Attrition and Economy

Over the years, attrition is one of the metrics I have closely monitored for my business. I have observed that Attrition is linked to the economic enviornment and the Growth of the business unit. i.e.

Attrition = f (Economic Enviornment)+f (Growth of the business unit).

I have observed in my business units, that in a booming economy, high growth business units would have lower attrition than the low growth business unit. In a recessionary economy, exactly the opposite happens, the high growth business units experience higher attrition in comparison to low growth units. There are several reasons why this may probably happen. Additionaly, attrition tends to be higher in a booming economy than in a recessionary economy.

Yesterday when I was in a MBA college for a workshop, I met a professor who was doing research on Attrition. When we started discussing on Attrition, I shared my observation and she had observed something similar.

Let me know your observations on this.