Building Teams That Stay: A Retention Playbook

When a good employee leaves, the instinct is usually to look at what went wrong at the end. Was the salary too low? Did they not like their manager? Were they bored?

Sometimes the answer is yes to one of those. But more often, the seeds were planted much earlier. The hiring process itself set the stage for whether this person would stay long-term or start looking again within a year.

Retention Starts at the Job Description

This might sound like a stretch, but hear me out. When a job posting oversells the role, attracts the wrong kind of candidate, or is vague about what the day-to-day actually looks like, you're already setting up a mismatch. The person who accepts the offer has a picture in their head that doesn't match reality. Six months in, they're disappointed. A year in, they're gone.

Being honest (even blunt) about what a role involves, what the team is like, and what the challenges are doesn't scare away good candidates. It attracts the ones who actually want what you're offering.

Hiring for Fit, Not Just Skill

Skills can be learned. Cultural alignment is much harder to develop after the fact. And I don't mean “culture fit” in the old sense of “someone we'd want to have a beer with.” I mean alignment on things that actually matter: how decisions get made, how people communicate, how conflict is handled, what the expectations are around autonomy and ownership.

Someone can be brilliant at their job and still be a terrible fit for your team. That's not a failure on their part or yours. It's a mismatch that should have been caught in the hiring process.

The First 90 Days Make or Break It

You've probably heard this before, but it bears repeating: onboarding matters. A lot. The first three months at a new job are when people form their opinion of whether this was a good decision. If they feel lost, unsupported, or like nobody thought about their arrival, the clock starts ticking.

Good onboarding doesn't have to be complicated. It just has to be intentional:

• Have their tools, accounts, and workspace ready on day one. Sounds basic, but you'd be surprised how many companies fumble this.
• Give them a buddy or a go-to person. Not their manager, but someone they can ask “dumb questions” without feeling judged.
• Set clear expectations for the first 30, 60, and 90 days. People want to know what success looks like. Don't make them guess.
• Check in regularly. Not just “how's it going?” but “what's confusing? What's frustrating? What do you need from us?”

Growth Is Non-Negotiable

The number one reason good people leave (beyond bad management) is feeling like they've stopped growing. This doesn't mean everyone needs a promotion every year. It means people need to feel like they're learning, taking on new challenges, and moving forward in some meaningful way.

Companies that invest in development (even in small ways like learning budgets, mentorship, stretch projects) retain people at dramatically higher rates. People will turn down a salary bump elsewhere if they feel like where they are is actually investing in them.

The Real Playbook

Retention isn't a programme you roll out. It's the result of getting a bunch of small things right, starting with who you hire and how you bring them in. If you only think about retention when people start leaving, you're already too late.

Hire honestly. Screen for real fit. Onboard thoughtfully. Give people room to grow. That's really the whole playbook. It's not complicated. It just takes discipline.