Guide to employee retention: how to keep your best talent
No business can expand if the people driving that growth don’t remain with it
This guide offers hands‑on recommendations and tactical insight to help leaders make a measurable, long‑lasting difference to employee retention. Our focus is on giving you usable steps not only to keep top performers, but to preserve their motivation and productivity for years ahead. We explore how to build a resilient, supportive remote work culture and which locally tailored benefits protect your talent from competitor poaching. We also set out the core principles behind sustainable, high‑performing remote teams:
- Flexible and asynchronous work
- Communication and documentation
- Connection and belonging
Why retention rate matters
Keeping people — and putting in place programmes to measure and support that retention — is essential if you want your organisation to scale and prosper. In a remote era, many employers struggle to pinpoint what sets them apart and, as a result, what makes them the best place for current and future staff.
Employee turnover has increased 8.7% since 2019.
By sustaining a strong retention rate, your organisation will benefit from:
Ultimately, this translates into a significant lift for your bottom line. Companies with excellent retention are better placed to withstand economic shocks and to grow consistently. When talented people want to work for you, there are few limits to what you can achieve.
Increased productivity
Better customer experiences
Reduced recruitment and onboarding costs
Improved team morale
Positive word‑of‑mouth about working at your company
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate your retention rate?
Before you can improve retention, you first need a clear picture of your current retention rate.
To work out your retention rate, choose the time period you want to assess — for instance, the past year or the last quarter. Then identify two figures:
The number of employees at the start of the period
The number of employees at the end of the period (excluding any new hires)
Then carry out this calculation to determine your staff retention rate:
For example, if you began a quarter with 162 employees and finished with 170 employees, 20 of whom were new hires, the calculation would read:
((170-20) ÷ 162) × 100 = 92.56%
Exclude any new headcount so you don’t overstate retention. For instance, if you have 100 employees and add five without any departures in three months, your retention would appear as 105%. Removing new hires from the calculation provides a truer result.
When measuring longer intervals, some people may join and leave within the same period. In such cases, calculate new‑hire retention separately, based on new hires added and new hires remaining. So, if you hire 20 people in three months and one leaves, your new‑hire formula would be:
((20-1) ÷ 20) × 100 = 95%
Generally, retention rates above 90% are considered healthy. For new hires, you’d typically target 95% or above, since you wouldn’t expect many new starters to leave within only a few months.
The roles with the highest turnover are product (36.4%), information technology (36%), and engineering (35.2%).
Employee retention tactic:
Calculate retention separately for on‑site teams and remote teams. If there’s a gap, it may indicate remote workers feel less supported than in‑office colleagues.
Why does top talent choose to leave?
Keep in mind that turnover varies by sector: retail, tech and media, professional services, entertainment, and accommodation tend to have lower‑than‑average retention rates. If your organisation operates in one of these industries, an optimal retention target might be slightly below global norms.
If your retention rate isn’t where you want it to be, you’ll want to understand the reasons employees are leaving.
McKinsey’s 2022 Great Attrition, Great Attraction Survey 2.0 offers useful findings. According to that survey, employees most often cite the following primary reasons for quitting:
Lack of career development and advancement
Insufficient total compensation
Leaders who seem uncaring or uninspiring
A lack of meaningful work
Unsustainable workload expectations
Unreliable or unsupportive colleagues
A shortage of workplace flexibility
Insufficient health and wellbeing supportA non‑inclusive and unwelcoming community
Addressing these issues within your organisation is vital if you want to benefit from strong remote retention. With these causes in mind, let’s explore the best ways to raise retention at your company.
The role of equitable global compensation in staff retention
Employees stay with employers who make them feel valued and treated fairly. As both evidence and common sense show, paying people equitably is one of the simplest places to start.
Why equitable compensation matters so much
When people believe their pay fairly reflects their skills and aligns with colleagues’ remuneration, they tend to be more satisfied and motivated.
Equitable compensation forms a key pillar of retention in any organisation. A fair pay philosophy builds trust and confidence in employees, which in turn encourages improved performance and longer tenure.
Paying your team appropriately is crucial, but it can be complex. To help ensure you get it right, see our guide to remote worker compensation.
Remote & Async Work
Designing an equitable compensation package for your employees
You must look beyond an employee’s role and seniority when defining a fair compensation package. If team members work across different countries, multiple factors affect pay. Consider these country‑specific elements:
Mandatory employer‑provided benefits
The cost of living (and how that shapes salary expectations)
Mandatory salary deductions
Employee expectations around salary and benefits
Taking these factors into account enables you to create a total rewards policy — a compensation framework that embeds both value and fairness, covering bonuses, benefits and other incentives.
