14  Employee Retention and Turnover Dashboards

14.1 Overview of Employee Retention and Turnover Dashboards

Employee retention and turnover dashboards are powerful tools for visualizing the health and stability of an organization’s workforce. These dashboards allow HR professionals and managers to track key metrics related to employee retention and turnover, such as Turnover Rate, Retention Rate, Employee Engagement, and Absenteeism Rate. By tracking these metrics over time, organizations can identify trends, recognize challenges, and implement strategies to improve employee satisfaction and reduce turnover.

A well-constructed retention and turnover dashboard provides insights into where the company excels and where it may need to make adjustments to keep employees satisfied, engaged, and committed. Visualizations can provide easy access to critical metrics that guide decision-making and help optimize workforce strategies.

14.2 Preliminary Steps for Creating Retention and Turnover Dashboards in Tableau

Before diving into the dashboard creation process, follow these steps to prepare your data and create the necessary visualizations in Tableau:

14.2.1 1. Import Your Data

  • Import your HR data into Tableau. Ensure the dataset contains key metrics such as Number of Employees Who Left, Number of Employees Retained, Voluntary vs. Involuntary Turnover, Absenteeism Data, Engagement Scores, and Employee Satisfaction.
  • You may import data from various sources, such as Excel, CSV, or a live connection to a database.

14.2.2 2. Clean and Prepare Data

  • Check for missing data, ensure correct data types, and format the dataset as needed.
  • Create any necessary calculated fields that will be used in your visualizations (e.g., calculating turnover rates, retention rates).

14.2.3 3. Create a New Dashboard

  • In Tableau, select File > New to start a new project.
  • Drag and drop relevant fields from your data source to create initial visualizations. These might include bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, and KPI cards to represent the key metrics.

14.3 Visualizing Retention and Turnover Metrics in Tableau

14.3.1 Turnover Rate

Visualization Type: Line Chart or Bar Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Create a line chart to visualize Turnover Rate over time (e.g., by month or quarter).
    • Drag Month or Quarter to the Columns and Turnover Rate to the Rows.
    • This will show how turnover rates fluctuate over different periods.
    • Use a color gradient to indicate high or low turnover rates.
  • Goal: This chart helps identify turnover trends, which can inform HR decisions regarding retention strategies.

14.3.2 Voluntary vs. Involuntary Turnover Rate

Visualization Type: Stacked Bar Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Use a stacked bar chart to compare Voluntary and Involuntary turnover rates.
    • Drag Turnover Type to the Columns (i.e., “Voluntary” and “Involuntary”), and Turnover Rate to the Rows.
    • This chart will help differentiate the reasons for employee exits and make it easier to identify the primary causes of turnover.
  • Goal: This visualization provides insights into whether the company is losing employees due to dissatisfaction (voluntary) or organizational decisions (involuntary).

14.3.3 Retention Rate

Visualization Type: KPI Card or Bar Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Use a KPI card to display the overall Retention Rate as a single value.
    • You can also create a bar chart to visualize Retention Rate by department or job role.
    • For bar charts, drag Department to the Columns and Retention Rate to the Rows.
  • Goal: This helps track the overall retention health of the organization and assess the effectiveness of retention strategies.

14.3.4 Cost of Turnover

Visualization Type: Gauge Chart or Bar Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Use a gauge chart to show the Cost of Turnover relative to a target value (e.g., budget for turnover costs).
    • Alternatively, a bar chart can compare the Cost of Turnover over time or by department.
    • Drag Department or Quarter to the Columns and Cost of Turnover to the Rows.
  • Goal: This chart provides a clear view of how turnover impacts financial resources, helping to prioritize retention efforts.

14.3.5 Internal Mobility Rate

Visualization Type: Pie Chart or Stacked Bar Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Create a pie chart to display the proportion of internal versus external hires, showing how many employees are promoted or transferred within the company.
    • Drag Internal Hires and External Hires to the Columns and Number of Hires to the Rows.
  • Goal: This helps assess how well the organization is promoting internal career growth and retaining talent through internal movement.

14.3.6 Employee Satisfaction

Visualization Type: Bar Chart or KPI Card

  • How to Visualize:
    • Use a bar chart to show Employee Satisfaction by department or role.
    • Alternatively, use a KPI card to show the overall satisfaction score for the company.
    • Drag Department to the Columns and Employee Satisfaction to the Rows.
  • Goal: This chart helps measure employee satisfaction across different areas of the organization and identify potential areas for improvement in employee engagement.

14.3.7 Absenteeism Rate

Visualization Type: Line Chart or Bar Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Use a line chart to show absenteeism trends over time.
    • For a department breakdown, use a bar chart to show absenteeism rates by department.
    • Drag Month or Quarter to the Columns and Absenteeism Rate to the Rows.
  • Goal: This helps track absenteeism patterns, which can be indicative of employee engagement or organizational challenges.

14.3.8 Employee Engagement Score

Visualization Type: Bar Chart or Line Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Use a bar chart to visualize the Employee Engagement Score by department or team.
    • Alternatively, use a line chart to track the trend of engagement over time.
    • Drag Department to the Columns and Employee Engagement Score to the Rows.
  • Goal: This metric helps assess the overall commitment and enthusiasm of employees, which is critical for understanding workforce motivation and retention.

14.3.9 New Hire Retention Rate

Visualization Type: Line Chart or Bar Chart

  • How to Visualize:
    • Create a bar chart or line chart to visualize the New Hire Retention Rate over time or by department.
    • Drag Department to the Columns and New Hire Retention Rate to the Rows.
  • Goal: This metric helps assess the long-term success of the hiring process and the effectiveness of onboarding programs.

14.4 Hands-on Exercise: Turnover Dashboards in Tableau

In this hands-on exercise, you will create a dynamic dashboard to visualize and track employee retention and turnover metrics using Tableau.

14.4.1 Steps to Create Your Turnover Dashboard:

  1. Prepare Your Data:
    • Import the employee retention and turnover dataset into Tableau.
    • Ensure the dataset contains relevant fields such as turnover data, employee satisfaction, retention rates, internal mobility, absenteeism rates, and other key metrics.
  2. Create Key Visualizations:
    • Start by creating individual visualizations for each metric:
      • Turnover Rate: Line chart showing turnover trends over time.
      • Retention Rate: KPI card or bar chart by department.
      • Voluntary vs. Involuntary Turnover: Stacked bar chart.
      • Cost of Turnover: Gauge chart to track turnover costs.
      • Absenteeism Rate: Line or bar chart.
      • Employee Engagement Score: Bar chart or line chart.
  3. Design the Dashboard:
    • Once the visualizations are created, drag them into a new dashboard.
    • Arrange the charts logically, prioritizing key metrics such as Turnover Rate and Retention Rate.
    • Use filters and slicers for interactivity, such as filtering by department or time period.
  4. Publish and Share:
    • After finalizing your dashboard, publish it to Tableau Server or Tableau Public.
    • Share it with HR teams and managers to monitor and analyze employee retention and turnover trends in real-time.

14.4.2 Tips for Building Effective Dashboards in Tableau:

  • Data Organization: Ensure that the data is clean and well-structured for efficient analysis. Utilize Tableau’s built-in data preparation tools to clean and organize data before visualization.
  • Interactivity: Use filters and interactive elements to allow users to drill down into the data. For example, add a filter to view turnover rates by department or time period.
  • Visualization Best Practices: Choose the right visualization type for each metric. For example, use line charts for trends over time and pie charts for categorical data breakdowns.
  • Dynamic Titles: Add dynamic titles to your charts so that the title updates based on user selection (e.g., changing the title when filtering by department).