how do I calculate staff turnover for a questionnaire

Turnover is outflow divided by average headcount

Employee turnover is calculated by dividing the number of employees who left during the year by the average headcount for that year, usually expressed as a percentage. VSME counts in headcount, not in FTE, and includes all forms of outflow: termination by the employer, voluntary resignation, retirement and end of a temporary contract. Inflow does not count in the numerator — only outflow. The average headcount is usually calculated as the average of the headcount on 1 January and 31 December, or as an average over the reporting period if you have these figures on a monthly basis.

A questionnaire asking about turnover is often in the same section as questions about the gender distribution within the workforce and about training hours per employee: all key figures from the same personnel administration. If you do not have the exact figure, a substantiated estimate with a clear explanation of the method used is more acceptable than leaving the field blank — do state which period and which definition you have used, as this figure is often compared with the previous year or with sector peers.

Where this appears in VSME

VSME Basic Module, the section on labour, mentions employee turnover as one of the social key indicators that non-listed SMEs can report at the request of banks, insurers or larger supply chain partners. Directive (EU) 2022/2464 (CSRD) is the reason why these larger partners request such figures from their supply chain: they must themselves report on their value chain, and VSME was designed precisely to make this request manageable for SMEs. It is not a mandatory report for SMEs themselves, which explains why the format varies from customer to customer.