Remember that equitable compensation is a powerful lever.
Today’s professionals expect to influence company outcomes and see tangible returns. Leading compensation approaches link employee success to company success. Bob argues that pay must go beyond market salary to offer a competitive edge. A forward‑looking compensation model typically includes salary, bonuses, pension and equity, alongside “professional” and “lifestyle” benefits. Crafting the optimal mix is complex, so it’s important to rely on modern HR tech to validate the impact of chosen strategies on candidates, staff and leaders.
Annie Rosencrans, U.S. People & Culture Director @ HiBob
When your compensation strategy meets employees’ needs, you’ll drive engagement and encourage long‑term commitment to your organisation.
How to build a benefits programme that retains top global talent
Organisations that permit remote work tend to have lower turnover than office‑only firms. Remote’s research estimates this gap will widen to 4.4% in 2023.
To attract and keep a global workforce, you must deliver locally tailored, globally competitive benefits plans.
Avoid a “one size fits all” approach. Offering identical benefits everywhere rarely meets local needs. Benefits should reflect local and cultural differences to help you attract top talent and, crucially, retain them.
Joana Viana, Senior Global Benefits Design & Strategy Expert
To tailor benefits packages and compete with local employers who know their markets, you need deep local insight.
Here’s an example:
In the UK
Providing a medical plan with maternity cover in the UK is unlikely to impress, since NHS care — including maternity services — is available without charge.
In Singapore
Offering a medical plan with maternity cover in Singapore is much more impactful. Maternity healthcare there can cost thousands of dollars, so including this cover reassures employees considering parenthood. In Singapore, maternity healthcare can end up costing thousands of dollars, so anyone considering parenthood would feel reassured to have this type of cover as part of their benefits package.
Local insight is invaluable for benefits design, but gathering it yourself can be time‑consuming. That’s why we produced the Global Benefits Report, which lets businesses quickly compare popular benefits across countries and regions.
Want additional support with your global benefits strategy?
At Remote, we connect businesses with local benefits experts so you know what benefits are legally required and which are optional. We also provide curated plans for each country, saving time and expense.
"Remote helped us build loyalty with employees by providing world‑class benefits and the rights that come with being employed locally."
Heather Miki, People Operations Manager @ kWh Analytics
"We wanted to rapidly expand our presence in Mexico without managing incorporation, payroll and benefits ourselves. Remote enabled us to do exactly that."
Greg Kefer, CMO @ Lifelink Systems
Create a remote‑first culture to manage global teams effectively
Remote‑first companies aren’t only for remote staff. Adopting remote‑first practices produces a fairer experience for everyone, whether they work at HQ or have never visited an office. Prioritising documentation, asynchronous work practices and a results‑focused culture benefits every employee. Here’s how to establish a remote‑first environment.
How to reduce employee turnover with a strong talent retention strategy
What do we mean by remote‑first?
Remote‑first means treating remote work as the default. Employees at HQ and those who never visit an office should have an equivalent experience working for your company.
Remote‑first culture | In a genuine remote‑first culture, every part of the employee experience — from manager support to team bonding, progression and tools — is accessible to all staff regardless of location. |
Culture building is about more than social events; it’s also about how work is organised. We’ve assembled a guide to help you create a robust and supportive remote culture. What needs to change to go remote‑first?
Many leaders find moving from an office model to remote‑first challenging. Trying to mirror office habits in a remote setting usually only succeeds partially.
Remote staff can’t pop by a colleague’s desk for updates or chat on the way to the car park. Missing those simple interactions can leave remote workers feeling isolated, overburdened and less effective. This can be made worse by common mistakes new remote managers often make:
Common remote leadership mistakes to avoid
Failing to communicate openly and frequently can leave employees disconnected from broader goals.
Disrespecting downtime by contacting people off the clock risks causing burnout.
If managers don’t model a healthy work‑life balance, staff may feel compelled to work excessive hours.
Micromanaging through frequent check‑ins or time‑tracking tools will push talented employees away.
Ineffective use of communication tools — for example, DMing instead of posting in public channels — leads to confusion and exclusion.
These behaviours undermine the employee experience and weaken the impact of your retention initiatives.
Regular employee surveys and exit interviews help leaders assess and, where needed, improve job satisfaction — which reduces turnover.
The problem with micromanagement
Micromanagement is a frequent issue in remote work. Some employers feel uneasy giving staff autonomy over their workday.
