Employee Retention in HRM: What It Is & 5 Essential Strategies

Last month I spoke with an HR director who told me something that stuck with me: "We spent thousands recruiting the perfect candidate, only to watch them leave six months later because we hadn't thought about what happens after the offer letter."

This conversation highlighted something I've observed throughout my work with organisations across different sectors. Employee retention isn't just about keeping people in their seats - it's about creating environments where talented individuals choose to stay, grow, and contribute their best work. Yet many organisations still treat retention as an afterthought rather than a strategic priority.

The costs of getting this wrong are significant. Research consistently shows that replacing an employee typically costs between one-third to twice their annual salary, factoring in recruitment, training, and lost productivity. More importantly, high turnover disrupts team dynamics, affects customer relationships, and can damage your employer brand in ways that take years to repair.

What I've learned from working with various organisations is that effective employee retention in HRM requires a systematic approach. It's not about throwing perks at problems or hoping competitive salaries will solve everything. Instead, it demands understanding what genuinely motivates people to stay, then building comprehensive strategies around those insights.

In this article, I'll walk you through what employee retention in HRM actually means and share five essential strategies that organisations are using successfully. These aren't theoretical concepts - they're practical approaches that address the real reasons people choose to stay with or leave their employers in today's evolving workplace.

What is Employee Retention in HRM?

Definition and Core Concepts

Employee retention is your organisation's ability to keep your workforce over a specific period, and it sits at the heart of effective human resource management.

It's both a measurable outcome — the rate at which people stay with your company — and a strategic process involving all the policies, practices, and initiatives you use to prevent valuable employees from leaving.

What makes retention different from simply tracking who leaves is its proactive focus. Rather than just counting departures, retention strategies are about creating an environment where your best people want to stay and grow with your organisation.

Understanding the Key Distinctions

It's easy to mix up retention with related concepts, but each tells you something different about your workforce:

Turnover captures all departures, whilst retention focuses specifically on your efforts to prevent those losses. Attrition typically refers to natural, expected departures that aren't immediately replaced.

Essential Retention Metrics

To measure your retention success effectively, you'll want to track several key metrics.

Your retention rate shows the percentage of employees who stayed during a specific period:

*Retention Rate = (Employees who stayed ÷ Total employees at start) × 100*

Your turnover rate measures departures:

*Turnover Rate = (Number of departures ÷ Average employees during period) × 100*

Breaking turnover into voluntary (employee-initiated) and involuntary (organisation-initiated) rates helps you understand whether people are choosing to leave or being asked to leave.

Beyond these basic calculations, effective retention measurement requires tracking preventable turnover separately from unavoidable departures. SHRM research shows that 42% of turnover is considered preventable, which means nearly half of your departures could potentially be avoided with the right interventions.

Modern HR platforms like BambooHR, Workday, and Paycor now offer predictive analytics that go beyond retrospective measurement. These systems use AI-enabled tools to identify early warning signs through:

• Engagement score declines
• Absenteeism spikes
• Feedback sentiment analysis
• "Flight risk" scores combining tenure, performance, and recent workplace events

This predictive approach allows you to intervene before employees actually decide to leave, rather than simply reacting to departures after they've happened.

Strategic HRM Integration

Modern retention strategies don't operate in isolation — they're woven throughout your entire HR framework.

Retention connects directly to recruitment (hiring people who'll stay), training and development (giving people reasons to grow with you), performance management (recognising and rewarding good work), and succession planning (showing clear career paths).

This integration means retention isn't just HR's responsibility. It involves leadership culture, career development opportunities, work-life balance initiatives, and how you recognise and reward your people.

The most effective retention programmes integrate multiple data sources into comprehensive dashboards that track:

• Exit interview insights
• Internal mobility rates
• Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS)
• Manager feedback quality
• Peer recognition frequency
• Absenteeism patterns

This multi-metric approach provides a complete picture rather than relying on basic turnover numbers alone, giving you the insights needed to make informed retention decisions.

The Modern Retention Landscape

The retention landscape has shifted dramatically, and understanding these changes is crucial for building effective strategies that actually work in today's environment.

2025 Retention Benchmarks

Current industry standards show significant variation across sectors, with some experiencing dramatically different retention challenges.

Government positions maintain the highest retention rates at 87% annually, followed closely by finance and insurance at 84%. Manufacturing achieves solid retention at 73%, whilst professional and business services maintain approximately 76%.

However, certain industries face severe retention challenges. Healthcare shows concerning patterns:

• Hospitals: 22.7% turnover
• At-home healthcare: 31.1% turnover
• Nursing homes: 53.3% turnover

Technology sectors present mixed signals — some sources report turnover rates as high as 60%, though recent BambooHR data suggests improvements with tech showing below-average turnover in recent months, likely due to increased focus on culture and development initiatives.

Retail continues to struggle with 32.9% turnover rates, making it one of the most challenging sectors for retention alongside accommodation and food services.

These benchmarks highlight that effective retention strategies must be tailored to industry-specific challenges rather than applying universal approaches that might work in government but fail in healthcare or retail.

Post-Pandemic Workplace Shifts

The pandemic fundamentally changed what employees expect from work, creating new retention challenges and opportunities that persist today.

