6.6 Million Yen Lost When Just One Person Quits: What Business Owners Must Reconsider Now That Employee-Resignation Bankruptcies Are at an All-Time High

“Are they quitting again...?”

If you are a small or medium-sized business owner, you have likely uttered these words at least once. According to a survey released by Teikoku Databank in February 2026, bankruptcies caused primarily by employee resignations reached 124 cases in 2025. This is the first time the annual figure has exceeded 100 since tracking began, marking an all-time high (Source: Teikoku Databank, “Trends in Employee-Resignation Bankruptcies (2025)”).

According to Tokyo Shoko Research, there were 397 bankruptcies related to labor shortages in 2025. Of those, 110 were caused by “employee resignations,” a sharp 54.9% increase from the previous year (Source: Tokyo Shoko Research, “2025 ‘Labor Shortage’ Bankruptcies”). Looking at these figures, it is clear that the problem is not just that “you cannot hire people,” but the very structure where “operations stop when someone quits.”

I would like you to consider this: have you ever calculated how much it actually costs your company when one person quits?

How much do you lose when one employee quits?

Many business owners feel that “recruitment costs are a waste,” but they do not accurately grasp the total cost of a resignation. According to estimates by human resources service companies, the total cost of one employee leaving accumulates as follows:

[Main Breakdown of Resignation Costs]

- Recruitment costs (job advertisements, recruitment agency fees, etc.): approximately 850,000 to 1 million yen

- Education and training costs (on-the-job training after joining, external training fees, etc.): approximately 300,000 to 500,000 yen

- Unrecovered portion of personnel expenses paid during their tenure: approximately 1 million to 2 million yen

- Opportunity loss and sales decline until a replacement is hired: approximately 1 million to 2 million yen

- Productivity decline during the handover period: approximately 300,000 to 500,000 yen

- Overtime and decreased motivation due to the increased burden on remaining employees: difficult to convert to a monetary value, but in the scale of hundreds of thousands of yen

In total, even for an employee with an annual salary of 4 million yen, the cost per person is approximately 2 million to 4 million yen. Some estimates suggest that early resignation of a young employee can cost over 6 million yen (Source: Mitsukari, “Costs of Early Resignation of Young Talent”).

In other words, saying that “6.6 million yen disappears when just one person quits” is not an exaggeration; it is a very possible figure when looking at the total from recruitment to resignation.

Why is the “construction industry” ranked worst?

Looking at employee-resignation bankruptcies by industry, the construction industry is the highest with 37 cases, accounting for 29.8% of the total. This is followed by the service industry with 29 cases and the manufacturing industry with 21 cases.

The reason the construction industry stands out is clear. There is a structure where work tends to be concentrated in personnel with specific qualifications or experience, such as site supervisors and construction managers. The more work there is that “only that person can do,” the more fatal the damage of a resignation becomes.

However, is this a problem only for the construction industry?

I believe that many small and medium-sized enterprises share the same structure. A company that leaves accounting entirely to one employee. A company where the sales list exists only in the head of the person in charge. A company where only the president knows how to create a quote. As long as there is this “dependency on one person,” “resignation risk” exists in every industry.

Data shows that small and micro enterprises with capital of less than 10 million yen account for 63.2% of all bankruptcies caused by labor shortages. The smaller the scale, the more a single resignation shakes the business. This is the reality for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Investing in "Retention" vs. Investing in "Structure"

I would like to change our perspective here for a moment.

Many companies focus on improving working conditions and enhancing benefits to prevent resignations. Of course, that is important. However, it is realistically difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to continue paying wages at the same level as large corporations. Even Tokyo Shoko Research data cites "wage hike fatigue" as a factor for the increase in bankruptcies in 2026.

What I would like to propose is not just investing in "please don't quit," but also investing in a "structure where operations continue even if someone quits."

Specifically, there are three steps.

[3 Steps to Build an Organization That Functions Even If Someone Quits]

Step 1: Inventory your operations

First, list all internal operations and create a table showing "who does what and how often." At this stage, you will see tasks that have become personalized, such as "only Mr. Tanaka does this task."

Step 2: Identify and isolate "one-person dependent tasks"

Based on the inventory results, list tasks that only one specific person can do. The point is to isolate the tasks that "don't necessarily have to be done by that person." For example, routine administrative tasks such as issuing invoices, attendance management, creating estimates, and data entry can often be done by anyone if a procedure manual is created.

Step 3: Build a "non-person-dependent system" using outsourcing or tools

Transition the isolated tasks to external administrative agency services or cloud tools. Recently, services that handle administrative work online have become more robust, and you can outsource accounting, general affairs, and data entry for a few tens of thousands of yen per month. Compared to the cost of hiring and training people in-house, this is much lower risk.

The good thing about these three steps is that you not only get the benefit of "not being in trouble if someone quits," but you also gain the byproduct of "allowing the president and employees to concentrate on core tasks."

The idea of shifting the 6.6 million yen cost to "investing in systems"

Let's think about the numbers again. Suppose the cost of one employee quitting is 4 million yen. If two people quit a year, that's 8 million yen. This repeats every year.

On the other hand, the cost of organizing operations and setting up an outsourcing system for administrative work is a few hundred thousand yen for initial operational design, and monthly outsourcing fees of about 50,000 to 100,000 yen. Even annually, it is only about 1 to 2 million yen.

Which is more rational for management to invest in? Isn't the answer obvious?

Of course, you cannot prevent every resignation, and not all tasks can be outsourced. But just by changing from a state of "it's over if they quit" to a state of "it continues even if they quit," the mental burden on the business owner will change significantly.

Summary: Resignation is something to "prepare for," not just "prevent"

The fact that resignation-driven bankruptcy has reached a record high means that the act of an employee quitting has itself become a business risk.

For small and medium-sized business owners, what is important is not just focusing all efforts on "preventing resignations," but building a "structure where the business continues even if someone leaves." Start by taking inventory of your operations, identify "tasks dependent on a single person," and gradually turn them into standardized systems. That should be the first step toward ensuring you do not repeat a 6.6 million yen loss.

"What would happen to our company if that person quit tomorrow?"—If you are a business owner who cannot answer this question immediately, why not start by taking inventory of your operations?

ShakeHands LLC

A business partner that organizes labor shortages from a structural perspective
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