As a result, some organisations install tracking software on employees’ devices to monitor productivity. The outcome is that experienced employees feel mistrusted.
This fosters resentment and erodes mutual respect. It also encourages key employees to do the minimum required.
So what should remote‑first managers do differently?
Assess employees on outcomes and effectiveness, not hours logged.
Essential elements of a remote‑first culture
Having covered what a remote‑first culture should not be, what fundamentals must leaders set up to make remote working thrive?
Communication
Deliberate communication about progress, performance and recognition is essential
Asynchronous work
A method that lets team members collaborate effectively across time zones and at different times of day.
Documentation
Everyone contributes to a documentation culture where key information is captured, logged and shared with the whole team.
Connection
Channels for non‑work chat help colleagues get to know one another better.
A closer look at asynchronous work Asynchronous work: a working practice that doesn’t require members of a team to be online at the same time. Asynchronous working, or async, is essential to a high‑performing remote team. Working async enables team members to work productively — with access to all necessary resources — no matter when they log on to work. This helps them to maintain work‑life balance and enjoy the benefits of flexible working. Asynchronous working is also a valuable retention tool for employers. Employees value flexibility, trust, and understanding. A culture based around asynchronous working shows that your organisation is committed to providing all three, which can help boost retention. Unsure whether asynchronous working is right for your business? Learn more in this guide to async work from Remote COO and CTO Marcelo Lebre.
How supportive remote‑first management improves retention
Cultural change requires forward‑thinking managers prepared to adapt. For remote teams to perform, managers must be remote‑first in their approach. What does that look like? Excellent remote‑first managers treat teams with respect and trust while maintaining accountability. They focus less on when people are online and more on attendance at vital meetings and customer needs. They care about up‑to‑date documentation and regular, public updates rather than specific hours. They use 1:1s to build connection, gather feedback and nurture culture, not just to run through task lists.
Remote‑first does not mean removing responsibility. Remote workers often need to be even more responsible than their office‑based counterparts. Hire exceptional people, trust them from day one, and they will reward you with fast, high‑quality work.
Job van der Voort, CEO of Remote
Being an effective remote‑first manager isn’t about following a strict rulebook. It’s about saying, “I trust you,” and seeing that trust justified when team members meet objectives and share clear, public updates.
Effective employee retention strategies for every organisation
The modern workplace is evolving, so prioritising strong retention strategies is vital. Whether your workforce is remote, office‑based or hybrid, keeping talent underpins a healthy culture and strong engagement.
The ideas below can help you improve employee retention.
1. Foster career development
Provide clear career paths and growth opportunities to retain employees. Mentorship and regular reviews also boost job satisfaction. Highlight these benefits during hiring to attract top candidates more easily.
Opportunities for advancement, combined with recognition programmes, build loyalty by showing employees they are valued and have real prospects within your company.
2. Create meaningful work
Job satisfaction grows from meaningful assignments. Involving employees in projects that match their interests and the company’s objectives increases the likelihood they’ll stay. Discovering those interests during onboarding helps from day one.
When employees see their work make a tangible impact, it strengthens inclusion and gives them a clearer sense of belonging within the organisation.
3. Set realistic work expectations
Balancing workloads is key to preserving morale and avoiding burnout. Offer flexible options and set achievable goals to support life‑work balance. Encourage taking holidays and provide appropriate resources to help.
Respecting employees’ personal lives improves their happiness and job satisfaction. Clear, fair expectations make people more engaged and effective, reducing unwanted turnover.
4. Cultivate a supportive team environment
Build a supportive atmosphere with team‑building activities and open communication to strengthen morale and engagement.
A supportive culture increases loyalty and job satisfaction. When employees feel included and valued, they’re more likely to stay, which lowers turnover and creates a unified, motivated team.
5. Prioritise health and well‑being
Supporting physical and mental health is an important retention lever. Wellness programmes and remote options signal that you care, helping employees maintain balance and remain motivated — which reduces turnover.
In short, these retention strategies are key to building a positive culture and keeping employees long term.
Why remote‑first management is so effective
Employees today prioritise flexibility above most other benefits. Remote’s Global Benefits Report shows workers around the world prefer flexible workdays over many traditional perks, including four‑day weeks and retirement plans.
What does this mean for managers of remote teams?
Workers want jobs that fit into their lives, not the reverse. They still want to deliver great work for excellent organisations, but they’re no longer prepared to put their lives on hold to do so.
Prioritise diversity, equity and inclusion to keep employees engaged
Employees increasingly seek diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces. Remote‑first organisations are well placed to accelerate better DEI practices.