Flexibility has moved from a nice-to-have to a must-have for many employees. Remote and hybrid work options are now standard expectations rather than perks, with many organisations finding that flexibility has become a key differentiator in both recruitment and retention.

People are also prioritising mental health and wellbeing more than ever before, seeking employers who genuinely support work-life integration rather than just talking about it. This shift has forced many organisations to reconsider their approach to employee support systems.

Career development has taken on new urgency as employees recognise that continuous learning is essential for staying relevant in rapidly changing markets. The pace of technological change means that skills can become outdated quickly, making ongoing development opportunities crucial for retention.

Purpose and meaning in work have become increasingly important, with many employees wanting to feel their work contributes to something meaningful beyond just company profits. This represents a fundamental shift in how people view their careers and what they expect from employers.

Primary Causes of Modern Turnover

Today's employees leave for reasons that often reflect these shifted priorities, with recent Gallup findings and McKinsey research providing clear insights into what drives departures.

Lack of career advancement opportunities consistently emerges as the primary driver, but McKinsey research identifies poor workplace culture and uncompetitive compensation as equally significant factors.

The relationship with immediate managers remains crucial — Gallup findings confirm that engagement, meaningful development opportunities, and connection to company purpose through effective management are top retention drivers. The old saying that "people don't leave companies, they leave managers" continues to hold true.

Other major factors include:

• Limited learning and development opportunities as employees seek to future-proof their careers
• Inadequate recognition systems that leave people feeling undervalued
• Poor work-life balance that fails to meet modern expectations
• Lack of autonomy and decision-making authority in their roles

SHRM research reveals that 51% of employees are actively job seeking, indicating widespread dissatisfaction with current employment situations. This suggests that retention challenges extend beyond individual company issues to broader workforce expectations that have fundamentally shifted.

The True Cost of Poor Retention

The financial impact of losing employees extends far beyond recruitment costs, with industry-standard calculations providing stark clarity on the real expense.

Replacing frontline workers typically costs 40% of their annual salary, whilst technical roles reach 80% of salary, and leadership or management positions can cost up to 200% of annual salary when factoring in recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity, and ramp-up time.

The average cost-per-hire ranges between £3,200 and £6,400 according to SHRM standards, though this can rise significantly for management and technical positions requiring specialised skills.

These costs include direct expenses like recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding, but the hidden costs often prove more significant:

• Lost productivity during transition periods — calculated as the difference between full productivity and new employee output, often estimated at 50-70% efficiency in the first year
• Reduced team morale when colleagues leave, affecting overall productivity
• Knowledge loss that can't be easily replaced, particularly for long-term employees
• Substantial time investment needed to bring new hires up to speed
• Customer relationship disruption when client-facing employees leave

Using the retention ROI formula, organisations can calculate their potential savings: if reducing turnover by 10 employees annually at £8,000 average turnover cost per employee creates £80,000 in savings, minus the investment in retention programmes, the business case for retention initiatives becomes clear and measurable.

This makes retention strategies not just nice to have, but essential investments in your organisation's financial health and operational continuity. The numbers alone justify significant investment in retention programmes when you consider the alternative costs of constant recruitment and training.

Strategy 1: Career Development and Advancement Opportunities

The most powerful retention strategy doesn't involve higher salaries or better coffee machines — it's about showing your people they have a future with you.

When employees can see clear pathways for growth and have access to genuine development opportunities, they're 3.5 times more likely to be engaged at work. More importantly, they're far less likely to start browsing job boards on their lunch break.

Creating Clear Career Pathways

The biggest retention killer isn't a bad manager or boring work — it's the feeling of being stuck. When employees can't see where they're headed or how to get there, they start looking elsewhere for that progression.

**Develop transparent progression frameworks that actually make sense.** Start with detailed career roadmaps that show exactly what it takes to move from one level to the next. This isn't just about job titles — map out the specific skills, experiences, and competencies needed at each stage.

Companies like IBM have mastered this with their transparent Career Framework that outlines job roles, competencies, and skills at each level, making career progression tangible rather than mysterious. When someone knows they need to develop project management skills and gain cross-functional experience to reach the next level, they can work towards those goals instead of hoping someone will notice their good work.

**Make your organisational chart work harder for you.** Most companies have org charts gathering dust in some shared folder. Smart organisations use theirs as retention tools by highlighting potential career paths within departments and showing lateral movement opportunities.

Microsoft has turned this into an art form with their internal gig programmes and frequent job rotation opportunities that let employees explore different areas without leaving the company. When employees can visualise multiple routes for advancement, they're more likely to see their long-term future with you.

**Turn performance reviews into career planning sessions.** Instead of just looking backwards at what happened last quarter, use these conversations to co-create individualised development plans. The process should include:

• Setting ambitious but achievable goals with clear milestones
• Building in regular check-ins to track progress
• Identifying specific skill gaps and addressing them systematically
• Connecting current performance to future opportunities

**Implement competency-based career pathing tools.** Modern organisations are moving beyond traditional hierarchical structures to competency-based progression frameworks. This approach makes career progression more objective and transparent, removing the guesswork from advancement decisions.

The key is making all this information easily accessible. Whether it's through your performance management system, regular town halls, or documented frameworks that managers can reference, transparency drives engagement. When employees know exactly what's expected and what's possible, they're more likely to stick around to achieve it.

