The drivers of staff retention and employee engagement

How can the loss of key staff members be prevented when employers are seldom interested in managing retention? This report investigates how managing organisational developments more effectively and tackling the root cause of retention - the level of employee engagement - can improve this issue.

On this page:
Introduction and overview
Many employers do not attempt to manage staff retention
Efforts tend to be reactive not strategic
Measures are not always based on sound evidence
Alternative ways of investigating retention drivers
What is employee engagement?
Staff retention as a measure of employee engagement
Links between engagement and retention
The importance of employee engagement
Impact of organisational changes
Management changes
Ownership and leadership changes
Pay and benefits
Changes to workforce size
Recruitment can boost staff retention
Changes to performance and recognition arrangements
Work organisation, careers and training
Flexible working opportunities
A bundle of measures may work best
Opportunities and threats
Conclusion
Our research
Table 1: Changes affecting staff retention over the past two years
Table 2: The greatest opportunities to improve staff retention and engagement
Table 3: The greatest threats to staff retention and engagement
Additional resources.