High staff turnover is now costing Australian businesses a hefty $23,000 for each worker lost – up from $10,000 last year. Still, not quite as shocking as the Canadian business whose ex-worker just cost them “millions”.

In Australia’s challenging labour market, there are now more jobs available than candidates willing to fill them. To make matters worse, a PriceWaterhouseCoopers research study shows 38% of respondents were considering leaving their current employer within the next 12 months.

These conditions have led to the dramatic rise in the cost to hire new employees, with some Australian companies now forking out more than $40,000 for each recruitment.

The conditions that led to the Canadian business crying into its maple syrup, meanwhile, were a little more straightforward.

After allegedly being fired late last month, a building construction employee took control of a digger and demolished a luxury marina, destroying a lakeside property and surrounds.

The scene – in an area that boasts properties worth more than A$15 million – was captured on camera by shocked bystanders before police officers arrived and arrested the 59-year-old man.

One observer tweeted: “You can’t make this up. A disgruntled, fired employee from a marina near our lake house snapped and destroyed the entire marina with an excavator.”

A local business owner said the damage caused could be “in the millions”, adding: “It was almost surreal what happened. For something like that to happen … it’s like fiction.”

The man was charged with ‘mischief’ and is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.

Sources:

• PWC.com.au, What workers want
• Calgary Hearld, ‘Angry employee’ uses excavator to rip apart marina in exclusive Muskoka cottage country