Guide to employee retention: how to retain your top talent
A business cannot grow if the people growing it do not stay.
In this guide, we offer practical steps and tactical insight to help business leaders make a measurable and lasting improvement to employee retention. Our aim is to provide hands-on advice not only to hold on to your top performers, but to sustain their motivation and productivity for years. We examine how to build a strong, supportive remote work culture and which localised benefits protect your talent from competitor poaching. We also set out the guiding principles of successful, sustainable remote teams:
- Flexible and asynchronous work
- Communication and documentation
- Connection and belonging
Why does retention rate matter?
Keeping people — and putting programmes in place to measure and support retention — is essential if your organisation is to grow and prosper. With remote work widespread, many companies struggle to define what makes them unique and therefore why current and future employees should stay.
Employee turnover has increased by 8.7% since 2019.
By keeping a healthy retention rate, you will gain:
Ultimately, this converts into a significant uplift to your bottom line. A company with strong retention is better able to weather shocks and grow in different economic climates. When talented people want to work for you, your opportunities expand.
Higher productivity
Improved customer experiences
Lower recruitment and onboarding costs
Better team morale
Positive word-of-mouth about your workplace
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate your retention rate?
You cannot improve retention until you know what your retention rate is today.
To work out your retention rate, first choose the period you want to measure — for example, 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)
Next, use the formula below to calculate your employee retention rate:
For example, if a quarter began with 162 employees and finished with 170, of which 20 were new hires, the calculation would be:
((170-20) ÷ 162) × 100 = 92.56%
Be careful to remove any new hires so you do not overstate retention. For example, if you have 100 employees and add five without any departures in three months, the retention figure would read as 105%. Subtracting new hires gives a truer result.
When you measure longer periods, some people may join and leave within the timeframe. In those cases, calculate a separate new-hire retention rate using hires added versus new hires remaining. So, if you hire 20 people in three months and one leaves, the new-hire calculation would be:
((20-1) ÷ 20) × 100 = 95%
As a rule of thumb, retention rates above 90% are considered strong. For new hires, aim for 95% or higher, since you would generally expect most new employees to stay past their first few months.
The roles with the highest turnover rates include Product (36.4%), Information Technology (36%), and Engineering (35.2%).
Employee retention tactic:
Calculate retention separately for office-based and remote teams. If you find a gap, remote staff may be feeling less supported than their in-office peers.
Why does top talent choose to leave?
Remember that turnover differs by industry: retail, tech and media, professional services, entertainment, and accommodation tend to record lower-than-averagelower-than-average employee retention rates. If your business sits in these sectors, your target retention may reasonably be below the global standard.
If your retention rate is lower than you expect, you will want to understand why employees choose to leave.
McKinsey’s 2022 Great Attrition, Great Attraction Survey 2.0 provides useful insight. The survey ranks the primary reasons employees give for quitting as follows:
Lack of career development and advancement
Inadequate total compensation
Uncaring or uninspiring leadership
A lack of meaningful work
Unsustainable workloads and expectations
Unreliable or unsupportive colleagues
A lack of workplace flexibility
Lack of health and wellbeing support; a non-inclusive and unwelcoming community
Addressing these issues inside your organisation is vital if you want to reap the benefits of good remote retention. With these reasons in mind, let us examine the most effective ways to improve retention in your company.
The role of equitable global compensation in staff retention
Employees are more likely to stay if they feel valued and treated fairly. Both evidence and common sense suggest that offering equitable pay is one of the most direct ways to begin.
Why is equitable compensation so important?
When employees believe they are paid fairly for their skills — and in relation to colleagues — they tend to be more satisfied and motivated.
Equitable compensation is one of the cornerstones of retention in any organisation. A fair pay philosophy builds trust and confidence, which in turn encourages employees to perform and remain with the company.
Paying team members appropriately is essential, but the calculations can be complex. To make sure you get it right, see our guide to remote worker compensation.
