Today, retaining talent is a major challenge for any organisation concerned with its long-term future. At AssessFirst, we know that successful companies are those that succeed in creating a lasting bond with their employees. Our expertise shows that building loyalty is not limited to one-off actions, but is a common thread running through the entire employee career path. This global approach involves several strategic levers: from predictive recruitment to careful offboarding, via professional development and quality of life at work. Let’s look at how you can transform your HR practices to build lasting commitment.
The critical issues in retaining talent within companies
Retaining talent is much more than simply retaining staff. It embodies the lasting attachment of employees to their employer, and is a major challenge for any organisation. This concept has gradually become a strategic priority, particularly since the health crisis, which has profoundly altered professionals’ expectations of the world of work.
The figures speak for themselves: replacing an employee costs between 15 and 25% of their gross annual salary. This estimate only takes into account the direct costs of recruitment and integration. The picture becomes even more alarming when we consider the overall impact, with some studies estimating the total cost of replacement at between 50 and 120% of the annual salary of the position concerned. These figures illustrate the crucial economic importance of an effective retention strategy.
France is currently going through a period marked by a significant rise in resignations. According to DARES, 550,000 voluntary contract terminations were recorded in the first half of 2023, setting a record since 2008. This trend is part of a wider movement often referred to as the “Great Resignation”, a phenomenon in which employees are massively reconsidering their relationship with work.
Building employee loyalty in companies therefore requires a structured and proactive approach to meet these contemporary challenges.
Impact of staff turnover on organisational performance
The instability of teams has considerable repercussions on the company’s overall performance. High turnover disrupts team dynamics and weakens cohesion, both of which are fundamental to operational efficiency. The Gallup study shows that teams whose members are genuinely committed are 21% more productive than those faced with chronic disengagement.
Excessive staff turnover destabilises internal processes. Each departure leads to a redistribution of tasks, often a source of stress and overload for the remaining employees. This constant reorganisation generates operational inefficiencies and slows down the achievement of collective objectives.
The disruption created by high staff turnover also causes a break in the transmission of knowledge and in the continuity of projects. Experienced employees take with them their tacit expertise, which is difficult to formalise in procedures and manuals. This loss directly affects the quality of the work delivered and the organisation’s capacity for innovation.
Hidden costs of losing strategic talent
Behind the visible costs of recruitment lie expenses that are far more substantial and difficult to quantify. For every talented person who leaves the organisation, there is a lost investment in training, skills development and integration. This phenomenon is particularly worrying when you consider that 45% of resignations occur during the first year of employment, a period when the return on investment has not yet been achieved.
Recruitment costs are just the tip of the iceberg. The temporary loss of productivity, the mobilisation of teams to train the new employee, and the potential dissatisfaction of customers who are used to a contact person who is now absent, are all considerable indirect costs. Added to this are the costs associated with the overtime needed to compensate for the absence, as well as the time spent by managers and HR teams managing this transition.
These expenses have a direct impact on the company’ s profitability and can represent up to 2.5 times the annual salary of the post concerned in certain high added value sectors or for highly qualified profiles.
Preserving intellectual capital in the face of competition
In an economic environment where knowledge represents a decisive competitive advantage, every voluntary departure runs the risk of a flight of expertise to the competition. Talented people take with them not only their technical skills, but also their in-depth understanding of projects, customers and organisational specificities.
This erosion of intellectual capital gradually weakens the company’s competitive edge. The departure of an experienced employee can lead to a loss of continuity in customer or supplier relationships, undermining partnerships sometimes built up over several years. Organisations faced with frequent departures risk seeing their market position weakened in favour of more stable competitors.
Beyond the competitive aspect, high turnover also affects the internal and external employer brand. It generates a feeling of instability among remaining employees and sends out a negative signal to potential candidates , creating a vicious circle that is difficult to break without a genuine retention strategy.
Diagnosis and assessment of your talent retention strategy
Before deploying concrete actions to retain your talent, a preliminary analysis phase is essential. Assessing your current situation enables you to pinpoint areas of weakness and adapt your strategy to the specific characteristics of your organisation. This diagnostic approach forms the basis for effective, long-term talent retention.
