Guide to employee retention: keeping your best talent
A business cannot expand if the people who drive that growth do not stay.
In this guide, we share practical steps and tactical insight to help business leaders produce a measurable, lasting improvement in employee retention. Our focus is on giving you actionable guidance not just to hold on to top performers, but to preserve their motivation and productivity for years to come. We examine how to build a resilient, supportive remote work culture and which localised benefits protect talent from competitor poaching. We also set out the guiding principles behind successful, sustainable remote teams:
- Flexible and asynchronous work
- Communication and documentation
- Connection and belonging
Why retention rate matters?
Keeping people — and introducing programmes to measure and support that retention — is essential if you want your organisation to grow and prosper. With remote working now widespread, many firms struggle to articulate what makes them distinctive and, therefore, why current and future employees should choose them.
Employee turnover has increased by 8.7% since 2019.
By keeping a healthy retention rate, you’ll benefit from:
Ultimately, this delivers a significant boost to your bottom line. A business built around strong retention is better placed to weather shocks and grow in any economic climate. When talented people want to work for you, there is very little you cannot achieve.
Increased productivity
Improved customer experiences
Reduced recruitment and onboarding costs
Improved team morale
Positive word-of-mouth about working for your company
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate your retention rate?
You cannot improve retention until you know what your current retention rate is.
To work out your retention rate, first choose the time period you want to assess — for example the past year or the last quarter. Then find two figures:
The number of employees at the start of the time period
The number of employees at the end of the time period (excluding any new hires)
Next, use the following 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, your calculation would look like this:
((170-20) ÷ 162) × 100 = 92.56%
You must exclude any new headcount so you do not overstate retention. For example, if you had 100 employees and added five new starters with no departures over three months, your retention rate would appear as 105%. Subtracting new hires gives a more accurate figure.
When you measure longer periods, people may both join and leave within the timeframe. In those situations, calculate a separate new-hire retention figure using the number of new hires added and the number of those new hires who remain. So, if you hired 20 people over three months and one left, your new-hire calculation would be:
((20-1) ÷ 20) × 100 = 95%
As a rule of thumb, retention rates above 90% are generally seen as good. For new hires alone, you would usually look for 95% or higher, since new starters are expected not to leave within just a few months.
The roles with the highest turnover rates are Product (36.4%), Information Technology (36%), and Engineering (35.2%).
Employee retention tactic:
Calculate retention rates separately for in-office teams and remote teams. If you spot a discrepancy, it could indicate that remote workers feel less supported than their in-office colleagues.
Why do top performers choose to leave?
Keep in mind that rates vary across industries: retail, tech and media, professional services, entertainment, and accommodation have lower-than-average employee retention rates. If your organisation operates in these sectors, an ideal retention benchmark might sit below the global average.
If your retention rate is lower than you would like, it helps to understand why employees are leaving.
McKinsey’s 2022 Great Attrition, Great Attraction Survey 2.0 offers useful insight. According to that survey, the main reasons employees cite for quitting are ranked as follows:
Lack of career development and advancement
Inadequate total compensation
Uncaring and uninspiring leaders
Lack of meaningful work
Unsustainable work expectations
Unreliable and unsupportive colleagues
Lack of workplace flexibility
Lack of health and wellbeing support. A non-inclusive and unwelcoming community
Addressing these issues in your organisation is vital if you want to secure the advantages of strong remote retention. With these reasons in mind, let us look at the best ways to improve retention at your company.
The role of equitable global compensation in staff retention
Employees are more likely to remain with your organisation if they feel valued and treated fairly. Both evidence and common sense indicate that providing equitable compensation is one of the most straightforward places to begin.
Why is equitable compensation so important?
When employees believe they are paid fairly for their skills and in comparison with colleagues, they are more satisfied and motivated.
Equitable compensation is a cornerstone of retention in any organisation. A fair-pay philosophy builds trust and confidence, motivating employees to perform and remain with the company.
Paying your people appropriately is vital, but the calculations can be complex. To ensure you get it right, check out our guide to remote worker compensation.
Remote & Async Work
Designing an equitable compensation package for your employees
When deciding on a fair compensation package you must consider more than skill and seniority. If team members are based in different countries, many country-specific factors come into play. Consider the following:
Mandatory employer-provided benefits
The cost of living (and what that means for salary expectations)
Mandatory salary deductions
Employee expectations regarding salary and benefits
By taking the above into account you can develop a total rewards policy — a compensation package where fairness and value are built in. Your total rewards policy should cover bonuses, benefits and incentives as well as other elements.
