Employee retention: how to keep your best people
Employee retention means keeping the people you want to keep. Pay matters, but it is rarely the whole story. Most good people leave because of their work and their manager, and both are things a manager can change.
Updated
Why good people leave
- Too much work for too long, with no end in sight.
- No growth: the same work, with nothing new to learn.
- Good work that nobody noticed.
- A manager who is too busy for them.
- A close teammate left.
How to keep employees
- Keep workload fair. Move work away from whoever has the most.
- Give each person something new to learn this quarter.
- Thank good work in the same week, and say what it made possible.
- Hold a one on one meeting with each person, every week or two, and keep it.
- Ask what they want next, and help them get there, even if it is on another team.
Watch for the early changes
By the time someone resigns, the decision is made. The changes come earlier: they speak up less, stop taking on new work, or get much less of your time than the rest of the team. Each change is small on its own. Put several weeks side by side and the pattern shows.
Ask before they decide
A stay conversation is an exit interview held while the person is still here. Ask these in a one on one:
- "What keeps you here?"
- "What would make you think about leaving?"
- "What would you change about your work if you could?"
- "What do you want to be doing a year from now?"
What does not work
- A counter-offer after they resign. The reasons they wanted to leave are still there.
- A yearly survey on its own. A year is too long to wait to hear about a problem.
- Perks instead of changes to the work.
The signals behind this guide
- When an employee goes quiet: what to look for
Someone is much quieter than usual.
- Are you giving one person less of your time?
One person gets much less of your time than the others.
- How to tell if a team member is overloaded
Someone is working too much.
More guides
- Why employees leave and the signs before they go
Why employees leave, the changes a manager can see before someone resigns, and how to start the conversation while there is still time.
- Quiet quitting: the signs, and what to do
What quiet quitting looks like on a team, how it differs from a quiet week, and how a manager can respond without blame.
- One on one questions to ask your team
One on one questions for every part of a 1:1 meeting: workload, the team, growth and you as their manager. Plus what to talk about, and a simple agenda.
- Employee recognition: how to thank good work
Employee recognition that costs nothing: how to notice the work that deserves thanks, how to say it so it lands, and ideas to make sure nobody is missed.
- Signs of burnout at work a manager can see
The signs of burnout at work a manager can see early are about the work: late nights, no breaks, no say. What to look for, what to say, what to change.
- Signs an employee is secretly struggling
The work changes that show someone may be struggling, why they hide it, and how a manager can ask in a way that gets an honest answer.
- How to tell if an employee is disengaged
What disengaged looks like day to day, how it differs from a bad week, and how a manager can find the reason and respond without blame.
- Bus factor: how to find it and raise it
Your bus factor is how many people could leave before work stops. How to find the one person your team relies on, and how to spread what they know.
- How to support an employee returning from leave
What to do before, on and after someone's first day back from leave, so they can catch up without being rushed or left out.
- Overwhelmed at work: how a manager can help
What to do when someone has too much on: how to find out what they are carrying, what to take away, and how to check that it worked.
- Employee onboarding: a 90-day plan
A practical plan for a new hire's first days and first 90 days: what to prepare, who they should meet, and what to check on each week.
- Performance review examples for managers
Performance review examples you can adapt for results, teamwork, growth and problems, a short template, and how to write a fair review from facts.
- Team health check: how to run one
How to run a team health check in half an hour: what to ask, how to get honest answers, what to do with the result, and what to watch between checks.
- First time manager: what to do first
A plan for a first time manager: meet each person, learn how the team works, start one on ones, and avoid the mistakes most new managers make.
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