What it is
Losing a good manager does not just mean recruitment time and a vacancy gap.
It shows up in overtime, backfill, rework, stalled projects and the emotional load the rest of the team quietly carries.
The Retention ROI Snapshot is a practical spreadsheet that helps you put a realistic number on the cost of losing one manager. It is designed for aged care, health and community services, and works whether you are a CEO, GM, finance lead, or manager building the case for better support.
You do not need perfect data. You need a number you would be comfortable defending at an ELT or board table.
What you can calculate
Using simple inputs you already have, you can estimate:
Fully loaded salary for the role
Cost of vacancy weeks
Backfill and overtime costs
Orientation time for the new hire
Productivity ramp in the first weeks
Rework from unclear handovers
Any other local turnover costs
The template also includes fields for:
Escalations per week, before and after support
Median decision lag, before and after support
These give you quick “pre and post” impact measures when you put mentoring or leadership supports in place.
What is included
You will receive a spreadsheet structured into three sheets:
Introduction
Clear instructions
How to use the tool in workforce, budget and risk conversations
Suggested talking points for ELT and boards
Cost template
Input fields for your figures
Formulas for vacancy, backfill, ramp, rework and total cost
A simple “cost as percentage of salary” field
Worked example
A filled in example for a full time manager on $95k
Helps you sanity check your own assumptions and scale
The file is provided in a format that works with Excel, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers.
Who this is for
Executive and senior leaders in aged care, health and community services
Workforce, people and culture, and OD teams
Finance, risk and governance leaders who want a grounded estimate of churn costs
Service managers who need a simple tool to support a case for mentoring or leadership support
How to use it
Open the file in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
Go to the Cost template sheet.
Update the blue input cells with your own salary, on costs, vacancy weeks, hours and rates.
Review the Total cost of one departure and the percentage of salary.
Use the Introduction sheet for ready made talking points in workforce, budget or risk papers.
You can then ask simple questions like:
“Is it cheaper to support this leader properly next year, or to absorb this cost again”
“What would it take to halve this turnover cost in 2026”
This tool sits alongside Hyphae’s work on mentoring, leadership systems and retention.
Use it to:
Put a number behind the hidden cost of losing unsupported managers
Strengthen the case for mentoring, small systems and practical support
Anchor conversations about clarity, connection, progress and fairness in real dollars
Availability and use
Free until 31 December 2025
You may use and share it within your organisation, and with sector colleagues.
Not for resale.
This tool is provided for information only. It does not replace formal financial advice or modelling.
© 2025 Hyphae Network Group Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.