Remember that equitable compensation is a powerful mechanism.
Modern professionals want to influence their company’s success and see tangible returns. Today’s leading compensation strategies are forward-looking, linking employee success with company success. Bob notes that compensation needs to go beyond market-rate pay to become a competitive advantage. A progressive compensation approach can be summarised in six components: salary, bonuses, pension and equity, plus “professional” benefits and “lifestyle” benefits. Designing the right mix can be complex, so it is important to use modern HR tech to validate the impact of chosen strategies on candidates, employees and leaders.
Annie Rosencrans, U.S. People & Culture Director @ HiBob
When your compensation strategy meets employees’ needs, you will drive motivation and long-term engagement.
How to construct a benefits programme to retain top global talent
Companies that allow employees to work remotely tend to have lower turnover than office-only firms. Remote’s research estimated this difference would rise to 4.4% in 2023.
If you want to attract and retain a global team, you must offer a locally customised, globally competitive benefits plan.
Although it is easy to fall into a ‘one size fits all’ trap and give every employee the same benefits regardless of location, that approach is unlikely to meet local needs. Benefits design should reflect local requirements and cultural differences as far as possible. The best benefits programmes are crucial for retaining talent.
Joana Viana, Senior Global Benefits Design & Strategy Expert
To tailor benefits packages and compete with local employers who understand local workforces, you need detailed local insight.
Consider the following example:
In the UK
Offering a medical plan with maternity cover to employees in the UK is unlikely to impress, because they already have access to free healthcare, including maternity services, through the National Health Service (NHS).
In Singapore
By contrast, a medical plan with maternity cover in Singapore is much more likely to influence how candidates view an employer. In Singapore, maternity healthcare can cost thousands of dollars, so anyone planning a family would value this protection as part of their benefits.
When it comes to benefits, nothing replaces local insight. Gathering that information independently is time-consuming, which is why we produced the Global Benefits Report. This resource helps businesses compare preferred benefits across countries quickly and easily.
Need some extra support with your global benefits strategy?
At Remote we give businesses access to local benefits experts so you can be sure which benefits are legally required and which are optional. We also offer curated benefits plans for every country, saving companies the time and cost of researching options themselves.
"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 grow our presence in Mexico quickly without handling incorporation, payroll and benefits management ourselves. Remote enabled us to do exactly that."
Greg Kefer,CMO @ Lifelink Systems
Build a remote-first culture to manage global teams effectively
Remote-first companies do not only benefit remote workers. Adopting remote-first practices creates a fairer working environment for everyone, regardless of location. Emphasising documentation, asynchronous work practices and a culture that values results rather than hours benefits all staff. Below we outline how to create 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. For employees at HQ and those who have never visited the office, the experience of working for your company should be equivalent.
Remote-first culture | In a genuine remote-first culture, every element of the employee experience — from manager support and team bonding to progression opportunities and tools — is available to all team members, wherever they are based. |
Building culture is not only about social interaction outside work; it is also about how the work itself is organised. We have created a guide on how to build a strong, supportive remote culture to help you through the process. What needs to change to go remote-first?
Many leaders who move from office-based to remote-first models encounter challenges. Trying to recreate office dynamics in a remote setting will only get you part of the way there.
Not everyone can pop over to a colleague’s desk for an update or chat on the way to the car park. Missing those everyday interactions can leave remote staff feeling disconnected, overworked and ineffective. New remote managers often compound this by making avoidable mistakes such as:
Common remote leadership mistakes to avoid
If you fail to communicate publicly and frequently, employees may feel disconnected from the organisation’s wider goals.
If you do not respect employees’ downtime and make demands of people who are off the clock, your team may burn out.
If you fail to model a healthy life-work balance, employees may feel pressured to work excessive hours and suffer as a result.
If you micromanage by constantly checking in or relying on time trackers to reassure yourself, you will drive away strong performers.
If you do not use communication tools effectively — for example, sending DMs instead of posting in public channels — messages get lost and people feel excluded.
Making these errors undermines the employee experience and weakens your retention efforts.
Regular employee surveys and exit interviews help senior leaders assess — and where necessary improve — overall job satisfaction. This in turn reduces turnover.
The problem with micromanagement
Micromanagement is a frequent challenge in remote work. Many employers feel uneasy about giving employees autonomy over their workday.
As a result, some organisations introduce tracking tools on employees’ devices to monitor productivity. The outcome is that experienced employees do not feel trusted.
This can breed resentment and erode mutual respect. It also encourages key employees to do the bare minimum required.
So what should remote-first managers do differently?
