Most operations managers know turnover is expensive. Few know exactly how expensive. In Georgia's light-industrial sector, the average temp staffing agency churns through 300-400% of its workforce annually --- meaning a facility with 100 staffing positions replaces every single worker three to four times per year. That is not a staffing strategy. That is a controlled burn of cash, safety, and productivity.
The real damage is not in the recruiting invoices. It is in the compounding losses that never appear on a single line item: the overtime that fatigues your core team, the safety incidents that spike every time a green worker steps onto the floor, and the production shortfalls that erode client relationships. This article quantifies those costs and shows what a different approach looks like.
The Math Behind Every Quit
Replacement cost in light-industrial staffing is often underestimated because each individual line item looks manageable. But they stack up fast.
Here is the per-worker replacement cost for a typical warehouse or manufacturing temp position in Georgia:
| Cost Category | Estimated Cost | |---------------|---------------| | Recruiting and sourcing | $150 - $300 | | Background check and drug screen | $75 - $150 | | Onboarding and orientation (4-8 hrs) | $100 - $200 | | PPE and uniforms | $50 - $100 | | Trainer time (first 2 weeks) | $200 - $400 | | Productivity loss during ramp-up | $300 - $600 | | Administrative processing | $75 - $125 | | Total per separation | $950 - $1,875 |
For a facility running 100 temp positions at 300% annual turnover, that is 300 separations per year. At the midpoint of $1,400 per separation, the annual cost of turnover is $420,000 --- before you account for overtime, safety incidents, or lost production.
Now compare that to an agency maintaining 18% annual turnover on the same 100-person headcount. That is 18 separations per year, costing roughly $25,200. The delta is nearly $400,000 annually on a single site.
The vacancy cost amplifies the damage further. In production environments, an unfilled position costs an estimated $250 per minute in lost throughput. A single no-call, no-show on a critical shift can wipe out an entire day's margin.
Why Light-Industrial Turnover Is Uniquely Brutal
Office turnover runs 15-25% annually. Healthcare hovers around 20-30%. Light-industrial temp staffing sits at 300-400%. The gap is not accidental. Seven structural forces drive it.
Wage competition at razor-thin margins. A $0.50 per hour differential is enough to trigger an exit in this segment. When the warehouse across the street posts $0.75 more, workers leave mid-assignment. In metro Atlanta, where Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and Home Depot Distribution compete for the same labor pool, wage leapfrogging is constant.
Transportation barriers. South Fulton, Clayton County, and parts of the I-85 corridor are transit deserts. Workers without reliable vehicles cannot sustain off-shift assignments. A car breakdown on Tuesday becomes a no-show on Wednesday and a termination by Friday. This is the number-one turnover driver that agencies refuse to address because solving it requires local presence, not a national call center.
Poor Day-1 onboarding. When a worker shows up to a new assignment and receives a badge, a hard hat, and a "follow that guy" instruction, they are already calculating when to quit. The first 72 hours determine whether a placement sticks or churns. Most agencies treat onboarding as paperwork. High-retention agencies treat it as the most critical retention intervention they have.
Mandatory overtime burnout. During Q4 peak, Georgia warehouses routinely mandate 50-60 hour weeks. By week three, workers are physically exhausted and mentally checked out. Overtime fatigue drives a 15% increase in workplace injuries and accelerates voluntary separations.
No visible path to advancement. Temp workers who see no route to permanent placement, pay increases, or skill development treat every assignment as disposable. Why stay loyal to an agency that treats you as interchangeable?
Disrespectful supervision. Exit interviews consistently reveal that workers leave supervisors, not jobs. A floor lead who cannot communicate across language barriers, or who manages through intimidation, will empty a shift faster than any competitor's wage increase.
Heat stress and working conditions. Georgia summers push warehouse temperatures above 100 degrees. Facilities without adequate cooling, hydration protocols, and break schedules see turnover spike 30-40% between June and September.
The Hidden Costs Beyond Recruitment
The recruiting invoice is the visible cost. The hidden costs are larger.
Safety Incidents
New workers are disproportionately involved in workplace injuries. OSHA data consistently shows that workers in their first 90 days account for a significantly higher share of recordable incidents compared to tenured workers. Every turnover cycle resets the risk clock.
In Georgia's light-industrial sector, the average cost of a recordable workplace injury is $38,000-$42,000 when you include medical, administrative, legal, and lost-time expenses. A facility churning 300 workers per year is statistically guaranteed to generate more incidents than one churning 18.
Bilingual safety training reduces incidents by 25-40% in facilities with multilingual workforces. Yet most high-turnover agencies do not invest in it because they assume the worker will be gone before the training pays off. That assumption is self-fulfilling.
Productivity Loss
A new light-industrial worker operates at roughly 50-60% productivity during their first two weeks and does not reach full productivity until week four to six. In a 300% turnover environment, a significant portion of the workforce is perpetually in the ramp-up phase.
The math is straightforward: if 25% of your workforce is always in weeks one through four, you are running at 85-90% of theoretical capacity --- permanently. That 10-15% productivity gap is invisible on any single day but devastating over a fiscal year.