Remote & Async Work
Developing an equitable compensation package for your employees
When setting a fair compensation package, consider more than an employee’s skills and seniority. For teams working across countries, several country-specific factors apply. Consider the following:
Mandatory employer-provided benefits
The cost of living (and its impact on salary expectations)
Mandatory salary deductions
Employee expectations regarding salary and benefits
By taking all of this into account, you can create a total rewards policy — a compensation package with fairness and value built in, covering bonuses, benefits and other incentives.
Remember that equitable compensation is a powerful mechanism.
Modern professionals expect to influence company success and see tangible returns. Today’s strongest compensation approaches link employee success to company success. Bob notes that pay must go beyond market-rate salaries to become a competitive advantage. A progressive compensation strategy blends salary, bonuses, pension and equity with professional and lifestyle benefits. Designing the right mix can be complex, so rely on modern HR tech to validate how chosen strategies will affect candidates, employees and leadership.
Annie Rosencrans, U.S. People & Culture Director @ HiBob
When your compensation strategy meets employee needs, you will motivate staff and encourage long-term engagement with your company.
How to construct a benefits programme to retain top global talent
Companies that permit remote work tend to have lower turnover than office-only firms. Remote’s research estimates this difference will grow to 4.4% in 2023.
To attract and retain a global workforce, you must provide a locally customised, globally competitive benefits plan.
A one-size-fits-all benefits approach rarely meets local needs. Benefits should reflect cultural and country-specific expectations. Doing so helps you attract top candidates and is critical to retaining them.
Joana Viana, Senior Global Benefits Design & Strategy Expert
To tailor benefits packages and compete with local employers who understand their workforce, you need detailed local insight.
Let us consider an example:
In the UK
Offering a medical plan with maternity cover in the UK is unlikely to impress, because the National Health Service (NHS) already provides free healthcare, including maternity services.
In Singapore
Offering a medical plan with maternity cover in Singapore, however, is far more likely to influence how candidates view an employer. Maternity healthcare in Singapore can cost thousands of dollars, so employees considering parenthood appreciate this cover as part of their benefits. 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 indispensable when designing benefits. To make this easier, we created the Global Benefits Report. This resource lets companies compare preferred benefits across countries and regions quickly.
Need extra help with your global benefits strategy?
At Remote, we connect businesses with local benefits experts so you know which benefits are legally required and which are optional. We also provide curated benefits plans for every country, saving time and cost for employers.
"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 quickly grow our Mexico presence without navigating incorporation, payroll and benefits management ourselves. Remote allowed us to do exactly that."
Greg Kefer,CMO @ Lifelink Systems
Build a remote-first culture to manage global teams effectively
Remote-first approaches benefit everyone, not only remote employees. Making remote work the default creates a fairer experience for all, regardless of location. Emphasising documentation, asynchronous work practices and a results-focused culture improves outcomes for the whole company. Here is how to build 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 remote work is treated as the default. Whether staff are at HQ or have never visited an office, their experience working at the company should be equivalent.
Remote-first culture | In a genuine remote-first culture, every part of the employee experience — from manager support and team bonding to progression opportunities and tools — is available to all team members regardless of location. |
Culture is shaped by how work happens as much as by what happens outside of work. We have prepared a guide to building a strong, supportive remote culture to help you through the process. What needs to change to go remote-first? What needs to change to go remote-first?
Transitioning from an office-based model to remote-first has challenges. Trying to replicate the office remotely usually delivers only partial success.
Remote employees cannot pop by a colleague’s desk for quick updates or chat in passing, and missing these everyday interactions can leave them feeling disconnected, overworked and ineffective. New remote managers often make avoidable mistakes that compound the issue:
Common remote leadership mistakes to avoid
If you do not communicate publicly and often, employees can feel disconnected from the organisation’s wider goals.
If you fail to respect employee downtime and make requests while people are off the clock, team members risk burnout.
If you do not model life-work balance, employees may feel pressured to work excessive hours and suffer as a result.
If you micromanage by constantly checking in or using time trackers to reassure yourself, you will drive good people away.