Skills Development and Learning Opportunities

Modern employees don't just want a job — they want to grow. And if they can't do that with you, they'll find somewhere they can.

**Build upskilling programmes that actually deliver results.** Start with proper skill assessments to identify gaps between current capabilities and future needs. Then offer diverse learning formats to accommodate different learning styles and preferences:

• Formal training programmes and workshops
• Online courses and e-learning modules
• Mentorship programmes with senior staff
• Job shadowing opportunities across departments
• Tuition reimbursement for external qualifications
• Conference attendance and industry networking events

The key is variety because people learn differently, and what works for one employee may not work for another.

**Embed development into daily work.** The most effective learning happens when it's integrated with real responsibilities. Assign special projects that stretch people's abilities, create cross-departmental initiatives that expose employees to new areas, and encourage role experimentation within their current positions.

Google's famous "20% time" system and Amazon's formal job rotation programmes demonstrate how structured stretch assignments can expose talent to multiple business functions while building skills. This approach doesn't disrupt productivity — it enhances it by creating more capable, well-rounded employees.

**Create structured mentorship and cross-functional project opportunities.** Leading consulting firms like Deloitte and Accenture have perfected systematic internal secondments and cross-practice mobility using formal project assignment boards and skill-matching algorithms.

These programmes don't just pair people randomly — they use data-driven approaches to match employees with projects that align with their development goals and expose them to new competencies.

**Make learning goals SMART and trackable.** Vague development plans lead nowhere. Use specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound objectives so progress is tangible. When someone commits to completing a data analysis certification by the end of Q3, everyone knows what success looks like.

**Leverage digital credentials for skill validation and recognition.** This is where modern retention strategies get really smart. When employees complete training modules, demonstrate new competencies, or finish certifications, issue digital credentials that they can display on both internal and external professional profiles.

These verified digital badges serve as both internal recognition tools and external career assets that employees can take pride in. Platforms like VerifyEd allow organisations to easily design custom digital certificates and badges for their training programmes, while employees can store these achievements permanently on their professional digital profiles. The key is ensuring these credentials are blockchain-verified, making them genuinely valuable for career progression both within and outside your organisation.

**Measure ROI with sophisticated analytics.** The most successful career development programmes track key metrics to ensure they're actually working:

1. Internal fill rates for senior positions
2. Average time to promotion across departments
3. Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) before and after programme participation
4. Training completion rates and engagement levels
5. Pre/post-programme retention statistics
6. Skills progression tracking and competency gap closure

**Track everything and celebrate progress.** Use learning management systems or career development software to monitor milestones and provide regular feedback. Companies like Unilever have built this into their Future Leaders Programme with agile learning systems that combine mentorship, mobility assignments, and career mapping to continuously recognise and build internal capabilities.

When someone earns a new credential or masters a new skill, make it visible. Internal recognition of learning achievements reinforces the message that growth matters and career progression is real.

The magic happens when employees see a direct correlation between learning and advancement. When that project management certification leads to leading actual projects, or when those digital marketing credentials result in broader responsibilities and recognition, people understand that development isn't just busy work — it's their pathway to a better future with your organisation.

The companies that retain their best people aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets — they're the ones that make development personal, accessible, and directly connected to advancement. When employees can see their skills growing and their careers progressing, they have every reason to stay and every opportunity to thrive.

Strategy 2: Flexible Work Models and Autonomy

When Microsoft empowered their employees to choose where they work, they didn't just update a policy document — they fundamentally shifted how work gets done, leading to improved retention rates across their global workforce.

The reality is that flexible work arrangements have moved from being a nice-to-have perk to a baseline expectation for most professionals. In the United States, nearly 60 percent of job applications target hybrid and remote positions, even though these roles constitute only 20 percent of available job postings. But here's the thing that many organisations miss: offering flexibility without the right framework and trust mechanisms often creates more problems than it solves.

Implementing Effective Flexible Work Arrangements

The most successful flexible work models aren't just about letting people work from home occasionally. They require deliberate design and clear frameworks that balance employee autonomy with operational needs.

Hybrid work policies work best when they're structured around purpose rather than arbitrary rules. Instead of mandating "three days in the office," effective organisations approach this strategically:

• Collaboration days — designated days for team meetings and creative sessions
• Remote days — focused time for individual, deep work
• Anchor days — when all or most employees are expected in the office to ensure valuable face-to-face collaboration
• Rotation schedules — teams alternate in-office days to control office density whilst maintaining flexibility

**Flexible scheduling** goes well beyond adjusting start and finish times. Progressive companies are implementing several innovative approaches:

• Compressed workweeks — condensing hours into fewer days or reducing total weekly hours whilst maintaining the same pay
• Asynchronous schedules — particularly valuable for global teams across multiple time zones
• Core collaboration hours — requiring presence during specific windows (such as 10am-2pm) but allowing complete flexibility outside those hours
• Four-day workweek models — showing particular promise for improving productivity and reducing burnout whilst enhancing recruitment and retention

**Location flexibility** has become particularly crucial for accessing global talent pools and reducing geographic constraints on hiring. Companies like Salesforce have succeeded by offering genuinely remote roles, not just "temporary work from home" arrangements. This requires investing in proper technology infrastructure:

• Communication platforms — tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams for synchronous and asynchronous communication
• Shared knowledge bases — platforms like Notion and Confluence for distributed documentation
• Robust security systems — ensuring remote work doesn't compromise data protection

**Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE)** represents the most advanced form of flexible working. In ROWE, employees have complete autonomy over when and where they work, provided they meet their deliverables. Success is tracked exclusively through predefined objectives and outcomes, not activities or hours worked. This requires managers to set clear, SMART objectives and represents a fundamental culture shift toward trust and accountability. Companies implementing ROWE have reported improved employee engagement, productivity, and retention across different work styles and life circumstances.

