How To Improve Employee Retention

Why do you need to improve employee retention?

Taking the steps to improve employee retention is well worth the effort. Not only is low employee retention a pain to manage from an HR perspective, it also is extremely costly. In fact, replacing a single employee can cost an organization about 50-60% of that worker's salary. Working to improve your employee retention rate can provide countless benefits to your company, including increased productivity, higher employee engagement, and a positive workplace culture.

Below, we provide 7 cost-effective ways for you to improve employee retention within your organization.

7 ways to improve employee retention:

#1: Start strong during onboarding

Onboarding is one of the most important interactions a company has with each employee, as it sets the tone for the long-term professional relationship. New hires should come in feeling welcome, engaged, and unified, like they're joining a community where they will forge friendships, learn, and contribute a great deal.

You can provide a solid foundation for employee retention by making new hires feel welcomed during the onboarding process. It doesn't hurt to provide a personal touch as well by introducing them to the rest of their colleagues. Try creating a personalized 'welcome' section for new employees and displaying it on your company's internal dashboard.

In addition, a smooth onboarding process is critical to the long-term level of engagement of an employee. Supplying new hires with the resources, information, and training they need to get started immediately can make a huge difference in morale, satisfaction, and their long-term outlook. Digitizing onboarding through a mobile-accessible platform can cut new hire ramp time by 50%, directly reducing early-tenure attrition risk — a meaningful gain given that employees already navigate 6–8 disconnected tools daily, fragmenting communication and eroding engagement from day one.

#2: Consistently provide positive feedback

Another way to improve employee retention is by implementing strong feedback programs within the organization. Studies show that for optimal team performance, employees need approximately 5 positive comments for every negative one. By providing frequent positive feedback you can make major strides in boosting the morale and satisfaction levels of your employees. Pairing feedback programs with structured performance management practices ensures that recognition is consistent and tied to measurable outcomes.

In addition to providing positive feedback, be sure to also celebrate the small accomplishments of individual employees. A little appreciation from top brass can go a long way in improving long-term employee satisfaction.

#3: Increase team recognition & reward model employees

Recognize teams and groups for a job well done. This can make every member feel appreciated and can be as effective as recognizing people individually. By celebrating a team's achievement, you can encourage other groups and teams to work more cohesively.

A good way to reward teams for their hard work is with a recognition program. You can use a point system to automatically keep track of prize handouts. Workers can redeem their points for prizes like gift cards, retreats with coworkers, or even extra PTO! Nonmonetary prizes can be motivating too. Try providing options like having lunch with the CEO or winning a convenient parking space.

By taking the steps towards improving employee recognition, you can ensure the longevity of your employees, while making your company a great place to work. Recognition programs tied to HRIS data can automatically sync employee roles and milestones, enabling timely, personalized recognition at scale — reframing recognition not as an occasional gesture but as an integrated retention system. See how this works in practice in From Concept to Success: How symplr Leverages MangoApps for an Effective Rewards and Recognition Program.

#4: Use gamification & awards

Another way to improve employee retention is by leveraging digital awards and a gamification system within the workplace. This will help add excitement and get employees in a competitive mindset. Each time your top employees exceed expectations, you can reward them with gamification points. By creating a gamification system, you can encourage employees to truly go above and beyond, helping improve employee retention. A bonus is that game leaderboards also give employees an easy way to learn each other's names, which helps create a connection across colleagues you weren't previously familiar with.

In addition to a gamification system, you can use digital awards to honor employees for their achievements. Digital awards are easy to bestow and can motivate others in your company if you display them on individual profiles, a public dashboard, and the company newsfeed.

#5: Create workplace connections

Creating an environment where workplace connections form naturally is the ideal environment that HR professionals strive for. Getting to that point means you have to enable employees with a tool that allows them to communicate and collaborate with each other regardless of where they are. There are many employee engagement software tools available that can get the job done. By providing an online space for workers to have conversations and collaborate on business projects, you can streamline productivity while creating a positive work environment that people will want to be a part of. Not to mention, getting to meet coworkers fosters friendships that can ultimately improve employee retention and keep your employees sticking around longer.