If you misuse communication tools — for example, sending direct messages instead of posting in public channels — information will be lost and people will feel excluded.
Making these mistakes damages the employee experience and undermines the success of retention initiatives.
Regular employee surveys and exit interviews help leadership identify areas for improvement in job satisfaction, which reduces turnover.
The problem with micromanagement
Micromanagement is a common issue in remote work. Many employers feel uneasy about giving employees autonomy during the workday.
As a result, some organisations implement tracking tools on computers 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 minimum required.
So, what should remote-first managers do differently?
Judge employees by outcomes and effectiveness, not by hours logged.
Essential elements of a remote-first culture
Now that we know what a remote-first culture is not, what fundamentals must leaders establish to make remote work succeed?
Communication
Intentional communication about progress, performance and recognition is essential.
Asynchronous work
A way for team members to remain productive and connected across any time zone and at any time of day.
Documentation
Everyone contributes to a documentation culture where important information is recorded, 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 means team members do not have to be online at the same time. Async working is essential to a high-performing remote team, enabling staff to be productive with access to the resources they need whenever they log on. This supports work-life balance and is a valuable retention tool: flexibility, trust and understanding matter to employees. Unsure if async suits your organisation? Read Marcelo Lebre, Remote COO and CTO’s guide to async work for more detail.
How supportive remote-first management boosts retention
Cultural change requires forward-looking managers prepared to adopt a new norm. Great remote-first managers combine respect and trust with clear accountability. They do not worry about when employees are online, provided necessary meetings are attended and customer needs are met. They care less about hours and more that documentation is current and updates are shared publicly. They use 1:1s to connect, gather feedback and nurture culture rather than simply run through task lists.
Remote-first organisations do not remove responsibility. If anything, remote workers must be more responsible than office workers. Hire capable people and trust them from day one, and they will repay you with excellent, rapid delivery.
Job van der Voort, CEO of Remote
Being a strong remote-first manager is not about a rigid rulebook. It is about saying, “I trust you,” and then having that trust rewarded when people meet goals and share clear public updates.
Effective employee retention strategies for every business
The workplace is evolving, so prioritising robust retention strategies is essential. Whether your team is remote, office-based or hybrid, keeping talent supports company culture and engagement.
The following retention strategies can help you achieve that.
1. Foster career development
Provide clear career paths and opportunities for growth to retain employees. Mentorship and regular reviews also raise job satisfaction. Highlight these factors during hiring to attract top talent.
Career progression combined with recognition programmes builds loyalty by showing employees they are valued and have real growth prospects.
2. Create meaningful work
Satisfaction grows from meaningful assignments. Align projects with employees’ interests and company goals to increase retention. Explore these interests during onboarding.
When employees see their work make a difference, it improves their experience and strengthens an inclusive culture where they feel integral to company success.
3. Set realistic work expectations
A balanced workload is vital to prevent burnout and maintain morale. Offer flexible options, set achievable goals and encourage holidays to support life-work balance.
Respecting employees’ personal lives improves happiness and job satisfaction. Fair expectations increase engagement and reduce unwanted turnover.
4. Cultivate a supportive team environment
Create a supportive atmosphere with team activities and open communication to strengthen morale and engagement.
A supportive culture increases loyalty and satisfaction. When employees feel part of an inclusive workplace, they are more likely to stay, reducing turnover and fostering unity.
5. Prioritise health and well-being
Supporting physical and mental health is a key retention tactic. Wellness programmes and remote options show you care about employee welfare, helping them balance work and life and reducing turnover.
In short, these retention strategies are central to building a positive company culture and keeping employees on board.
Why remote-first management is so powerful
Today’s employees place a very high value on flexibility. In Remote’s Global Benefits Report, flexibility ranked above other perks, including four-day weeks and retirement plans.
What does that mean for managers of remote teams?
People want workplaces that fit around their lives, not the reverse. They still want to do excellent work, but they will not sacrifice their personal lives to do so.