The most important aspect of any flexible arrangement is balancing individual preferences with team cohesion. This means establishing core hours for real-time collaboration whilst giving employees freedom over the rest of their schedule, and creating clear protocols for communication across different time zones and work locations.

Creating Autonomous Work Environments

Autonomy and flexibility are deeply connected — you can't offer genuine flexibility without trusting employees to make good decisions about how, when, and where they work best.

**Empowering decision-making authority** starts with shifting from monitoring hours to measuring outcomes. Rather than tracking when someone logs in or how long they spend at their desk, focus on what actually matters:

• Key performance indicators — project delivery rates, customer satisfaction scores, support ticket resolution times
• Digital dashboards — platforms like Lattice, 15Five, or Culture Amp track milestone achievement and output
• Outcome-specific indicators — replacing presence-based monitoring with results-focused metrics

**Results-based performance management** replaces traditional oversight with regular check-ins focused on progress and outcomes. Instead of daily status updates, implement weekly or bi-weekly results reviews where employees present what they've accomplished and any challenges they're facing. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) provide a particularly effective framework for this approach, enabling collaborative goal-setting and shared dashboards that align teams toward mutual outcomes whilst maintaining individual accountability.

**Trust-building practices** are essential for making flexible arrangements work effectively. This includes:

• Transparent communication — about company goals and individual expectations
• Project ownership — giving employees control over their projects and deadlines
• Professional confidence — demonstrating trust in their judgement

When leaders show they trust employees to deliver results regardless of location or schedule, it creates a positive cycle of increased engagement and accountability.

The framework that works best gives employees broad guidelines rather than strict rules. For example: "Choose remote or in-office work as suits your role and productivity, but ensure you're available for essential meetings and collaborate effectively with your team." This approach provides structure whilst preserving individual autonomy.

**Managing legal compliance and data protection** becomes critical in flexible work environments. Companies must align policies with local, national, and international labour laws, particularly regarding hours tracking for non-exempt employees and overtime regulations. Remote work requires robust data security practices including encryption, secure VPNs, and device management to comply with regulations like GDPR. Employers also retain duty of care obligations for remote workers, requiring risk assessments of home offices and policies for ergonomic, safe working environments even offsite.

**Maintaining team cohesion** in flexible environments requires deliberate effort and structured approaches:

• Regular connection points — all-hands meetings, scheduled check-ins, established communication channels
• Relationship building — virtual team-building activities, remote social events, in-person retreats when feasible
• Manager training — supporting outcomes-based management, fostering inclusion, and resolving conflicts in distributed environments

**Reducing micromanagement** whilst maintaining accountability requires a fundamental shift in management thinking. Instead of monitoring process, focus on outcomes. Instead of checking in constantly, schedule regular progress reviews. Instead of dictating methods, provide resources and support for employees to achieve their goals. Frequent surveys, pulse checks, and feedback sessions help monitor engagement and allow for adjustments to approaches as needed.

The most effective approach involves giving employees ownership over their work whilst maintaining clear communication channels. This means regular team updates, transparent goal-setting, and open feedback loops that allow for course correction without constant oversight.

**Industry-specific considerations** matter significantly in implementation:

• Healthcare organisations — apply flexibility to administrative roles whilst clinical roles benefit from flexible shift swapping and improved scheduling autonomy
• Manufacturing companies — focus on rotating shifts and compressed workweeks for non-line roles
• Financial services — emphasise secure remote access systems and regulatory compliance for data protection
• Technology companies — often adopt ROWE models, asynchronous practices, and global-first hiring approaches supported by cloud platforms

What makes this strategy particularly powerful for retention is that it addresses multiple employee needs simultaneously: the desire for work-life balance, professional autonomy, and trust from leadership. Research confirms that 39% of talent is willing to trade pay for flexibility, highlighting just how valuable these arrangements have become. When employees feel trusted to manage their own work effectively, they're significantly more likely to stay with an organisation long-term.

The key to success is calibrating these approaches to fit your industry and operational requirements whilst maintaining the core principle of trusting employees to deliver results in the way that works best for them.

Strategy 3: Recognition and Employee Appreciation Systems

Recognition isn't just about saying "well done" when someone does good work - it's one of the most powerful tools you have for keeping your best people around.

The research here is pretty striking: **79% of employees quit due to lack of appreciation**, and **66% would leave if they felt unappreciated**. That means the majority of your turnover problems could be solved by getting recognition right.

But here's what most organisations get wrong - they think recognition needs to be expensive or formal to matter. Actually, the most effective recognition systems are built on frequent, meaningful acknowledgment that costs almost nothing but time and attention.

Building Meaningful Recognition Programmes

The best recognition programmes work because they tap into something fundamental about human psychology - we all want to feel seen and valued for our contributions.