#6: Celebrate personal and work milestones

Celebrating your employees' personal and work milestones is another easy way to keep them happy and improve employee retention. Celebrating employee's birthdays is a simple way to make sure they feel appreciated. Greeting cards are a great way to do this and are easy to customize to each individual. While getting everyone in the office to sign a card can be tiresome, doing this virtually can streamline and automate the process, making it even easier to implement.

You can also remind long-term employees that your company values them by celebrating their work anniversaries. This process can be automated so that employees can easily congratulate each other on another year with the company.

#7: Recognize frontline & remote employees

While each of these staff appreciation ideas is essential, it is equally important to reward workers who are not in the office as well. This includes frontline workers, factory employees, remote workers, or those that are on-the-go. Per Emergence Capital, 80% of the global workforce is deskless — meaning the majority of employees may never sit at a desk or have a company email address. Organizations with a mix of frontline and desk workers need to be able to meet each employee where it's most convenient for them.

Frontline employees can be reached via push notifications, SMS, and in-app alerts without requiring a company email address or VPN — closing a retention gap that traditional intranet tools consistently miss. Per Social Edge Consulting, only 13% of employees use an intranet daily, and nearly a third never log in at all, which means desk-centric retention programs leave the majority of your workforce behind.

We recommend equipping your entire workforce with an employee experience platform that is accessible both in-office and through a mobile device. This will help connect everyone within your workforce and can go a long way in bridging the gap between your desk and frontline employees. For a deeper look at what to evaluate, the Ultimate Intranet Buyer's Guide for a Frontline Workforce in 2026 and beyond is a practical starting point.

MangoApps

MangoApps is an all-in-one employee app. It provides all the tools company leaders and employees need to connect and empower 100% of your workforce. With MangoApps, you can level-up your company communication, engagement and operations with a unified app for both desk and deskless employees. OU Health achieved 87% workforce engagement within a few months of launching a branded employee app on the platform — a result that reflects what a unified employee experience platform can deliver when recognition, communication, and onboarding tools work together.

How do you measure whether your retention efforts are working?

Improving employee retention requires more than implementing programs — it requires tracking whether those programs are moving the needle. The most reliable leading indicators include voluntary turnover rate (tracked monthly, not annually), 90-day and 1-year retention rates by department, employee engagement survey scores, and eNPS (employee net promoter score). Employee engagement questionnaires administered quarterly give HR teams a consistent signal before attrition becomes visible in headcount data. Pairing survey data with platform analytics — such as recognition frequency, onboarding completion rates, and intranet login rates — gives a fuller picture. Per SWOOP Analytics, the average employee spends only six minutes per day using intranet tools, so low engagement scores often reflect access and usability gaps as much as cultural ones. The 2026 HR Trends eBook outlines the metrics HR leaders are prioritizing this year.

What role does training play in employee retention?

Training and employee engagement are closely linked: employees who feel they are growing are significantly less likely to leave. Employee engagement training — whether delivered through manager coaching programs, structured learning paths, or embedded microlearning — signals to employees that the organization is invested in their development. A learning and development strategy embedded in daily work is more effective than periodic off-site courses because it reduces the friction between learning and doing. Employee engagement courses tied to role-specific skills also address a common driver of disengagement: the feeling of being stuck. Per IDC, employees spend 2.5 hours per day searching for information — time that structured training and a well-organized employee experience platform can reclaim and redirect toward productive work.

How do you retain frontline and deskless employees specifically?

Retaining frontline workers requires a different approach than retaining desk employees. Because 80% of the global workforce is deskless (per Emergence Capital), generic retention strategies built around email newsletters, desktop intranets, or manager one-on-ones will miss the majority of your workforce. Effective frontline retention programs share three characteristics: mobile-first access that works without a company email or VPN, recognition systems that reach workers on the floor or in the field in real time, and scheduling and communication tools that reduce the daily friction that drives frontline turnover. Industries like retail and hospitality face particularly acute frontline retention challenges, where shift-based schedules and high turnover rates make automated, mobile-accessible recognition and communication tools a practical necessity rather than a nice-to-have.