A full audit involves taking a close look at departure trends within your organisation: which departments are most affected? Which profiles are the most likely to leave the company? After what average length of time? This information, put into perspective with your sector of activity, gives you an initial understanding of the challenges you face.
At the same time, analysing the current level of employee commitment provides valuable indicators of the effectiveness of your loyalty policy. The aim is to identify the priority levers for action, specific to your organisational context, and to draw up a roadmap tailored to your specific challenges.
Measuring employee commitment is therefore the first fundamental step in building an effective strategy.
Key indicators for measuring employee commitment
To effectively manage your loyalty strategy, it is essential to monitor relevant indicators. Here are the main KPIs to monitor:
- Turnover rate overall and by department: this basic indicator measures the percentage of employees who have left the organisation over a given period.
- Voluntary vs involuntary turnover rate: distinction used to isolate departures chosen by employees
- Absenteeism rate: 42% of absences are linked to QWL and dissatisfaction at work, so this indicator is an early warning signal.
- Average length of time with the company: measures the longevity of employees within the organisation.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) employees: assesses the propensity of employees to recommend the company as an employer
- Recruitment success rate and average integration time
- Internal mobility rate: reveals the development opportunities available to talented employees
- Participation rate in engagement surveys: reflects the involvement of teams in the life of the company
These indicators, tracked over time, enable you to objectively assess the effectiveness of your loyalty strategy and adjust your actions accordingly.
Predictive tools for assessing job satisfaction
Companies that are successful in retaining talent have developed anticipatory rather than reactive approaches. Predictive tools now make it possible to identify weak signals of potential disengagement, offering the opportunity to intervene before a resignation is contemplated.
Regular job satisfaction surveys are a first level of information. These anonymous surveys, ideally administered quarterly, take the pulse of the organisation and identify irritants before they become problematic. For a more in-depth diagnosis, 360 feedback provides a multidimensional view of the employee experience by gathering the perceptions of colleagues, managers and subordinates.
Formal and informal one-to-one interviews round off this process, providing an opportunity to explore certain points raised in the surveys in greater depth. These moments of direct exchange encourage the expression of expectations and concerns within a confidential and constructive framework.
For a more structured analysis, the Effective Talent Review enables you to systematically assess the potential and satisfaction of your key employees.
Analysis of friction points in the employee journey
By identifying the moments of truth in the employee experience, we can target priority actions to improve talent retention. There are five key stages in the employee journey, where long-term commitment is at stake.
Recruitment is the first decisive point of contact. An employer promise that is too far removed from reality inevitably leads to disappointment and early departures. Transparency during this initial phase encourages a lasting alignment between the candidate’s expectations and the company’s offer.
Onboarding is a particularly sensitive period. Insufficiently structured induction can have a lasting impact on the integration and commitment of the new employee. This foundational phase deserves special attention, as it has a major impact on the rest of the career.
The third critical point is the career development phase. The absence of clear prospects or career development can lead to progressive disengagement, particularly among ambitious profiles. Re-boarding, which is often overlooked, plays an essential role in internal transitions or when staff return after a prolonged absence.
Finally, off-boarding, which is often underestimated, has a major influence on the perception of the company by both departing and remaining employees. A badly managed departure can create a damaging domino effect, while a respectful separation can turn former employees into ambassadors.
The 5 fundamental pillars of talent retention
An effective retention strategy is based on five complementary pillars covering the entire employee lifecycle: attracting the right profiles, anchoring commitment right from induction, encouraging ongoing development, establishing a management culture that is rewarding and creating a fulfilling environment. Each pillar interacts with the others to create an ecosystem conducive to retaining talent.
High-performance HR tools for talent management enable this strategy to be orchestrated effectively.
Predictive recruitment: attract profiles in line with your values
The process of building loyalty begins with recruitment. A recruitment process focused on matching values enables us to identify candidates who will flourish over the long term. Transparency is fundamental to avoid disillusionment later on. Beyond technical skills, cultural compatibility plays a decisive role, facilitated by predictive assessment tools that analyse personality, motivations and adaptation potential.
