[Retention and its levers](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#retention) # What is new-hire retention? Definition New-hire retention is the share of a hiring cohort still employed after a set milestone, commonly ninety days, six months or one year. Last updated October 13, 2026 ## New-hire retention follows one group of hires through their first months. A cohort is everyone who started in the same window, such as one month or one quarter. You pick a milestone, commonly 90 days, six months or one year, and count how many of the cohort are still employed when they reach it. Its mirror image is [new-hire turnover](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#new-hire-turnover), the share of the cohort that left inside the window. ## You learn how good your hiring is within months. It is the fastest feedback loop you have on recruiting quality, job-description accuracy and onboarding, because you get an answer within months rather than years. ## The formula divides the hires still employed by the size of the cohort. Formula New-hire retention rate = hires still employed at the milestone ÷ hires in the cohort × 100 Only count people who have reached the milestone. Someone who started three weeks ago cannot be in a 90-day figure yet. ## Here is a worked example with round numbers. Take an invented company that hired 20 people in the first quarter. At 90 days, 17 of them are still employed. _Figure: An invented cohort of 20 people hired in the first quarter. At 90 days, 17 are still employed and 3 have left. The 90-day new-hire retention rate is 17 divided by 20, which is 85%, and new-hire turnover is 3 divided by 20, which is 15%._ The 90-day new-hire retention rate is 17 ÷ 20 × 100 = 85%. The 3 who left are the cohort's new-hire turnover: 3 ÷ 20 × 100 = 15%. ## Each milestone tests something different. - The 90-day mark mostly tests hiring and onboarding: whether the right person was chosen and given a fair start. - Six months tests the fit with the role and the manager, once the welcome period is over. - One year tests whether the job turned out to be the one that was described in the interview. Track at least the 90-day and the one-year figure for every cohort, so an early improvement is not undone later without anyone noticing. ## Read it by cohort, role and hiring source. One cohort is a small sample. Compare cohorts over several quarters, and split by role, team and hiring channel. A low rate concentrated in one role often points at a job description that does not match the job. One concentrated in one team points at onboarding or the manager. ## These are the common mistakes with new-hire retention. - Mixing hires from different start dates into one figure, so some have had a year to leave and some a month. - Counting people who have not yet reached the milestone. - Blaming recruiting by default, when onboarding or the manager is the cause. - Waiting for the annual turnover figures instead of reading the 90-day number as soon as it exists. ## Work out your own retention rate. The free retention rate calculator treats new hires separately. Enter the people you hired during the period and how many of them left again, and it works out the rest. [Calculate your retention rate](https://www.teampredict.ai/tools/employee-retention-rate-calculator) Free, no signup required. ## These related terms are in the glossary too. - [Retention rate](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/retention-rate) The retention rate is the percentage of employees present at the start of a period who are still employed at the end of it. - [New-hire turnover](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#new-hire-turnover) New-hire turnover is the share of a hiring cohort that leaves within a set early window, usually the first ninety days or the first year. - [Cost of a bad hire](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/cost-of-a-bad-hire) The cost of a bad hire is what a hire who does not work out costs you in total, from sourcing and onboarding through lost productivity, manager time, exit and re-hiring. - [Employee retention](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/employee-retention) Employee retention is a company's ability to keep the people it wants to keep, for as long as the business needs them. - [One-on-one](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/one-on-one) A one-on-one is a recurring private conversation between a manager and a direct report about the work, the obstacles and the person's growth. - [Employee turnover](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/employee-turnover) Employee turnover is the movement of people out of a company over a set period, counted as the employees who leave and are replaced. About TeamPredict TeamPredict is retention early-warning software that flags resignation risk from public LinkedIn signals, so you have lead time to keep the people you want to keep. [See how TeamPredict works](https://www.teampredict.ai/retention-software) [Back to the HR glossary](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#new-hire-retention), where all 52 terms are defined.