Overtime Cascade
When turnover creates gaps, the remaining crew absorbs the load through overtime. Overtime costs 1.5x base wages. But the real cost is compounding: fatigued workers make more errors, have more accidents, and --- critically --- quit at higher rates themselves. High overtime is both a symptom of turnover and a cause of it.
What Separates Low-Turnover Agencies
The agencies achieving 18% turnover against an industry baseline of 300% are not doing one thing differently. They are doing everything differently.
Wage Intelligence
Low-turnover agencies monitor wage rates by ZIP code, shift, and role on a weekly basis. They advise clients when a $0.50/hr adjustment will prevent a wave of departures. They understand that the cheapest hourly rate is never the cheapest total cost.
FNSG's offer acceptance rate sits at 94% versus an industry average of 70-80%. That gap exists because offers are calibrated to what the local market will accept, not what the client wishes the market would bear.
Daily Pay and Financial Flexibility
Daily pay access reduces no-call, no-show rates by 15-25%. Workers living paycheck to paycheck --- the majority in light-industrial --- are more likely to show up when they know they can access earnings immediately. This is not a perk. It is a retention tool with measurable ROI.
Bilingual Operations
In Georgia, the Hispanic and Latino workforce represents 40-50% of food processing workers, 35-45% of construction crews, and a growing share of warehouse staff. Agencies that recruit, onboard, train, and communicate in Spanish are not just more inclusive. They are structurally more retentive.
Bilingual safety training alone reduces recordable incidents by 25-40%. Bilingual onboarding reduces first-week attrition. Bilingual recruiters generate higher-quality referrals. Every touchpoint in the worker lifecycle benefits from language accessibility.
Structured Day-1 Experience
High-retention agencies invest heavily in the first 72 hours:
- Site-specific orientation covering safety, expectations, and logistics before the first shift
- Assigned buddy or mentor on the floor for the first week
- Check-in at end of Day 1, Day 3, and Day 7
- Clear communication of the path to pay increases and permanent placement
The 90-day retention rate tells the story. FNSG holds 92% at the 90-day mark versus an industry average of 50-60%. That gap is built in the first 72 hours.
Transportation Solutions
Agencies with local office presence understand which candidates can reliably reach which sites. They coordinate carpools, identify transit-accessible facilities, and flag assignments where transportation will be a barrier before the placement fails --- not after.
How to Evaluate Your Staffing Partner's Retention
Not all turnover metrics are created equal. Here is how to cut through the noise when evaluating a staffing agency's retention performance.
The Five Metrics That Matter
| Metric | Industry Average | High-Performance Benchmark | |--------|-----------------|---------------------------| | Annual turnover rate | 300-400% | Below 50% | | 90-day retention | 50-60% | Above 90% | | Offer acceptance rate | 70-80% | Above 90% | | Day-1 no-show rate | 15-20% | Below 5% | | NCNS rate (ongoing) | 8-15% | Below 3% |
Questions to Ask Your Current Agency
"What is your 90-day retention rate for my specific role type?" If they cannot answer this by role and site, they are not tracking it. If they are not tracking it, they are not managing it.
"How do you handle the first $0.50/hr wage increase at a competing facility?" The answer reveals whether they are reactive or proactive. A good agency saw it coming and already recommended an adjustment.
"What does your Day-1 onboarding look like?" If the answer is "we send them to your HR department," that is not onboarding. That is abdication.
"Do you offer daily pay?" If no, ask why. The ROI is proven and the technology is mature. An agency that has not adopted daily pay in 2026 is not investing in retention.
"What is your bilingual capability?" In Georgia, this is not optional. If your workforce is 25%+ Spanish-speaking and your agency communicates only in English, you are paying for a structural retention disadvantage.
Red Flags
- Turnover data presented as a company-wide average rather than by role, site, and tenure
- No 90-day retention metric tracked at all
- English-only onboarding materials in a multilingual workforce
- No daily pay option
- Recruiter-to-worker ratios above 1:80 (indicates under-investment in relationship management)
Stop the Bleeding
Turnover in light-industrial staffing is not an inevitable cost of doing business. It is a solvable problem --- but only if you measure it honestly and partner with agencies that have built their operations around retention rather than volume.
The difference between 300% turnover and 18% turnover is not marginal. It is the difference between spending $420,000 per year replacing the same 100 positions and spending $25,200. It is the difference between a workforce that is perpetually in training and one that is consistently productive. It is the difference between a safety record that keeps your OSHA modifier low and one that drives your insurance premiums through the roof.
Key takeaways:
- Every separation costs $950-$1,875 in direct expenses, with hidden costs in safety, productivity, and overtime multiplying the damage
- Seven structural forces drive light-industrial turnover, and each one has a proven countermeasure
- The metrics that matter are 90-day retention, offer acceptance rate, and Day-1 no-show rate --- not the agency's gross headcount
- Daily pay, bilingual operations, structured onboarding, and wage intelligence are not nice-to-haves --- they are the operational backbone of low-turnover staffing
Ready to see what 18% turnover looks like for your operation? Get Started with a workforce retention assessment and stop paying the hidden tax of churn.