Like recruitment, turnover can be classified as ‘internal’ or ‘external’. Internal turnover involves employees leaving their current positions and taking new positions within the same organization. Both positive (such as increased morale from the change of task and supervisor) and negative [such as project/relational disruption, or the Peter Principle (Peter Principle: Observation that in an hierarchy people tend to rise to “their level of incompetence.” Thus, as people are promoted, they become progressively less-effective because good performance in one job does not guaranty similar performance in another. Named after the Canadian researcher Dr. Laurence J. Peter (1910-90) who popularized this observation in his 1969 book ‘The Peter Principle.’)] effects of internal turnover exist, and therefore, it may be equally important to monitor this form of turnover as it is to monitor its external counterpart. Internal turnover might be moderated and controlled by typical HR mechanisms, such as an internal recruitment policy or formal succession planning.
Employee turnover is caused by external and internal factors. External influences include local economic conditions and labor market conditions. Internal causes include such things as non-competitive compensation, high stress, poor working conditions, monotony, sub-par supervision, dysfunctional job fit, inadequate training, poor communications, and loose organization practices.