Judge employees by their productivity and effectiveness, not by the number of hours worked.
Essential elements of a remote-first culture
Having seen what a remote-first culture is not, which fundamentals do leaders need to establish to make remote working succeed?
Communication standards
Intentional communication about progress, performance and recognition is essential
Asynchronous work
A way of working that enables team members to collaborate productively across any time zone and at any time of day.
Documentation
Everyone contributes to a culture of documentation so that key information is recorded, stored and shared with the whole team.
Connection
Channels for non-work chat help colleagues get to know each other better.
A closer look at asynchronous work Asynchronous work is a way of working where team members do not need to be online at the same time. Async working is essential for high-performing remote teams. It allows colleagues to be productive with access to necessary resources regardless of when they log on, helping them sustain work-life balance and enjoy flexible working. Asynchronous working is also a retention tool: employees value flexibility, trust and understanding, and an async culture signals your organisation is committed to all three. Unsure if async is right for your business? Learn more from Remote’s COO and CTO Marcelo Lebre in this guide.
How supportive remote-first management boosts retention
Cultural change is only possible when forward-thinking managers are prepared to adapt. For remote teams to work well, remote-first cultures need managers who support remote ways of working. What does supportive remote-first management look like? Excellent remote-first managers treat their teams with respect and trust while upholding accountability. They do not worry about when people are online so long as they attend necessary meetings and meet customer needs. They care less about hours and more about up-to-date documentation and regular public updates. They use 1:1s to connect, gather feedback and nurture culture rather than to run through task lists.
Remote-first organisations are not about removing responsibility. If anything, remote workers often need to be more responsible than office-based staff. Hire great people, trust them from day one, and they will reward you with excellent work and speed.
Job van der Voort, CEO of Remote
Being an effective remote-first manager is not about following fixed rules. It is about saying “I trust you” and seeing that trust repaid when team members meet their goals and post clear, public updates.
Effective employee retention strategies for every business
The workplace is changing, so concentrating on robust employee retention strategies is essential. Whether your team is remote, office-based or hybrid, retaining talent underpins strong culture and engagement.
The retention suggestions below can help you achieve that.
1. Foster career development
Giving employees clear career paths and growth opportunities is vital for retention. Mentorship schemes and regular reviews significantly boost job satisfaction. Highlight these during recruitment to attract top candidates more easily.
Opportunities for progression, combined with recognition programmes, increase job satisfaction and build loyalty by showing employees they are valued and have room to grow.
2. Create meaningful work
Satisfaction grows from meaningful work. Involving employees in projects that match their interests and the organisation’s goals helps retain them. You can start discovering those interests during onboarding.
Seeing their efforts make a real difference improves the employee experience and fosters a stronger, more inclusive workplace culture where people feel integral to success.
3. Set realistic work expectations
Keeping workloads balanced is key to avoiding burnout and maintaining morale. Offering flexible options and realistic goals supports a healthy life-work balance. Encouraging holiday use and supplying appropriate resources also helps.
Respecting employees’ personal lives improves happiness and job satisfaction. When expectations are fair, employees become more engaged and effective, which reduces unwanted turnover.
4. Cultivate a supportive team environment
Building a supportive atmosphere with team-building activities and open channels of communication strengthens culture and raises morale and engagement.
A supportive environment increases loyalty and job satisfaction. When employees feel included and valued, they are more likely to stay, reducing turnover and creating a united team.
5. Prioritise health and well-being
Supporting employees’ physical and mental health should be central to your retention approach. Wellness offerings and remote options show you care about wellbeing, helping staff maintain a healthy balance and reducing turnover.
In short, these retention strategies are important for building a positive culture and keeping employees.
Why remote-first management is so powerful
Employees today prize flexibility above most other benefits. In the Remote Global Benefits Report we found that workers across the world value flexible workdays more highly than many other perks, including four-day weeks and retirement plans.
What does this mean for managers of remote teams?
Employees expect workplaces that fit around their lives, not the other way round. They still want to do great work, but they are no longer prepared to put their lives on hold to do it.
Prioritise diversity, equity, and inclusion to keep employees connected
Employees increasingly want to work in diverse, equitable and inclusive organisations. Remote-first companies are well placed to accelerate better DEI practices.
How a more diverse and inclusive culture benefits retention rates
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a powerful multiplier for retention. By embedding DEI into your culture, you gain:
How to develop a diverse, equitable, and inclusive global workforce
Building a diverse, equitable and inclusive global workforce requires genuine and sustained commitment.
Create a remote DEI committee to help you understand challenges and opportunities.
Ask your team for frank feedback on DEI performance.
