Retention

Retention is the ability of an organization to keep its employees. Understanding retention is critical to selecting workforce strategies that reduce turnover. Retention of employees can be represented by a simple statistic. For example, a retention rate of 80% indicates that an organization kept 80% of its employees in a given period of time. An organization must also consider employee retention as it relates to the efforts it puts forth to keep employees within the organization. This is typically evaluated by examining the length of time an employee is employed (e.g., 0-3 months, 3-6 months, or 6-12 months). The length of time employees stay indicates which retention strategies are required. Retention strategies include providing recognition of work, developing mentoring or coaching opportunities, providing professional development opportunities, and engaging employees more broadly in the organization.