**Peer-to-peer recognition systems** are particularly powerful because they create recognition that happens naturally throughout the workday, not just when managers remember to give feedback. When colleagues recognise each other's work, it builds a collaborative culture where people genuinely look out for one another.

Modern peer recognition platforms like Workhuman, Bonusly, and WorkTango (formerly Kazoo) integrate directly with communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, making recognition as easy as sending a message. These platforms typically include:

• Social feeds where recognition becomes visible across the organisation
• Reward catalogues where employees can redeem points for meaningful items
• Analytics dashboards that help you track participation and identify recognition gaps

Companies using peer recognition tools see some impressive results - **employees stay an average of 2.5 years longer** than industry peers, and **41% report increased customer satisfaction**. That's because when people feel appreciated by their teammates, they're more engaged with their work and more likely to go the extra mile.

**Manager-led appreciation** remains crucial though. **53% of employees would stay longer if they received more recognition from their manager**, so direct supervisors need to be equipped with the skills to notice and acknowledge good work consistently.

Formal manager training programmes like Gallup's Strengths-based Recognition Training teach supervisors how to tailor recognition to individual employee strengths, whilst frameworks like Blanchard's SLII Model provide conversation guides and recognition scripting that help managers move beyond generic praise to specific, meaningful acknowledgment.

The key is making recognition **specific and timely**. Instead of generic praise like "great job," effective recognition connects individual effort to organisational outcomes: "Your attention to detail on that client proposal really showed - they specifically mentioned how thorough and professional it felt, which helped us secure the contract."

**Linking recognition to organisational values** makes appreciation feel more meaningful because it reinforces what the company actually stands for. When someone demonstrates your core values, recognising that behaviour publicly shows other employees what success looks like in your organisation.

**Digital achievement certificates and badges** for skill development work particularly well because they create a permanent record of growth and accomplishment. These aren't just nice-to-have tokens - they serve as tangible proof of professional development that employees can showcase throughout their careers. Modern digital credentialing platforms allow organisations to design and issue these achievements with drag-and-drop customisation tools, enabling quick template creation and bulk issuance through simple CSV uploads. The blockchain-secured nature of these credentials ensures they're tamper-proof and easily verifiable, making them more valuable to recipients who can store them on their professional profiles. When people can see their progress recognised and documented in this permanent, portable way, they're more likely to continue investing in their growth within your organisation rather than looking elsewhere.

Beyond Traditional Rewards

Non-monetary recognition often has more lasting impact than financial rewards because it addresses the deeper psychological needs that drive job satisfaction.

**Public acknowledgment** during team meetings or company communications makes people feel valued in front of their peers. **Opportunities for growth** - like representing the company at a conference or leading a new project - show that you trust them with increased responsibility. **Increased autonomy** demonstrates that you respect their judgment and capabilities.

**Personalised appreciation approaches** matter because different people are motivated by different things. Some employees thrive on public recognition, whilst others prefer private acknowledgment. Some value career development opportunities, whilst others appreciate flexible working arrangements or meaningful feedback about their impact.

The most effective recognition programmes use what researchers call the **five pillars of high-quality recognition** developed by Gallup and Workhuman:

• Fulfilling: Recognition matches the value of the achievement and meets employee expectations
• Authentic: Recognition feels genuine, not obligatory or routine
• Personalised: Tailored to the individual - one size does not fit all
• Equitable: Recognition is consistent and fair, not favouring certain individuals or groups
• Embedded in Culture: Recognition is a natural part of daily operations, integrated into organisational values and behaviours

Employees receiving recognition that meets at least four of these criteria are **65% less likely to actively look for another job**.

**Frequency and timing** are critical. Recognition works best when it happens in real-time - celebrating achievements as they happen rather than waiting for formal review periods. **Employees who receive frequent recognition are 5x more likely to feel valued and motivated**, so consistency matters more than the size of the gesture.

**Industry-specific approaches** can make recognition more relevant and impactful:

• Healthcare organisations often focus on peer-to-peer recognition and safety milestones
• Technology companies emphasise innovation awards and digital badges that integrate with daily workflow
• Retail environments benefit from frequent spot awards and customer compliment sharing via mobile platforms
• Manufacturing organisations typically combine monetary and non-monetary rewards around safety achievements and team milestones

**Creating a culture of appreciation** rather than relying on one-off rewards means embedding recognition into your daily operations. This involves training managers to notice and respond to good work, creating systems that make peer recognition easy and natural, and ensuring leadership consistently models appreciative behaviour.

The implementation process typically follows a structured approach:

1. Assess your current recognition culture through employee surveys
2. Define clear objectives aligned with business goals
3. Design the programme with appropriate recognition types and platforms
4. Communicate and train your teams
5. Run a pilot phase with a smaller group
6. Roll out organisation-wide with regular measurement and iteration based on feedback

Companies with strategic, ongoing recognition programmes are **48% more likely to report high retention rates** compared to those that rely on sporadic initiatives. That's because sustainable appreciation becomes part of how work gets done, not something extra that happens when someone remembers.

The goal isn't to create a programme that requires constant management attention - it's to build recognition into the fabric of how your team operates, so appreciation flows naturally and consistently throughout your organisation.