Create and regularly update a formal DEI policy in collaboration with team members.
Build DEI into recruitment through inclusive hiring practices.
Support inclusion of underrepresented groups, including women, ethnic minority, LGBTQ, and neurodivergent employees
Want to become a globally inclusive employer? Get up to speed with the help of our webinar: Building a globally inclusive recruitment strategy.
5 pillars to motivate and retain a high-performing remote team
When a team is motivated and productive, members are happier to log on each day. Leaders should aim to maintain motivation and performance across the global team, nurturing the experience from recruitment through onboarding and beyond.
Intelligent recruitment
Get off on the right foot by using value-based, remote-first recruitment practices.
Communicate clearly and transparently
Adapt the interview process to suit candidates’ time zones
Explain what a remote-first culture looks like for employees
These practices help you find candidates who share your values, fit the team and know what to expect as employees.
Seamless communication
Good communication and a strong employee experience go hand in hand. To improve communication, follow our communication guidelines for remote teams:
Prevent notification burnout. Encourage employees to turn off notifications when they need to concentrate.
Make updates transparent and searchable. Record key meetings and progress reports, and save these documents publicly so they are accessible to all staff.
Establish communication norms. Ensure employees know the expected communication practices for every platform your company uses.
Never sacrifice 1-1s. Build regular one-to-one meetings into calendars so employees have space to raise issues and be heard.
Comprehensive onboarding
Onboarding is another lever for retaining remote workers.
Employee turnover can be as high as 50% in the first 18 months. To avoid being part of that statistic, the ideal remote onboarding program includes:
Engaging, self-serve resources
Assigned onboarding buddies
Introduction to company values and culture
Information on company communication norms
Expectations and targets for their first weeks at work
Regular manager check-ins
Clear career paths and progression opportunities are the most effective way to improve retention (63%) — even more than pay increases!
Smart meetings
Meetings can disrupt work. Too many meetings reduce productivity and often add little value. Poor meeting formats can leave people frustrated and bored.
How can you fix this? Consider rethinking meetings for a remote-first organisation. Our suggestions are:
Create an agenda, then cancel the meeting if it can be handled async
Set shorter time limits to keep discussions focused
Rotate essential calls to suit different time zones
Allow people who are not active contributors to leave meetings
Schedule bonding and social time so work meetings can be shorter and less frequent
Run remote meetings with these tips in mind and meetings will become effective forums rather than drains on employees’ time.
Supportive management
Without face-to-face time it is harder to spot signs of stress and burnout. Managers of remote teams should be vigilant about how quickly burnout can spread and work to prevent it.
That might include:
Keeping up to date with employee workloads
Setting realistic deadlines
Allowing time for team activities unrelated to work
Encouraging breaks and holiday booking
Model good life-work balance so employees do not feel pressured to avoid taking breaks
Support employees to prevent burnout; they will be more productive and more likely to stay with your company.
How flexible work practices can help you retain top global talent
Employees value flexibility, remote work, asynchronous hours and autonomy. If you operate with a remote-first mindset you can offer these benefits while boosting productivity, responsiveness and accountability.
Flexible working: a top priority for remote workers
Flexible working — the freedom to choose where, how and when you work — is a top consideration for a large group of employees.
Remote’s Global Benefits Report found flexible working important for everyone, especially for women and younger workers. Women often shoulder more responsibilities at home, so flexibility can be vital. Younger workers tend to be more mobile, and flexibility helps them design the lives they want while growing with your organisation.
Our Global Benefits Report emphasised the importance of flexible working conditions for remote and distributed teams.
These findings should inform both your recruitment approach and your compensation design.
Act proactively to stop your top performers looking for other roles. Discover what matters most to them and make internal improvements that show you value and support your team.
Offering clearer promotion paths, performance-linked pay rises and more flexibility to retain top talent is usually less costly and time-consuming than losing key staff and recruiting replacements.
Flexible work is a top priority for 29% of employees
But flexibility is not just for a minority: it matters for many people.
More flexible companies adapt better in hard times and can seize new opportunities. How can you offer the flexibility employees want? For many, having flexible options determines where they work and whether they stay. Overall, 29% of employees rate the ability to work flexibly as a top consideration. That figure is higher among key subgroups: Contractors 38% (their number one consideration); Gen Z employees 35% (their number three consideration); Women 32% (their number four consideration).
Offer the conditions top talent seeks
Sixty-nine percent of employers believe they offer flexible working benefits, yet only 47% of employees say they receive them.