Personalised onboarding: anchoring commitment from the outset
The first few months significantly determine future commitment. Structured onboarding is a strategic investment in anchoring the new employee’s motivation. Pre-boarding, between signature and arrival, maintains enthusiasm. The material and administrative preparation for the arrival sends a strong signal of consideration. The appointment of a tutor facilitates immersion in the organisational ecosystem, while a phased induction programme ensures a gradual build-up of skills.
Find out how to make your onboarding process a success.
Professional development and adaptive internal mobility
The desire for professional development is a powerful driver of commitment. According to the CIBC 2021 study, 57% of employees would like to move on within the next two years. Internal mobility is a major retention lever, enabling employees to renew their challenges without leaving the organisation. Personalised professional development programmes demonstrate the company’s investment in the potential of its talents.
Learn how to develop talent effectively through internal promotion.
Benevolent management and day-to-day recognition
Talent management plays a key role in sustainable engagement. Supportive leadership creates an environment that encourages professional fulfilment. Empowerment is a powerful driver of engagement, encouraging employees to reach their full potential. Continuous feedback completes the picture, with regular feedback on individual contributions. Recognition goes beyond the financial aspects to foster a sense of belonging and consideration.
Quality of life and balanced working conditions
Quality of life at work has become a key factor in retaining talent. The table below sets out employees ‘ main expectations in terms of QWL and the appropriate organisational responses:
| Employee expectations | Organisational responses |
| Flexible working hours and space | Teleworking, flexible working hours, adaptable workspaces |
| Work-lifebalance | Right to disconnect, controlled meetings policy, extended parental leave |
| Pleasant, functional workspaces | Ergonomiclayouts, collaborative spaces, relaxation areas |
| Stress management and burn-out prevention | Well-being programmes, time management training, psychological support |
| Recognition of personal constraints | Companyconcierge service, crèche, help for family carers |
| Sense and coherence of missions | Communication of vision, involvement in decisions, autonomy |
Flexible working is a key expectation of employees today. Companies that have managed to integrate teleworking in a structured way, while preserving essential collective time, have a better retention rate. This hybrid organisation offers the desired autonomy while maintaining the social ties that are essential for collaboration.
The design of physical spaces has a direct influence on the quality of interactions and day-to-day well-being. A work environment designed to facilitate both individual concentration and spontaneous collaboration encourages collective performance and a positive working atmosphere.
Beyond these material aspects, the active promotion of work-life balance is a sign of respect for employees as a whole. This holistic consideration is a powerful factor in attachment to the organisation.
Building an attractive employer brand to retain talent
Employer branding plays an essential role in attracting and retaining talent. A coherent and authentic employer identity acts as a factor in building loyalty throughout the career. Alignment between promises and reality is a key condition for commitment, as any discrepancy can lead to damaging disillusionment. Internal communication plays a central role in highlighting successes and giving meaning to transformations.
Theeffective integration of new employees is a particularly sensitive moment.
Aligning corporate culture and employee expectations
Corporate culture is the glue that binds employees together around shared values. Its alignment with individual aspirations largely determines lasting commitment. According to Michael Page, 75% of candidates are attentive to this cultural dimension. This culture is built through consistent practices and exemplary behaviour. New expectations in terms of meaning, ethics and social impact are gradually transforming traditional organisational cultures.
Authentic communication of organisational values
The communication of values is expressed in the coherence between discourse and concrete practices. Modern tools such as internal social networks, newsletters and webinars enable initiatives embodying these values to be shared. Transparency about results and challenges reinforces the feeling of belonging. This two-way communication, which encourages employees to listen to each other, is a powerful lever for commitment, demonstrating the value placed on everyone’s word.
In-house ambassadors: your best loyalty-building assets
Turning your employees into ambassadors is a strategic objective for strengthening your internal employer brand. Here are some practical steps you can take:
- Identify and train employees who are naturally committed to the role of ambassador
- Creating unifying corporate traditions that strengthen our collective identity
- Involving employees in the recruitment process
- Developing an attractive co-optation programme
- Gathering and disseminating authentic internal testimonials
- Encouraging participation in external events
- Promoting initiatives that embody organisational values
Advanced strategies for retaining talent by profile
Tailoring loyalty approaches to different profiles and generations is now a strategic necessity. The era of “one size fits all” is over, giving way to differentiated strategies that take into account the diversity of expectations and career aspirations.