Strategy 4: Supportive Leadership and Management Practices

Here's the truth about employee retention that many organisations miss: it's not just about perks or pay rises. The single biggest factor in whether someone stays or leaves is their direct manager.

Research consistently shows that employees don't leave companies—they leave managers. Which means if you want to keep your best people, you need to get serious about developing leaders who can actually retain talent.

Developing Retention-Focused Leadership Skills

The most effective retention-focused leaders share specific, measurable behaviours that you can train for.

Authentic leadership sits at the heart of this. Leaders who demonstrate self-awareness, communicate with complete transparency, act consistently with their values, and genuinely consider different perspectives create environments where people want to stay. It's not about being perfect—it's about being real and reliable.

Transformational leadership practices take this further. These leaders develop compelling visions that give work meaning, actively support employee growth, focus on collaborative problem-solving, and invest properly in team development. The key insight here is that these behaviours don't just make people feel good—they actually increase what researchers call "organisational citizenship behaviour," where employees go beyond their job descriptions because they're genuinely engaged.

Google's Project Oxygen demonstrates exactly how this works in practice. Their evidence-based approach focused on specific leadership behaviours: coaching rather than micromanaging, empowering teams to make decisions, and prioritising career development conversations. They used data-driven behavioural analysis to identify which manager actions correlated with retention, then built targeted training programmes around these findings. The result was measurable improvements in both team engagement and retention rates.

General Electric took a similar systematic approach with their leadership pipeline programmes, using rigorous ongoing assessments combined with customised growth initiatives. Their model follows a structured timeline: initial competency assessment, staged interventions and training over twelve months, then regular follow-up evaluations. This continuous development cycle aligns leadership behaviours with retention-driving competencies rather than treating management development as a one-off event.

But here's where many leadership development programmes go wrong: they focus on theory instead of practical communication techniques.

The communication skills that actually drive retention are surprisingly specific. Regular one-on-one meetings that go beyond task updates to include career aspirations. Performance feedback that's developmental rather than punitive. Open-door policies that employees actually feel safe using—not just policies that exist on paper.

Manager training programmes that reduce turnover focus on these concrete skills through structured modules:

• Coaching and Feedback: Teaching managers how to provide developmental rather than punitive feedback, with role-playing scenarios that simulate difficult conversations
• Career Development Conversations: Specific question frameworks like "What's something you'd like to learn next?" and "How can I support your growth?"
• Recognition Practices: Moving beyond generic praise to meaningful acknowledgment that connects individual contributions to broader organisational goals
• Conflict Resolution: Practical techniques for addressing team tensions before they escalate into resignation-worthy problems
• Inclusive Leadership: Ensuring all team members have equal access to development opportunities and that different perspectives are genuinely welcomed

The most effective programmes combine these core modules with ongoing microlearning and peer learning sessions, reinforcing retention-supportive management practices through continuous reinforcement rather than single training events.

Evidence-based assessment tools help organisations identify and develop these capabilities systematically. 360-degree feedback instruments measure communication, supportiveness, trust-building, and recognition from multiple perspectives—peers, subordinates, and supervisors. Leadership competency models map specific behaviours against retention metrics, while psychometrically validated assessments identify leadership styles and emotional intelligence factors that directly impact employee turnover.

The most successful programmes also address the gap between what employees value and what they actually experience from their managers. When leaders learn to take visible responsibility, genuinely respect their teams, actively empower rather than micromanage, and create real belonging, retention rates improve measurably.

Creating Psychological Safety and Support

Psychological safety isn't a nice-to-have—it's the foundation that makes everything else work.

Employees in psychologically safe environments know they can speak up about problems, admit mistakes, ask questions, and share ideas without fear of being punished or embarrassed. And the research is clear: teams with high psychological safety have significantly lower turnover rates.

Measuring psychological safety requires specific tools rather than guesswork. Edmondson's Psychological Safety Survey measures team members' comfort in speaking up, admitting mistakes, and sharing ideas, with validated links to engagement and retention. Google's Team Effectiveness Survey includes psychological safety as a scored metric, allowing managers to use aggregate and anonymous results to guide targeted action plans.

Structured observation checklists help HR and organisational development teams track real-time manager responses to dissent, risk-taking, and inclusion. These observations feed into action planning templates that incorporate survey insights and observed behaviours, setting specific objectives and accountability for improvement in psychological safety practices.

Mental health and wellbeing support through leadership means managers who understand that supporting employee wellbeing isn't HR's job alone—it's a core management responsibility. This includes recognising signs of burnout, having conversations about workload and stress, and connecting people with appropriate resources when needed.

Leaders with strong emotional intelligence excel here. They demonstrate empathy, manage their own stress effectively, and resolve conflicts constructively. EQ assessments like EQ-i 2.0 and MSCEIT evaluate self-awareness, empathy, emotion regulation, and social skills—all areas that research links to lower turnover rates.

The most effective emotional intelligence development programmes pair assessment feedback with experiential learning and follow-up coaching. Key competencies for retention include:

• Empathy: Understanding and responding to team members' emotional needs
• Social awareness: Reading team dynamics and individual stress signals
• Relationship management: Building trust and maintaining positive working relationships
• Adaptability: Adjusting leadership style to different situations and individuals
• Stress tolerance: Remaining calm and supportive during challenging periods

Development typically involves workshops, coaching sessions, and digital learning modules focused on these specific areas.