Prioritise diversity, equity and inclusion to keep employees connected
Employees increasingly seek diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces. Remote-first organisations are well placed to accelerate DEI improvements.
How a more diverse and inclusive culture benefits retention rates
DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) is a strong multiplier for retention. By embedding DEI into your culture, you gain:
How to develop a diverse, equitable and inclusive global workforce
Creating a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive global workforce demands real, sustained commitment.
Create a remote DEI committee to map challenges and opportunities.
Gather honest feedback on DEI performance from your team.
Develop a formal DEI policy and update it regularly with input from all team members.
Embed DEI in recruitment by adopting 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.
5 pillars to motivate and retain a high-performing remote team
When a team feels motivated and productive, they are happier to log on each day. Leaders must maintain 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
Adapt interviews to candidate time zones
Explain what a remote-first culture looks like for employees
These practices help you find candidates who share your values, fit with the team and understand what to expect as employees.
Seamless communication
Good communication underpins the employee experience. To improve your communications, follow our communication guidelines for remote teams:
Prevent notification burnout. Encourage staff to disable notifications when they need focused time.
Make updates transparent and searchable. Document meetings and progress, and store documents publicly so they are accessible to all.
Establish communication norms. Ensure employees know best practices for the communication platforms your company uses.
Never sacrifice 1-1s. Regular one-to-one meetings allow you to get to know employees and give them space to raise issues.
Comprehensive onboarding
Onboarding is a crucial lever for retaining remote workers.
Employee turnover can be as high as 50% in the first 18 months. To avoid this, the ideal remote onboarding program includes:
Engaging, self-serve resources
Assigned onboarding buddies
An introduction to company values and culture
Information on company communication norms
Clear expectations and targets for the first weeks
Regular manager check-ins
Opportunities for progression and transparent career paths are the most effective way to improve retention (63%) — even more so than raising salaries!
Smart meetings
Meetings can be disruptive. Excessive or poorly run meetings reduce productivity and leave employees frustrated.
How can you address this? Rethink meetings for a remote-first organisation. Consider these tips:
Create an agenda, then cancel the meeting if the issue can be resolved async
Set shorter time limits to keep meetings focused and efficient
Rotate essential calls to accommodate different time zones
Allow attendees who are not active contributors to leave meetings early
Schedule time for bonding and informal face time so work meetings can be shorter and less frequent
Run remote meetings with these tips in mind, and they will become valuable forums rather than a drain on your team’s time.
Supportive management
Without face-to-face time, it is harder to spot stress and burnout. Managers of remote teams must be alert to signs of pressure and act to prevent it.
That might include:
Keeping track of employee workloads
Setting realistic deadlines
Making time for non-work team activities
Encouraging employees to take breaks and book holidays
Model good life-work balance so staff do not feel pressured to skip 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, async hours and autonomy. With a remote-first approach you can offer these benefits while improving productivity, customer 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 high priority for many employees.
Remote’s Global Benefits Report found flexible working to be important across the board, especially for women and younger workers. Women often carry more domestic responsibilities, making flexibility vital, while younger employees are more mobile and value flexibility when planning their lives.
Our Global Benefits Report highlighted the importance of flexible working conditions for remote and globally distributed teams.
This data should inform recruitment and compensation decisions.
Be proactive: find out what your top performers value and make targeted improvements to retain them and show care.
Offering clear promotion paths, performance-based pay rises and more flexible work conditions to retain top talent is usually less costly and time-consuming than losing key people and recruiting replacements.
Flexible work is a top priority for 29% of employees
But flexibility is not just for a few — it benefits everyone.
More flexible companies adapt better to difficult periods and seize new opportunities. For many people, the chance to work flexibly can determine whether they join or stay. Flexible work is a top factor for 29% of employees overall, and it ranks even higher for key groups: Contractors 38% (their #1 priority); Gen Z 35% (their #3 priority); Women 32% (their #4 priority).
Offer the working conditions top talent seeks
69% of employers believe they offer flexible working, yet only 47% of employees say they receive it.
