Employee Retention Mistakes to Avoid: The Top 5

Avoidable Employee Retention Mistakes
Employee retention mistakes carry a heavy cost. Our corporate culture assessment research consistently shows that organizations still struggle to retain top performers and high-potential talent. While companies are improving their understanding of the drivers of employee engagement, many managers still lack a deep grasp of why employees leave — and the tangible impact turnover has on business performance. Addressing these gaps proactively is critical to keeping your most valuable people and sustaining long-term organizational success.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Research makes one thing clear: engagement is the ultimate retention driver. A recent Gallup poll found that employees who feel genuinely engaged need more than a 20% pay increase to consider leaving their job — while disengaged employees often require little or no incentive to walk away. LinkedIn data reinforces this link, showing that over 90% of employees would stay longer if they had better opportunities to learn, grow, and advance their careers. Engagement isn’t just a feel-good metric — it’s the single strongest predictor of whether your top talent stays or goes.

Employee Retention Mistakes Can’t Be Ignored
As organizations ask employees to do more with fewer resources, even modest turnover can create significant disruption. PwC’s recent Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey found that one in five employees are likely to change employers within the next twelve months. Can your business afford to lose one in five of your top performers? The cost isn’t just financial; it’s operational, cultural, and strategic. Avoidable retention mistakes can undermine everything your organization has worked to build.

The True Cost of Employee Turnover Is Higher Than You Realize
Among all the people-related challenges an organization faces, employee turnover is the most expensive — undermining revenue, profits, morale, and customer relationships. Each departure carries a cost that often exceeds twice the employee’s salary, factoring in lost productivity as you recruit, hire, and train replacements. This calculation doesn’t even capture the full impact of losing high performers in critical roles or those managing major customer accounts — losses that can ripple through your business long after the person has gone.

5 Employee Retention Mistakes to Avoid — and How to Fix Them
Retaining top talent and boosting employee engagement requires intentional action from leaders. Our people manager assessment center results consistently reveal patterns in retention challenges. Here are the five most common employee retention mistakes—and practical strategies to address them effectively:

1. Lack of a More Comprehensive Employee Turnover Metric
   First leaders need to thoroughly understand the current situation by quantifying the extent of current turnover. Most companies simply report turnover in terms of a percentage of the employees who leave. But reporting this number alone, even if it includes voluntary and involuntary attrition breakdowns, hides what you really need to know.

   A better approach is to gather and report employee retention data based upon your talent management strategy in a way that provides valuable business insights. For example:

   • • How does attrition compare to last year’s number or to the industry average?
     • Are the employees who leave low or high performers?
     • Did exiting employees have high or low potential? Are they in a critical or strategic role?
     • Are there any tenure, role, manager, function, or geographic specific trends related to departing employees?
     • Is the expertise of departing employees difficult to replace?
     • Did exiting employees fit into the organizational culture?
     • Does the turnover reflect a problem with diversity or inclusion?

   You get the idea.  Start with your business and talent management strategy and then measure and report on what matters most.

2. The Real Reasons Employees Leave Are Often Misunderstood
   Traditional in-house exit interviews rarely reveal why employees truly depart. Completion rates for exit surveys are low, and candid feedback is even rarer. Leaders cannot meaningfully reduce unwanted turnover if they fail to understand why top performers leave — and what actions could have retained them. After all, departing employees often hold back the real reasons for leaving, prioritizing references and preserving relationships over honesty.

   A more effective strategy is to use social-based exit surveys that collect engagement and retention insights not only from departing employees but also from their peers. This approach typically achieves response rates around 80%, compared with roughly 20% for standard exit surveys, providing far richer and more actionable data.

   The value of this data comes only when it’s analyzed rigorously and translated into clear, targeted actions. By identifying the root causes of unwanted turnover, leaders can implement practical solutions that keep top talent engaged and reduce costly attrition.

3. Retention Efforts Often Fail Because They Aren’t Measured
   Understanding why employees leave is only the first step. Leaders must take targeted, evidence-based engagement actions to address the root causes of turnover — and then rigorously measure their effectiveness. Too often, organizations implement initiatives based on assumptions, make only half-hearted attempts to improve, or fail to evaluate and communicate the impact of their efforts.

   Without measurement, even well-intentioned retention strategies remain guesswork, leaving your most valuable talent at risk.

4. Lack of a Proactive Employee Retention Program
   The most effective way to keep top talent is to identify employees at risk of leaving before they make the decision to walk out the door. Knowing the reasons behind dissatisfaction — whether employees feel undervalued, underutilized, or disconnected from their work — gives leaders the time and focus to intervene strategically.

   Collaboration between leaders and managers is critical to proactively engage these employees. Successful retention programs typically address four key areas: job flexibility, competitive compensation, meaningful work, and opportunities for learning and career growth. By systematically addressing these factors, organizations can retain high performers, reduce turnover costs, and build a more engaged workforce.

5. Avoid a One-Size-Fits-All Approach
   Employee turnover cannot be solved with broad, generic solutions. Even if career development is identified as a key factor, interventions must be tailored to align with your organization’s talent strategy, culture, and the needs of individual employees. Prioritize efforts on your most critical and high-value employees — the ones whose departure or disengagement would have the greatest impact.

   Targeted, relevant actions not only increase the likelihood of retention but also reinforce the message that your organization invests in its people strategically and thoughtfully.

The Bottom Line
Effective leaders treat employee retention with the same rigor as financial performance. They recognize the business impact of turnover, uncover the root causes of attrition, and implement practical, targeted actions that align with their overall talent management strategy. Retaining top talent isn’t just HR — it’s a critical driver of sustained organizational success.

To learn more about how to avoid employee retention mistakes, download the Top 10 Research-backed Ways to Better Engage and Retain Top Talent