Regular check-ins and feedback mechanisms beyond annual reviews are essential. Monthly or bi-weekly conversations that focus on both immediate work challenges and longer-term career goals create ongoing dialogue rather than once-a-year surprises.

High-retention organisations use structured one-on-one meeting frameworks with career and development-focused question sets. These include conversation guides with specific agenda items, talking points on career aspirations and feedback, and documentation templates that track topics discussed, action items, and progress on personal goals—moving beyond daily operational updates to meaningful development conversations.

Digital platforms like Workday, Culture Amp, and Glint facilitate this ongoing dialogue through frequent feedback mechanisms, pulse surveys, and real-time coaching tools. These platforms integrate action planning and track follow-up on issues and suggestions, directly supporting retention through continuous rather than annual feedback cycles.

But creating psychological safety also means actively addressing toxic management behaviours that drive turnover. Micromanagement, inconsistent decision-making, taking credit for others' work, or creating unnecessary stress and urgency—these behaviours destroy trust and push good people out the door.

Intervention strategies include:

1. Anonymous 360 feedback to identify problematic behaviours
2. Zero-tolerance policies for toxic behaviours with clear consequences
3. Targeted manager retraining with specific behavioural goals
4. Explicit values-based performance metrics that include management conduct

Accountability systems require dedicated HR monitoring, escalation protocols for repeated offences, and transparent reporting of managerial conduct outcomes.

Cultural change initiatives that reinforce healthy behaviours organisation-wide—including open forums, leadership modelling, and public recognition of positive management practices—create environments where toxic behaviours become socially unacceptable rather than tolerated.

Building inclusive environments where employees feel valued requires deliberate action. This means ensuring all team members have equal access to development opportunities, that different perspectives are genuinely welcomed in decision-making, and that recognition and advancement aren't based on who speaks loudest or fits a particular mould.

The most effective leaders create transparency about organisational decisions and provide honest, regular feedback about career prospects. They have meaningful, forward-looking conversations about growth opportunities rather than leaving employees guessing about their future.

When you get leadership and management practices right, you create a ripple effect. Employees who feel supported and valued by their direct managers become more engaged, more productive, and significantly more likely to stay. They also become advocates for your organisation, helping you attract other talented people who want to work in that kind of environment.

The investment in developing these leadership capabilities pays for itself through reduced recruitment costs, maintained productivity, and the competitive advantage that comes from keeping your best people engaged and growing within your organisation.

Strategy 5: Comprehensive Wellbeing and Benefits Support

The days of generic benefit packages and surface-level perks are over. Today's employees expect their employers to genuinely care about their total wellbeing, not just their productivity during working hours.

What's fascinating is that **98% of HR leaders report that comprehensive wellbeing programmes directly reduce turnover**. And when you dig into the data, companies with robust, holistic wellbeing support see up to a **25% reduction in turnover rates**.

But here's the thing—throwing money at random perks won't cut it. Your employees aren't impressed by ping-pong tables if they're burning out or struggling with childcare. What they need is strategic, thoughtful support that addresses their real challenges.

Modern Employee Wellbeing Programmes

**Mental Health Resources That Actually Work**

Mental health support has moved far beyond the old-school Employee Assistance Programme that nobody used. The most effective organisations are offering multiple touchpoints for mental health support.

This means dedicated mental health days separate from sick leave, unlimited access to virtual therapy sessions, and mental health apps that employees actually want to use. Some companies are even providing on-site counselling services.

The mental health platforms seeing the highest engagement rates include:

• Headspace for Work and Calm Business - offering guided meditation and stress reduction programmes with mobile accessibility and HR system integration
• Woebot - AI-driven platforms providing 24/7 cognitive behavioural therapy techniques with immediate, private access
• Sanvello - mood tracking and peer community support
• Sleepio - clinically-backed sleep improvement programmes, particularly valuable since improved sleep directly correlates with measurable productivity gains

What makes these programmes successful is that **91% of employees report positive impacts on their wellbeing when comprehensive mental health resources are available**. But the key word here is comprehensive—it's not just one resource, it's a network of support options. The highest engagement comes from platforms offering gamified challenges, diverse content across audio and video formats, and immediate support access through chatbots or live experts.

**Work-Life Balance That Goes Beyond Flexibility**

Flexible work arrangements are table stakes now, but truly effective work-life balance initiatives go deeper. The organisations seeing real retention benefits are implementing right-to-disconnect policies, where after-hours emails and calls are explicitly limited.

Companies have taken various approaches to enforce this:

• Volkswagen - shuts off email servers for non-managerial staff outside office hours since 2012, resulting in measurably improved satisfaction and work-life balance
• Daimler - introduced their "Mail on Holiday" solution where emails received during vacations are automatically deleted and senders redirected to alternate contacts, leading to visible increases in vacation satisfaction and reduced guilt about unplugging
• Financial firms in France - comply with national right-to-disconnect laws through automated server lockouts and delayed delivery of after-hours communications

They're also introducing company-wide "reset weeks" or mandatory wellness breaks to ensure employees actually use their time off. LinkedIn's annual company-wide paid week off, with system shut-offs and clear out-of-office enforcement, has resulted in significant post-shutdown declines in stress levels and increased engagement scores. Nike and Hootsuite have reported similar benefits from their scheduled wellness shutdowns, particularly when company leaders model the behaviour and HR provides clear guidelines for critical business exceptions.

