What's the age structure of the team?
№ 215 · Tenure distribution
Definition
MetricDistribution of current employee tenure, read as median tenure and the share of headcount under twelve months
UnitYears of tenure and % of headcount per band
Histogram of months at company across employees. Identifies the long-tail experienced cohort. Pull start dates per employee. Healthy curve has a meaningful number of long-tenured plus regular new hires. Example: 32% below 1yr, 28% 1-3yr, 22% 3-5yr, 18% 5+yr.
Benchmarks
| Bottom 30% | Median | Top 30% |
|---|---|---|
| Median tenure under 2.5 years with more than 35% below twelve months | Median tenure 3.9 years with 22% of headcount below twelve months | Median tenure above 4 years with under 20% of headcount below twelve months |
US wage and salary workers, Current Population Survey supplement, January 2024, median years with current employer · The BLS series is the strongest source on this card, drawn from a 60,000-household survey, and it is also the only one that publishes a full distribution rather than an average. The 3.9 year median in January 2024 was the lowest reading since 2002. Two cautions apply. First, the survey is biennial and the January 2024 release is the most recent, so the number is two years old in a labor market that has since cooled, and cooling usually lengthens tenure. Second, national medians are dominated by occupation mix: management and professional occupations sit at 4.8 years while service occupations sit at 2.7 and food preparation at 2.0, so any single-company comparison must be made against its own occupational mix. In venture-backed commercial roles the picture is much shorter, with Bridge Group putting average account executive tenure at about 2.8 years.
| Category | Bottom 30% | Median | Top 30% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management and professional occupations | 3.5 years | 4.8 years | 5.7 years (management) |
| Service occupations | 2.0 years (food preparation and serving) | 2.7 years | 3.5 years |
| Quota-carrying B2B sales | Under 2 years | 2.8 years | 4 years or more |
When it looks bad
The distribution is bimodal, with a wall of sub-twelve-month hires, a thin one-to-three-year middle and a small long-tenure cluster, meaning the organization is not converting new hires into experienced staff.
41% of headcount below twelve months, 12% between one and three years, and 22% above five years, with a median of 1.4 years.
What to do about it
- Read the twelve to twenty-four month band first, not the newest cohort. That band is the conversion rate from hire to established employee, and it is the section that predicts next year's median far better than current attrition does.
- Compare the distribution against occupational mix rather than against a national median. BLS shows a 2.8 year gap between management occupations at 4.8 years and service occupations at 2.7, so a warehouse-heavy company with a 2.5 year median may be at market while an engineering-heavy one is not.
- Overlay the ramp line on the distribution. Where average tenure is 2.8 years and ramp is 6.2 months, as Bridge Group reports for account executives, roughly a fifth of every cohort's tenure is spent below full productivity and the shape of the tenure chart is also a capacity chart.
- Track the long-tenure cluster for concentration risk separately. A handful of people above eight years usually hold the undocumented process knowledge, and their replacement cost sits at the top of the Gallup range rather than the middle.
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics Median tenure with current employer was 3.9 years, the lowest since 2002, down from 4.1 years in 2022. 22% of workers had a year or less of tenure. Management and professional occupations ran 4.8 years, service occupations 2.7 years and food preparation 2.0 years. bls.gov ↗
- Blossom Street Ventures summarising The Bridge Group Average ramp time rose to 5.7 months, average tenure to 2.8 years, with median annual turnover of 30% of which 11 points are voluntary. 51% of AEs met quota, down from 66% in 2022. blossomstreetventures.medium.com ↗
- The Bridge Group Ramp time reached 6.2 months, the highest in the research history. 48% of reps achieved quota, down from 51% in 2024. Median OTE $200K, median quota $960K, quota to OTE ratio 4.6x. Experience required at hire rose to 3.7 years. Companies in the top AI engagement tercile reported 57% of reps at quota versus 39% in the lowest. blog.bridgegroupinc.com ↗
- Carta Average Series D headcount fell 29% from its 2023 peak to 131 employees, Series B from 53 to 45, and median seed team size is four. In January 2026 there were 12,161 voluntary departures against 8,217 layoffs. Voluntary departures are down 40% from the June 2022 peak and layoffs down 57% from January 2023. carta.com ↗
- Pin reporting Mercer 2025 US Turnover Survey and SHRM 2025 Benchmarking US voluntary attrition averaged 13% in 2024 to 2025, down from 24.7% in 2022. Retail and wholesale run 26.7% against 8.2% in insurance. SHRM's median voluntary turnover was 9% with a 13% average. pin.com ↗
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics Job openings 7.4 million, hires 5.3 million, total separations 5.4 million, quits 3.2 million and layoffs 1.8 million. Quits rate 2.0% per month, layoffs rate 1.1%, total separations rate 3.4%. bls.gov ↗
- Employ Inc. First-year turnover fell to 12.1% in 2025 from 23.7% in 2024. Time to screen improved across all sizes, with enterprises fastest at 5.7 days and hospitality slowest at 6.5 days. employinc.com ↗
- Pin reporting Mercer, Gallup and Work Institute Benchmarks range from 8.2% in insurance and about 12% in tech to 26.7% in retail and roughly 74% in hospitality. Replacement cost runs 0.5x to 2x annual salary. pin.com ↗