HR Statistics 2026: 25+ Sourced Facts on Hiring & Retention

Hiring budgets, time-to-fill targets, and retention plans all run on numbers — but HR stat pages online are notoriously inconsistent, mixing old surveys with rounded-off guesses. This page pulls only from named, checkable sources: SHRM's Recruiting Benchmarking reports, Gallup's State of the Global Workplace, LinkedIn's Talent and Future of Recruiting research, Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS data, Glassdoor, Mercer, and Robert Half. Where two credible sources disagree — which happens often in cost-per-hire data, since "median" and "average" produce very different numbers — both figures are shown.

Below are more than 25 statistics on cost per hire, time to hire, turnover and retention, employee engagement, AI adoption in recruiting, and remote/hybrid hiring trends, each with the organization that published it and a link to where it was reported.

Cost of Hiring & Turnover

• SHRM's 2026 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking report puts the median cost per hire at $1,300 for non-executive roles and $15,000 for executive roles — up sharply from a $10,600 executive median in 2025. Note that SHRM's earlier reports have cited averages (not medians) as high as $5,475 non-executive and $35,879 executive, so the figure you see depends heavily on methodology. — SHRM
• A widely-cited SHRM figure puts the average cost per hire at roughly $4,100 once advertising, recruiter time, and interviewing are included. — SHRM (via Staffing Industry Analysts)
• Replacing an employee costs an estimated 50-200% of their annual salary once recruiting, onboarding, ramp-up time, and lost productivity are factored in. — SHRM / Gallup
• Replacement cost scales with seniority: entry-level roles run 30-50% of annual salary, mid-level roles can exceed 150%, and high-level or specialized roles can reach 400% of annual salary to replace. — Qooper (HR research)
• Voluntary turnover costs U.S. businesses an estimated $1 trillion per year in total. — Gallup

Time to Hire

• Median time to fill a role dropped to 39 days for non-executive positions in 2026, down from 44 days in 2025; executive roles take a median of 45 days. — SHRM
• Organizations with the most effective recruiting practices fill roles about five days faster than the typical employer, a gap SHRM partly attributes to AI-assisted screening and sourcing tools. — SHRM

Turnover & Retention

• As of mid-2026, the U.S. quits rate sits at 1.9% per month — about 3.1 million quits — with total separations running 3.2% per month. — Bureau of Labor Statistics (JOLTS)
• Average voluntary turnover in the U.S. has fallen to 13.5%, continuing a multi-year decline from 17.3% in 2023 and 24.7% in 2022. — Mercer 2025 Workforce Turnover Survey (via Wonderlic)
• Turnover varies widely by industry: Hospitality & Food Service leads at 75.2% total turnover, followed by Retail at 59.8% and Healthcare at 32.7%, while Manufacturing (18.9%) and Government (11.4%) run far lower. — Wonderlic HR benchmarks

Employee Engagement

• Global employee engagement fell to just 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020 and the first time Gallup has recorded two straight years of decline — an estimated $10 trillion hit to global productivity. — Gallup, State of the Global Workplace
• Only 20% of employees worldwide are engaged at work; 64% are not engaged and another 16% are actively disengaged. — Gallup, State of the Global Workplace
• Highly engaged teams show 23% greater profitability, a 14% increase in productivity, an 18% increase in productive sales, and 81% lower absenteeism. — Gallup
• Workers under 35 saw engagement fall roughly 5 points in a single year — steeper than older workers — with lack of recognition, lack of resources, and limited growth opportunities cited as the top reasons. — Gallup, State of the Global Workplace
• Manager engagement has fallen sharply within Gallup's tracking, sliding from roughly 30% in 2022 into the low-to-mid 20% range by 2025, with the steepest declines among managers under 35 and female managers. — Gallup (via Haiilo analysis)

AI & Recruiting Technology

• 93% of recruiters say they plan to increase their use of AI in 2026, and 59% report AI is already helping them find candidates they wouldn't have found otherwise. — LinkedIn, Future of Recruiting
• 89% of talent acquisition leaders say measuring quality of hire is becoming increasingly critical, yet only 25% feel highly confident in their current ability to measure it; 61% believe AI will improve tracking. — LinkedIn, Future of Recruiting
• Recruiters who search by skills rather than credentials are 12% more likely to hire the right person for the role; the share of paid LinkedIn job postings not requiring a degree grew from 22% in 2020 to 26% in 2024. — LinkedIn
• LinkedIn's Hiring Rate Index recorded a 1.4% month-over-month contraction in January 2026 — the steepest single-month decline since November 2023 — with the technology sector falling 3.1% and financial services 2.4%. — LinkedIn 2026 Talent Report (via ARF Financial)

Job Seekers, Pay Transparency & Remote Work

• Over 52% of people globally are looking for a new role in 2026, even as U.S. applications per open job have roughly doubled since spring 2022. — LinkedIn (via ARF Financial)
• 90% of job seekers say salary transparency is a key factor when evaluating a job, and 44% say they're unlikely to apply for a role that doesn't list a pay range. — Glassdoor
• Posted salary ranges are accurate roughly 67% of the time; in 22% of listings, the actual reported salaries fell below the posted range. — Glassdoor
• Fully in-office job postings rose from 65% in Q4 2025 to 87% by Q2 2026, while hybrid postings sit at just 10% and fully remote at 3%. — Robert Half
• 29% of employees say they'd look to leave their job if it became fully in-person, and 64% say work-life balance and remote-work options would motivate a job change. — SurveyMonkey
• 36% of employers increased required on-site days over the past year, yet only about 1 in 8 executives with remote or hybrid staff plan a full return-to-office mandate. — FlexOS

Frequently asked questions

What is the average cost per hire in 2026?

It depends on the benchmark: SHRM's 2026 Recruiting Benchmarking report cites a median of $1,300 for non-executive roles and $15,000 for executive roles, while other SHRM-linked figures put the average closer to $4,100-$5,475 for non-executive hires and up to $35,879 for executive hires. The gap comes down to median vs. average and which cost categories (advertising, recruiter time, agency fees, onboarding) are included.

How long does it typically take to fill an open role?

SHRM's 2026 data puts the median time to fill at 39 days for non-executive roles and 45 days for executive roles, with the fastest organizations filling roles about five days quicker than average — a gap increasingly tied to AI-assisted sourcing and screening.

What percentage of employees are actively engaged at work?

Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report found only 20% of employees worldwide were engaged in 2025 — the lowest level since 2020 — with 64% not engaged and 16% actively disengaged. Highly engaged teams show meaningfully higher profitability, productivity, and lower absenteeism than average.

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Every figure above is attributed to its cited third-party source and reflects the most recent data we could find at the time of writing; statistics change, so follow the source links to verify. Compiled by the Tolodora Editorial Team — we don't fabricate data.