How a more diverse and inclusive culture improves retention
DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) is a major multiplier for retention. Embedding DEI into your culture delivers:
How to build a diverse, equitable and inclusive global workforce
Creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive global workforce needs ongoing commitment.
Set up a remote DEI committee to identify challenges and opportunities.
Ask your team for frank feedback on DEI performance.
Develop a formal DEI policy and review it regularly with team input.
Integrate DEI into hiring using inclusive hiring practices.
Support inclusion for underrepresented groups, including women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ, and neurodivergent employees
Want to become a globally inclusive employer? Get up to speed with our webinar: Building a globally inclusive recruitment strategy.
Five pillars to motivate and retain a high‑performing remote team
When teams feel motivated and productive, employees are happier to log on each day. Leaders should work to sustain motivation and performance across global teams, nurturing the employee experience from recruitment through onboarding and beyond.
Intelligent recruitment
Start well by using value‑based, remote‑first recruitment practices.
Communicate clearly and transparently
Adjust interview scheduling to accommodate candidate time zones
Explain what working in a remote‑first culture looks like for employees
These practices help you attract candidates who share your values, fit with the team and understand what to expect.
Seamless communication
Strong communication and employee experience go together. To improve communication, follow our communication guidelines for remote teams:
Prevent notification burnout. Encourage staff to switch off notifications when they need to focus.
Make updates transparent and searchable. Record important meetings and progress notes, and store them publicly so all employees can access them.
Establish communication norms. Ensure employees understand the expected etiquette for every communication tool your company uses.
Never sacrifice 1‑1s. Schedule regular one‑to‑one meetings so employees have space to raise issues and be heard.
Comprehensive onboarding
Onboarding is a powerful lever for retaining remote workers.
Employee turnover can be as high as 50% in the first 18 months of employment. To avoid joining this statistic, the ideal remote onboarding programme includes:
Engaging, self‑serve resources
Assigned onboarding buddies
Introduction to company values and culture
Guidance on company communication norms
Clear expectations and targets for the first weeks
Regular manager check‑ins
Clear progression opportunities and communicated career paths are the single most effective retention measure (63%) — even more so than pay increases.
Smart meetings
Meetings can disrupt work. Excessive meetings reduce productivity and often fail to add value. Poor meeting formats leave employees frustrated and disengaged.
So how can you fix this? Consider rethinking meetings for a remote‑first organisation. Our tips include:
Create an agenda, and cancel the meeting if the issue can be handled async
Set shorter time limits to keep meetings efficient
Rotate essential calls to accommodate different time zones
Allow people who aren’t active contributors to leave meetings
Schedule bonding and fun face time so work meetings can be shorter and less frequent
Run remote meetings with these tips in mind, and they’ll serve as constructive communication forums rather than a drain on time.
Supportive management
Without regular face time, it’s harder to detect stress and burnout. Managers of distributed teams should be alert to burnout risks and take steps to prevent it.
That could involve:
Keeping abreast of employee workloads
Setting realistic deadlines
Making time for non‑work team activities
Encouraging staff to take breaks and annual leave
Model good life‑work balance so employees don’t feel pressured to skip breaks
Support employees to prevent burnout; they’ll be more productive and likelier to remain with your company.
How flexible work practices help you retain top global talent
Employees value flexibility, remote work, async hours and autonomy. Running your operation with a remote‑first approach gives staff these benefits while boosting productivity, customer responsiveness and accountability.
Flexible working: a top priority for remote workers
Flexible working — the freedom to choose where, how and when to work — is a major consideration for many employees.
Remote’s Global Benefits Report found flexible working important for everyone, and especially for women and younger workers. Women often shoulder greater domestic responsibilities, so flexibility helps them balance commitments. Younger people tend to be more mobile, so flexibility enables them to build lives while developing their careers.
Our Global Benefits Report highlighted the importance of flexible working for remote and distributed teams.
This insight should shape your recruitment and compensation strategies.
Be proactive to stop top performers from seeking other roles. Discover what your best people value most and make internal changes to increase retention and show you care.
Offering clearer promotion pathways, performance‑linked pay increases and more flexible conditions is usually less costly and time‑consuming than losing key staff and hiring replacements.
Flexible work is a top priority for 29% of employees
But flexibility isn’t only for a few — it benefits everyone.
More flexible organisations adapt better to tough times and seize new opportunities. How can you offer the flexibility employees need? For many, it’s a deciding factor in whether they join or stay. Overall, 29% of employees cite flexible working as a top priority, with higher shares in key groups: Contractors 38% (their number one concern); Gen Z employees 35% (their third priority); Women 32% (their fourth priority).
