employee retention
4 synonyms and 3 antonyms for employee retention, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — An organisation's ability to keep its staff over time, and the set of practices used to reduce the number who leave voluntarily.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun
An organisation's ability to keep its staff over time, and the set of practices used to reduce the number who leave voluntarily.
“Better pay and flexible hours lifted employee retention by a fifth.”
Opposites
2. noun
The measured rate at which staff stay, usually expressed as the percentage of employees still with the organisation at the end of a given period.
“Our twelve-month employee retention sits at 88 per cent.”
How to use employee retention
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
HR and business term; common in job adverts, board reports and consultancy pitches.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between employee retention and turnover?
They are two views of the same movement. Retention counts the share of staff who stay over a period; turnover counts the share who leave and need replacing. High retention and low turnover mean the same thing, though turnover is usually broken down further into voluntary and involuntary.
How do you calculate an employee retention rate?
Take the number of employees still employed at the end of the period, divide by the number employed at the start, and multiply by 100. People hired during the period are normally excluded from both figures so that new joiners do not distort the result.
What is the Employee Retention Credit?
It is a US payroll tax credit created for employers who kept staff on the payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic, usually abbreviated ERC or ERTC. Despite the shared wording it is a specific tax provision, not a general term for retention work.