This mismatch suggests leaders and employees have different definitions of flexibility or that senior leaders experience different conditions than average staff. Employers who do not align with employee expectations risk increased turnover and unrecognised investments in flexibility.
Hidden retention benefits of offering autonomy
Autonomy and trust are key drivers of employee satisfaction. How do you build a culture around them?
It begins with transparency, clear communication and meaningful support. Such a culture creates psychological safety so employees feel confident and able to do their best work.
How to improve your flexible working benefits
Flexible working should not undermine team cohesion or career progression. If remote workers have flexibility but see others getting raises and promotions, they may feel penalised for their choices and look elsewhere.
By contrast, 45% of on-site employees rank telecommuting among top-tier perks — nearly as important as private medical insurance and paid holidays. The lesson for global employers is clear: satisfy top talent’s need for flexibility, and they will be more content with the overall package.
So, how can your company become a destination for both flexibility and productivity?
Remote, for example, makes its entire company handbook publicly accessible.
Walk the walk
Leaders should be open about taking annual leave and following “nonlinear workdays” so employees feel able to do the same.
Judge results and not hours
At appraisal, assess employees on results achieved, not hours spent online.
Lean into public channels and documentation
No one is above documenting work, meetings and plans.
Set a minimum annual leave instead of a maximum
Unlimited leave can carry stigma; setting a minimum encourages employees to take time off and avoid burnout.
The cost-saving benefit of offering flexible working
Alongside being a top employee perk, flexible working can also give you more leeway in structuring global compensation.
Remote workers rate telecommuting as a top-tier perk — nearly as important as private medical insurance and paid holidays. When their need for remote work is met, they tend to be satisfied with the rest of the benefits package.
Rhiannon Payne, Remote Work Advocate
For many remote employees, working remotely is the most desired perk, so they are less demanding about other elements of compensation.
Only 36% of remote employees name benefits and perks among their top considerations when evaluating a job offer. By comparison, 45% of on-site employees view telecommuting as a top-tier perk. In comparison, 45% of on-site employees see telecommuting as a top-tier essential perk (ranking almost as important as core benefits like health insurance and paid holidays).
The conclusion for global employers is clear. So long as top talent is satisfied with flexible work conditions, they tend to be content with the overall benefits package.
Hear from the experts on managing a global benefits plan by watching Remote’s on-demand global benefits webinar.
You should be able to trust employees from day one. If you cannot, why hire them? Trust early and measure results, not hours. This creates an excellent environment for most people while allowing you to identify those who misuse the 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. Transparency before, during and after work is essential to build cohesion.
Create clear project outlines and set expectations
If anyone wants the latest on a project, they should be able to consult public documentation. Performance data should also be available for review.
Let employees design their workdays
Some people work best late, others early; some prefer short bursts. As long as everyone documents and communicates, different schedules can work in harmony.
Record, write and inform
Keep all time zones up to date by recording meetings and posting regular updates in public spaces such as open Slack channels. Tag people frequently to create a culture where notifications can be read when convenient rather than requiring constant presence.
Communicate in public forums
Make communication transparent, searchable and accessible. Instead of a direct message, post in a public Slack channel or Notion page and tag the person. This keeps information visible to anyone who needs it.
Build connections by using face time to bond
Use synchronous face time for bonding, feedback and psychologically safe conversations rather than for work that can be done async. Reserve live sessions for relationship-building and critical discussions; document the rest.
Demonstrate respect
Respect time zones, preferred working hours and remote work feedback. Stay open to improvements. Responsive leaders empower all team members to deliver while preserving a strong life-work balance.
Start implementing these retention tactics to keep star performers
Retaining remote talent today has challenges, but this guide aims to give you many practical actions to apply.
With this guide in hand, you now know:
Why remote staff retention is important
How to calculate your staff retention rate
What motivates a remote employee to stay with your company
Actionable tactics to improve 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 simplify onboarding, payroll and management of your remote workforce. We can also help you prepare and structure competitive offers in new locations so your global compensation plan remains effective and compliant.