This segmentation makes it possible to optimise the allocation of resources by concentrating efforts on the initiatives most likely to resonate with each group of employees. It also demonstrates a detailed understanding of the different sensitivities present within the organisation.
The most successful companies when it comes to retaining talent have developed a matrix approach that combines generational characteristics with professional profiles, career stages and individual characteristics. This multi-dimensional vision enables engagement strategies to be fine-tuned to maximise their impact.
This differentiated approach, far from creating inequalities, simply recognises that the levers of commitment vary according to individuals and contexts. It reflects genuine consideration for the uniqueness of each career path.
Adapting to the generational expectations of employees
The different generations present on the labour market express distinct expectations that require specific approaches to building loyalty. Young people under the age of 25 are particularly mobile, with 52% declaring themselves ready to change jobs according to the DARES study. This generation places a high value on meaning, flexibility and opportunities for rapid development.
The generation of millennials (aged 25-40) is looking for a better work-life balance than their elders. They are particularly sensitive to the company’s values and to the consistency between what is said and what is done. Their loyalty often depends on clear prospects for development and regularly renewed challenges.
More experienced employees (generation X and baby-boomers) generally attach more importance to stability, recognition of their expertise and passing on their know-how. Reverse mentoring programmes, in which they share their experience while benefiting from the digital skills of younger employees, can make a major contribution to their commitment.
Adopting an organisation based on skills rather than seniority facilitates this differentiated generational approach while maintaining equity in talent management.
Specific programmes for high potentials
High-potential employees represent a strategic category that requires particular attention in terms of retention. These employees, identified for their ability to progress rapidly to higher levels of responsibility, typically present a higher risk of departure due to their high attractiveness on the job market.
Early identification of this talent is the first step in an effective retention strategy. This identification is based on objective criteria such as performance, but also on behavioural elements such as learning ability, intellectual agility or natural leadership.
Once identified, these employees ideally benefit from personalised support combining several dimensions: mentoring by an executive, involvement in cross-functional strategic projects, access to accelerated development programmes and controlled exposure to increasing responsibilities.
Transparency about high-potential status is a subject of debate among HR experts. Some organisations favour open communication to empower these talents, while others prefer a more discreet approach to avoid perverse effects on team dynamics.
To find out more about this approach, read our full article on developing high potential.
Retaining talent in a hybrid working environment
The rise of hybrid working has profoundly transformed the issue of employee loyalty, creating unprecedented challenges in terms of cohesion and belonging. This new organisation requires management practices and collective rituals to be adapted to maintain employee commitment despite the physical distance.
Maintaining social links is the central challenge of these hybrid environments. Successful companies have developed specific rituals that alternate moments of virtual connection with carefully orchestrated physical meetings. The latter focus on activities with high collaborative added value: creativity sessions, solving complex problems, collective celebrations.
Fairness between present and remote employees is another major challenge. Organisations must ensure that opportunities for development, visibility of contributions and access to information are not skewed by physical presence. This vigilance requires managers to be made aware of the issue and effective collaborative tools to be put in place.
Mutual trust forms the basis of these new professional relationships. It is built on increased transparency, performance measurement that focuses on results rather than presence, and intentional communication that compensates for the absence of spontaneous informal interactions.
Technology and innovation to retain talent
The digital age offers a range of technological tools that are radically transforming traditional approaches to talent retention. These solutions make it possible to individualise the employee experience while maintaining overall consistency, and to anticipate the risks of disengagement before they materialise in the form of departures.
Integrated HR platforms are the foundation of this transformation, centralising data and facilitating a holistic view of the employee journey. Far from dehumanising the relationship, these systems free up time for high value-added interactions by automating time-consuming administrative processes.
The intelligent use of the data collected makes it possible to develop predictive approaches that revolutionise talent management. By identifying correlations between certain organisational factors and risks of departure, these analyses enable preventive and targeted action to be taken.
These technological innovations, deployed while respecting the ethics and privacy of employees, now constitute a significant competitive advantage in the war for talent that is intensifying in many business sectors.
Continuous feedback and active listening platforms
Continuous feedback has gradually replaced the traditional annual appraisal in high-performance organisations. This major development is supported by digital platforms that facilitate regular, multilateral exchanges between employees, peers and managers.