Provide the working conditions top talent seeks
Sixty‑nine percent of employers believe they offer flexible working, but only 47% of employees report receiving it.
There’s a gap between the flexibility leaders think they provide and the experience employees report. This may stem from differing definitions of flexibility or leaders having a different day‑to‑day experience. Employers must align perceptions or risk rising dissatisfaction and turnover.
Hidden retention advantages of offering autonomy
Autonomy and trust are major drivers of employee satisfaction. How do you build a culture around them?
It starts with transparency, strong communication and meaningful support. That environment creates psychological safety so people feel confident and able to do their best work.
How to enhance your flexible working benefits
Flexible working shouldn’t undermine cohesion or career progression. If remote staff enjoy flexibility while others get raises and promotions, remote workers may feel penalised and seek other opportunities.
By contrast, 45% of on‑site employees rank telecommuting as a top perk (nearly as valued as core benefits like private medical insurance and paid holidays). The implication for global employers is clear: if top talent is satisfied with flexible working, they’re often satisfied with the overall benefits package.
So, how can your company become known for both flexibility and productivity?
Remote, for example, publishes its entire company handbook publicly.
Walk the walk
Leaders should visibly take annual leave and adopt “nonlinear workdays” so staff feel empowered to do the same.
Judge results, not hours
Base appraisals on outcomes achieved, not on time spent online.
Lean into public channels and documentation
No one is above documenting work, meetings and plans!
Set a minimum annual leave rather than a maximum
Unlimited annual leave can carry stigma; setting a minimum encourages people to take leave and helps prevent burnout.
The cost‑saving advantage of offering flexible working
Besides being a top perk for employees, flexible working can give you more options when structuring global compensation.
Remote workers value telecommuting as a top benefit — nearly as much as core perks like private medical insurance and paid holidays. When their need for remote work is met, they’re often satisfied with the wider compensation package.
Rhiannon Payne, Remote Work Advocate
For many remote employees, remote work is the most desired perk, so they’re less critical of other parts of the employer’s benefits package.
Only 36% of remote employees list benefits and perks as a top consideration when evaluating a role. By comparison, 45% of on‑site employees view telecommuting as a top perk (almost as important as private medical insurance and paid holidays).
The take‑away for global employers is clear. If top talent is satisfied with flexible working, they generally feel positive about the rest of the benefits package.
Hear experts discuss managing a global benefits plan by watching Remote’s on‑demand global benefits webinar.
Trust employees from day one. If you can’t trust new hires, why hire them? Extending trust early and focusing on results rather than hours creates an outstanding environment for most people while letting you spot any who abuse the freedom quickly.
Job van der Voort, CEO of Remote
How to build transparency and trust for remote and global teams
Remote teams perform best when everyone knows what’s happening. Transparency before, during and after work is the key to cohesion.
Create clear project outlines and set expectations
Anyone who wants project status should be able to consult public documentation. Performance data should also be available for those who need it.
Allow employees to shape their workdays
Some people are night owls, others early risers. Some work in short bursts, saving energy for the times that suit them best. As long as everyone documents and communicates, these patterns can coexist harmoniously.
Record, write and inform
Keep everyone across time zones informed by recording meetings and writing regular public updates, for example in open Slack channels. Tag people and foster a culture where employees can catch up when convenient instead of staying glued to their screens.
Communicate in public forums
Make communication transparent, searchable and accessible. Instead of DMing, post in a public Slack channel or Notion page and tag the person. That way anyone interested in the project can follow developments easily.
Use face time to build connections
Reserve valuable synchronous time for bonding and catching up rather than routine work you could handle asynchronously. Use 1:1s and team time for feedback, games and social connection; save substantive collaboration for documentation.
Show respect
Respect time zones, preferred working hours and remote work feedback. Be open to improvements. Responsive leaders make every team member feel empowered to do their best while maintaining a healthy life‑work balance.
Begin applying these retention tactics to keep your star performers
Retaining remote talent today has challenges, but we hope this guide has given you actionable steps to take.
With this guide in hand, you now understand:
Why remote staff retention matters
How to calculate your staff retention rate
What makes a remote employee want to remain at your company
Practical tactics to improve retention for your remote workforce
These tips will help, but there’s always more to learn. If you’re hiring globally, you can contact Remote to simplify onboarding, payroll and workforce management. We can also advise on structuring competitive offers in new locations so your global compensation remains effective and compliant.