: "What Is Staff turnover? Dental Practice Glossary"
description: "The rate at which team members leave a workplace and must be replaced, often measured as the number of separations in a period as a percent of employment."
url: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/staff-turnover
publisher: Copeland Consulting Services
email: drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com
contact: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact
---

Team and HR

# Staff turnover

The rate at which team members leave a workplace and must be replaced, often measured as the number of separations in a period as a percent of employment.

Staff turnover measures how many people leave a workplace in a period. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines its total separations rate as the number of total separations during the entire month as a percent of employment. Separations include quits, layoffs and discharges, and other separations.

The Bureau notes that quits are generally voluntary separations initiated by the employee. Those numbers cover all industries, so a dental office should not read them as a target for its own rate.

Turnover has costs in hiring, training and patient continuity. It relates to [employee retention](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/employee-retention), which is the effort to keep staff, and to the wider [workforce shortage](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/workforce-shortage) in dentistry. This entry defines the measure and gives no benchmark.

[Next stepPractice consulting with Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact?topic=consulting)

## Related terms

-   [Employee retention](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/employee-retention)
-   [Workforce shortage](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/workforce-shortage)
-   [Dental recruiting](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-recruiting)
-   [Dental burnout](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-burnout)

## Sources

1.  [BLS, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t10.htm)
2.  [BLS, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm)

## Talk with Dr. Copeland

[Contact Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact)[Email](mailto:drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com)