These tools make it possible to gather immediate feedback on specific projects, one-off contributions or observed behaviour. This immediacy reinforces the impact of feedback by establishing a direct link between action and feedback, which is particularly appreciated by the new generations who are used to this immediacy in their daily lives.
Platforms for listening to employees complete this system by allowing us to take the pulse of the organisation in real time. Flash surveys, mood barometers and suggestion spaces offer employees channels for direct expression, demonstrating the consideration given to their perceptions.
By analysing the data collected, we can quickly identify trends, friction points and emerging expectations. This detailed understanding of the employee experience helps to guide corrective actions and improvement initiatives with precision and responsiveness.
Artificial intelligence to anticipate departure risks
Predictive algorithms represent a major advance in the prevention of voluntary departure. By analysing thousands of behavioural and contextual variables, artificial intelligence identifies the weak signals that herald gradual disengagement even before the employee consciously contemplates leaving.
These systems are based on machine learning models that are progressively enriched by the organisation’s historical data. They take into account multiple indicators such as changes in digital behaviour (connection times, email response times, participation in virtual events), changes in social interactions, or changes in language patterns in written communications.
This early detection allows for personalized actions to be initiated before the situation becomes irreversible. It is part of a proactive approach to talent retention that prioritizes prevention over reaction.
To maximise the effectiveness of these schemes, particular attention must be paid to the quality ofsuccessful onboarding and integration, a period which provides essential baseline data for subsequent analyses.
Digital solutions for employee engagement
The ecosystem of digital engagement solutions has grown considerably in recent years, offering innovative ways of strengthening talent loyalty. Here are the main categories of tools that are transforming the employee experience:
- Peer recognition platforms: applications that enable employees to value each other’s contributions, reinforcing a culture of recognition.
- Micro-learning solutions: platforms offering short, personalised training courses that can be accessed on demand, encouraging the continuous development of skills
- Workplace well-being applications: tools for monitoring and improving physical and mental health ( guided meditation, active breaks, nutritional coaching)
- Collaborative platforms: virtual environments that facilitate teamwork despite distance, thus maintaining social links in hybrid organisations.
- Virtual HR assistants: conversational interfaces answering employees’ common questions and facilitating access to personalised information
- Gamified onboarding solutions: fun induction courses to help employees learn the organisation’s codes and processes
- Instant feedback tools: applications for collecting immediate feedback on specific projects or actions
These solutions, deployed in a coherent and integrated approach, create an engaging digital environment that complements the physical experience of work.
Measuring the return on investment of your loyalty strategy
Rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of loyalty initiatives enables you to optimise your HR investments. This analytical approach identifies the actions with the greatest impact so that you can continually adjust your strategy. ROI measurement is based on outcome indicators (turnover rate) and input indicators (programme participation). Internal and external benchmarking enriches this evaluation by putting the results into context.
For a complete overview, see our article on the challenges of onboarding and offboarding.
Correlation between talent retention and performance
The link between talent retention and organisational performance is well established. The Gallup survey shows that committed teams are 21% more productive. The stability of teams encourages the capitalisation of experience and the maturing of collaborative processes. Building loyalty has a direct impact on customer relations, with experienced staff offering a better quality of service. The financial impact is reflected in reduced staff turnover and optimised investment in training.
Transforming HR data into engagement indicators
The strategic use of HR data is transforming the way we manage talent retention. This data-driven approach makes it possible to go beyond hunches and build an engagement strategy based on objective facts. Modern dashboards incorporate multidimensional indicators combining quantitative and qualitative data. Analysis of correlations reveals valuable insights into the engagement dynamics specific to the organisation.
Longitudinal monitoring of the effectiveness of loyalty campaigns
Assessing the impact of initiatives requires a longitudinal approach that captures changes in indicators over time. Comparative analysis contextualises the results at several levels: between departments, between cohorts or in relation to sector benchmarks. Ongoing adjustments are based on this permanent assessment, favouring short cycles of experimentation followed by rapid adjustments.
At AssessFirst, we recommend a scientific approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods to guide investment precisely towards the most promising initiatives. Our predictive assessment platform helps companies identify the most relevant engagement levers for each employee profile.