There is a gap between the flexibility organisations think they provide and what employees actually experience. Leaders may have a different idea of flexibility than their teams, or senior staff may receive a different experience to the average employee. Whatever the cause, employers who do not offer the flexibility employees want risk being left behind. This perception gap is driving dissatisfaction and higher turnover.
Hidden retention benefits of offering autonomy
Autonomy is a major driver of employee happiness, as is trust. So how do you build a culture around autonomy and trust?
It comes down to transparency, clear communication and meaningful support. That culture creates psychological safety, so employees feel confident in their roles and able to do their best work.
How to improve your flexible working benefits
Flexible working should not sacrifice team cohesion or career progression. If remote workers receive flexibility while others receive raises and promotions, remote workers may feel penalised for their choices and look elsewhere.
By contrast, 45% of on-site employees see telecommuting as a top-tier perk (almost as important as private medical insurance and paid holidays). The message for global employers is clear: when top talent are satisfied with flexible working, they are often content with the wider benefits package.
So, how can your company stand out as a destination for both flexibility and productivity?
Remote, for example, makes its entire company handbook publicly available.
Walk the walk
Leaders should be open about taking annual leave and following “nonlinear workdays” so employees feel encouraged to do the same.
Judge results and not hours
At appraisal, base performance ratings on outcomes rather than on hours spent online.
Lean into public channels and documentation
No one is too senior to document work, meetings and plans.
Set a minimum annual leave instead of a maximum
Unlimited annual leave can carry stigma; setting a minimum encourages employees to take more leave and helps prevent burnout.
The cost-saving advantage of offering flexible working
Alongside being a highly valued perk, flexible working can give you more latitude when structuring global compensation.
Remote workers often view telecommuting as a top-tier perk — nearly as important as private medical insurance and paid holidays. If their remote-work needs are met, they tend to be satisfied with the overall benefits package.
Rhiannon Payne, Remote Work Advocate
For many remote employees, the ability to work remotely is the benefit they value most, so they are less critical of the remainder of an employer’s compensation package.
Only 36% of remote employees list benefits and perks among their top considerations when evaluating a job offer. By comparison, 45% of on-site staff regard telecommuting as a top-tier perk (almost as important as private medical insurance and paid holidays).
The message for global employers is clear. When top global talent are satisfied with an employer’s flexible working arrangements, they tend to be content with the wider benefits and perks package.
Discover expert guidance on managing a global benefits plan by viewing Remote’s on-demand global benefits webinar.
You should be able to trust your employees from day one. If you cannot, why hire them? Giving trust early and measuring results rather than hours helps create an excellent environment for most people while allowing you to spot anyone abusing that freedom quickly.
Job van der Voort, CEO of Remote
How to foster transparency and trust for remote and global teams
Remote teams perform best when everyone knows what is happening. The best way to achieve cohesion is through transparency, applied before, during and after the work is done.
Create clear project outlines and set expectations
If anyone wants the latest on a project, they should be able to consult public documentation and, if necessary, see performance data as well.
Let employees design their workdays
Some people are night owls, others prefer early starts. Some work in short bursts, saving energy for their most productive times. As long as everyone documents and communicates, these patterns can coexist harmoniously.
Record, write and inform
Keep everyone across time zones up to date by recording meeting videos and posting regular updates in public places such as open Slack channels. Tag people often and build a culture where staff can read notifications when convenient rather than staying glued to the screen.
Communicate in public forums
Communication should be transparent, searchable and accessible. Rather than sending a direct message, post in a public Slack channel or Notion page and tag the person you want to reach so others can also follow the conversation if they wish.
Build connections by using face time to bond
Why spend shared time on tasks that could be done asynchronously? Provide safe space for team members to share problems and feedback. Use 1:1s and team time for bonding, playing games and catching up, and save the heavy work for documentation so people can collaborate without needing to be online simultaneously.
Demonstrate respect
Respect time zones, preferred working hours and feedback about remote working. Stay open to improvements and iterations. Responsive leaders help all team members feel empowered to deliver their best while maintaining a healthy life-work balance.
Start putting these retention tactics into practice to keep top performers
Retaining remote talent in the current environment is challenging, but we hope this guide has given you many practical actions to take.
With this guide in hand, you now know:
Why remote staff retention matters
How to calculate your staff retention rate
What motivates a remote employee to stay with your company
Actionable tactics to raise retention for your remote workforce
The tips in this guide will help, but there is always more to learn! If you are hiring globally, you can always contact Remote to make onboarding, payroll and managing your remote workforce straightforward. We can even help you prepare and structure competitive offers in new locations so your global compensation plan remains effective and compliant.