noun
employee retention
em-PLOY-ee ri-TEN-shuhn
Employee retention (noun) means an organisation's ability to keep its staff over time, and the set of practices used to reduce the number who leave voluntarily. Example: “Better pay and flexible hours lifted employee retention by a fifth.”
noun
1
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."
"Employee retention is the biggest problem facing the care sector."
2
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
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishKeeping your staff instead of losing them to other employers.
When to use it
HR and business term; common in job adverts, board reports and consultancy pitches.
Easily confused with
Common pairings
improve employee retention
employee retention rate
employee retention strategy
recruitment and retention
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Better pay and flexible hours lifted _____ by a fifth.
Synonyms
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staff retention
talent retention
workforce stability
retention rate
Antonyms
Related words
Rhymes for employee retention
region
ablation
allusion
emulsion
ideation
novation
diffusion
elocution
extension
oxidation
perfusion
selection
See all rhymes for employee retention →
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.
What is the meaning of employee retention?
"employee retention" (noun) means an organisation's ability to keep its staff over time, and the set of practices used to reduce the number who leave voluntarily.
