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Here's the context: Statement: Attrition among the X workforce is high.

Now I want to specify this at an individual's context. As in: "The X worker is __" What is the correct term here? The X worker is highly mobile?

This is for a presentation slide and I'm striving for brevity. Attrition here means that workers change jobs often, not that they migrate.

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Hi scorpion. Welcome to ELU. Attrition in this context means The gradual reduction of a workforce by employees' leaving and not being replaced rather than by their being laid off, so you should probably forget about alternatives to "mobile" (although "flexible" might be better) and ask about alternatives to "attrition". – FumbleFingers Dec 11 '11 at 4:35
If, per FumbleFingers' definition, attrition is high because the workers leave and aren't replaced, the question is why workers leave in the first place; answering that may lead you to the word you seek. – Gnawme Dec 11 '11 at 6:56
Hi, thanks for the welcome :) I believe your definition is correct. The original quote was "the overall attrition rate for the workforce has doubled". I see Gnawme's point. However, the word would then be "greedy" :D Money is the primary reason they leave. I think the term I'm looking for may be related to concepts like loyalty to the employer. I just feel there's a specific term here that's not popping in to my mind. – scorpion Dec 11 '11 at 13:46

2 Answers 2

"Has limited tenure" or "transient" might work.

The typical X worker has limited tenure.

The X worker is transient.

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Interesting. However, would that imply that the worker is not leaving by choice. A plumber maybe transient only because you'd hire one for a one off job. Is my understanding correct? – scorpion Dec 11 '11 at 13:49
I don't think that would imply leaving by choice or not, only that the stay is temporary, or the length of the stay is limited. – xpda Dec 11 '11 at 16:03

It sounds like you mean a high staff "turnover", which is a steady state or dynamic equilibrium, rather than the reduction caused by attrition without replacement.

But in either case you could say the workers are "restless" or "footloose".

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Yup, turnover is the notion we are dealing with. I like the term "restless". However, I have a slight doubt whether it goes with the general tone of the presentation which is highly academic. Thoughts? – scorpion Dec 11 '11 at 13:50

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