Employee Turnover is Expensive—Regardless of Company Size

Studies across various industries show that the total cost of losing an employee can range from 1.5 to 2.5 times the employee's annual salary.

While there may be no quick fix for reducing employee turnover, we’ve outlined seven proven employee retention strategies to help you re-engage your team and maintain top performance.

1. Understand Why Employees Leave—Then Fix It

When it comes to retention, details matter. You can gather valuable insights through exit interviews, honest conversations with current employees, and employee satisfaction surveys.

2. Build a Strong Onboarding Process

Make sure the first 30 days—especially day one—are exceptional. Whether that’s by offering a small welcome gift, a breakfast with the team, or a handwritten note from a senior leader, the goal is to make new hires feel welcomed and part of the team as soon as possible.
These small gestures will pay off in the long run.

3. Connect Employees to the Bigger Picture

With 93% of employees unable to link their day-to-day work to organizational goals, it’s no surprise that engagement drops and job dissatisfaction grows—ultimately increasing turnover.

When employees don’t see how their efforts contribute to the company’s success, productivity suffers. To reignite a sense of purpose, use goal-setting frameworks like OKRs (used by Google) or other goal management tools.

4. Provide Positive Feedback

Even great managers sometimes forget to recognize good performance. Positive feedback builds employee confidence and establishes trust—especially useful when constructive criticism is needed.

To encourage engagement and appreciation, consider launching a real-time recognition and rewards program, where employees feel valued for both major and minor achievements.

5. Share a Unified Vision

Employees feel more committed when they understand where the company is headed and how it plans to get there.
Be transparent—share the company vision clearly and frequently across all organizational levels.

6. Offer Learning & Development Opportunities

One of the top reasons employees leave is the pursuit of better career opportunities. In fact, in 2018, 61% of job seekers ranked professional growth as a top factor when considering a new job. (For younger employees, that number goes up to 65%.)

Even if you can’t offer a promotion, giving employees the chance to learn new skills can be just as valuable.

7. Stay Informed About Business Trends

There are external market forces you can’t control—but they still affect retention. To succeed in employee retention, it’s important to understand how the business world is evolving and adapt accordingly.

Current trends (just to name a few) include:

• The rise of the gig economy
• Deliberate job mobility
• The growing demand for flexible work environments