Employee retention plan template
A one-page retention plan with your current numbers, the reasons people leave, the roles you cannot afford to lose and a table of actions with owners.
TemplateWhat you type stays in your browser.
Employee retention plan template
Template from https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/retention-plan
Last updated
A retention plan names the reasons people leave and who will act.
A retention plan is a short document that says where your turnover stands, why people are leaving, which people and roles matter most, and what you will do about it. It differs from a list of retention ideas in one way: every action is tied to a reason you have evidence for, and every action has an owner.
This template starts with four measures: the voluntary turnover rate, the regretted share of exits, new-hire retention at 90 days and eNPS. It then asks for the top three reasons from your exit and stay interviews, the roles you cannot afford to lose, and the actions.
Here is how to use the employee retention plan template in five steps.
How to use it
- 1Start from evidence
- 2Pick the top three reasons
- 3Name the critical roles
- 4Tie every action to a reason
- 5Review it every quarter
Start from evidence. Fill in the four measures and take the reasons from real exit and stay interviews, not from a guess about what people want.
Pick the top three reasons. A plan that addresses everything addresses nothing. Choose the three reasons that cost you the people you most wanted to keep.
Name the critical roles. List the people and roles whose loss would hurt most, and book a stay interview or a career conversation with each.
Tie every action to a reason. For each action, write which reason it addresses, who owns it and how you will know it worked.
Review it every quarter. Update the measures, close the actions that are done and drop the ones that did not move anything.
Here is a worked example with invented names.
Take an invented company, Pellamoor Insurance, and its claims department of 45 people. Over the last year the voluntary turnover rate was 22%, and 60% of the exits were regretted. The plan sets targets of 15% and 40%.
Exit and stay interviews give three reasons: no step beyond senior claims handler, weekend work during storm season, and slow payment approvals. The roles the department cannot afford to lose are its three senior handlers, who train every new hire.
Worked example
Pellamoor Insurance, an invented company: the claims department's plan
- DepartmentClaims, 45 people
- Voluntary turnover rate22% a year, target 15%
- Regretted share of exits60%, target 40%
- Top three reasonsNo step beyond senior handler, weekend work in storm season, slow approvals
- Roles they cannot loseThree senior handlers who train every new hire
- ActionsA claims specialist level, a storm rota shared across two teams, one approver on every shift
Two quarters later
Voluntary turnover running at 16% a year, regretted share 45%
The plan has three actions, one for each reason: a new claims specialist level, a storm rota shared across two teams, and one approver on every shift. Two quarters later the voluntary rate is running at 16% a year and the regretted share is 45%.
These mistakes spoil a retention plan.
- Starting with perks. Free lunches do not answer a reason such as no path to grow.
- Copying another company's plan, which answers that company's reasons.
- Giving every action to the people team, when most reasons sit with managers.
- Trying to keep everyone. The plan is about the people you want to keep.
- Measuring nothing, so nobody can say whether the plan worked.
For the roles you cannot afford to lose, watch for signals. A single signal on its own is noise. Several arriving in the same few weeks, such as a public profile refresh, a withdrawal from optional work and a shift in visible career activity, are a pattern. The gap between the first signal and the resignation letter is the only window in which a retention conversation can still change the outcome.
Noise or a pattern?
One signal on its ownNoise
Several in the same few weeksA pattern
- A public profile refresh
- A withdrawal from optional work
- A shift in visible career activity
- The window to talk
People ask these questions about retention plans.
These glossary terms explain the ideas behind it.
Employee retention is a company's ability to keep the people it wants to keep, for as long as the business needs them.
The retention rate is the percentage of employees present at the start of a period who are still employed at the end of it.
Regretted attrition is a departure the company did not want: someone whose performance, skills or relationships you would have paid to keep.
Flight risk is the likelihood that a specific employee leaves in the near future, based on observable signals rather than a manager's hunch.
A resignation signal is an observable change that tends to precede someone giving notice, such as a public profile refresh, a withdrawal from optional work, or a shift in visible career activity.
A stay interview is a structured conversation with a current employee about what keeps them here and what would make them consider leaving.
These pages on this site go deeper.
These templates pair well with this one.
Ten questions in four themes, and the actions you agree before the meeting ends.
Employee turnover report template
Headline numbers, a split by team, the reasons and one ask, on a single page.
Critical roles, who could step in, emergency cover and development for successors.
Find out who is showing exit signals.
Score one person against ten factors in five areas, in a few minutes, and see which signals are contributing most.
Run a flight risk assessmentFree, no signup required.
Back to the HR templates, where all 22 are listed.