Because unlimited PTO sounds great on paper, but it often leads to employees taking less time off due to guilt or unclear expectations.

**Family-Friendly Policies for Everyone**

Modern family support isn't just about maternity leave anymore. Leading companies are offering **16-26 weeks of fully paid parental leave** for all genders and family structures, including adoption and surrogacy support.

They're also tackling the practical stuff that keeps people up at night—subsidised childcare, emergency backup care, and eldercare assistance for the growing number of employees caring for aging relatives.

Major providers like Care.com, Bright Horizons, and KinderCare at Work offer corporate backup childcare programmes through mobile apps or online portals where employees can book vetted caregivers at short notice. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Bank of America have reported that these partnerships help reduce absenteeism and increase retention among working parents.

For eldercare, companies like PwC and IBM offer dedicated support services through partnerships with Care.com's Senior Care Planning or Wellthy, providing personalised care navigation, emergency backup eldercare, and access to case managers for aging-parent challenges.

**Burnout Prevention That's Proactive, Not Reactive**

The smartest organisations aren't waiting for burnout to happen. They're using digital wellness platforms to monitor stress signals early and implementing resilience training before employees hit their breaking point.

Advanced wellness monitoring platforms include:

• Vantage Fit and YuMuuv - use wearable and app data to track real-time wellness indicators, identifying potential burnout through trends in physical activity, mood logs, and productivity patterns
• Microsoft Viva Insights - widely adopted by large organisations, analyses email, meeting, and calendar data to highlight after-hours work patterns and prolonged focus time deficits as predictive burnout factors

These platforms use machine learning models to flag behavioural changes for HR review and proactive support intervention. Some are even mandating company-wide shutdowns during high-stress periods, recognising that individual wellbeing affects everyone.

Strategic Benefits Design

**Moving Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Rewards**

Here's where many companies get it wrong—they assume all employees want the same things. A 22-year-old graduate struggling with student debt has very different needs from a 45-year-old parent caring for elderly relatives.

The most successful total rewards approaches are modular. Employees get to choose from a menu of benefits that might include student loan repayment, wellness stipends, childcare support, or financial coaching. Some companies are even offering lifestyle stipends that employees can spend on anything from gym memberships to hobby equipment.

Leading modular benefits platforms include Benify, Zest Benefits, Businessolver, and Lumity, which present online portals where employees can select, swap, or enhance individual benefits during open enrollment or qualifying events. These systems provide real-time visualisation of total rewards and allow employees to model the impact of different benefit choices. Companies like Spotify, Unilever, and Adobe use these platforms for global benefits personalisation, with AI-powered recommendations and mobile-first design to increase accessibility and choice clarity.

**Personalised Benefits That Reflect Real Life**

**Regular Evaluation and Adaptation**

The organisations getting this right aren't setting their benefits strategy once and forgetting about it. They're constantly surveying employees, analysing usage data, and adjusting their offerings.

They're using Employee Resource Groups and DEI councils to understand what different demographics actually need, rather than making assumptions. Leading companies like EY, Salesforce, and Dell use structured ERG feedback pipelines with:

• Regular member surveys
• Dedicated liaisons connecting ERG leadership with benefits teams
• Shared digital platforms to streamline data collection
• Representatives from ERGs focused on parents, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC communities included in benefits steering committees with voting or consultative input

This approach has led to concrete modifications like Salesforce's expansion of transgender healthcare coverage and paid parental leave, and EY's updated family-forming and infertility benefits after feedback from their Families@EY ERG.

And they're creating feedback loops where employees can suggest and vote on new benefits.

**From Blanket Perks to Meaningful Support**

The shift here is fundamental. Instead of offering expensive perks that look good in recruitment materials but don't address real needs, smart companies are investing in benefits that solve actual problems in their employees' lives.

This might mean offering backup childcare during school holidays, providing mental health support for entire families, or giving employees meaningful choices about how they structure their work and benefits.

The result? Employees who feel genuinely supported and valued are far more likely to stay. And in today's competitive talent market, that strategic approach to wellbeing and benefits isn't just nice to have—it's essential for retention.

Measuring and Optimising Your Retention Strategy

Now that you've got your retention strategies in place, how do you know if they're actually working?

Without proper measurement, you're essentially flying blind - and that's where too many organisations go wrong. They implement fantastic initiatives but never track whether they're making a difference.

Key Retention Metrics and Analytics

The foundation of any effective retention strategy is knowing what to measure and how to interpret those numbers.

**Your Essential Retention Dashboard**

Start with your core retention rate - this is your north star metric. The calculation is straightforward: take your number of employees at the start of a period, subtract those who left, then divide by your starting number and multiply by 100. So if you started the year with 500 employees and 50 left, your retention rate is 90%.

Anything above 90% is generally considered strong, but context matters enormously here. To put this in perspective, recent industry benchmarks show:

• Technology companies: 13-20% voluntary turnover rates
• Retail: 40-65% turnover rates
• Manufacturing: 12-15% turnover rates
• Education: 10-12% (some of the lowest rates)

Don't just look at overall retention though. Break it down by department, role level, and demographics. You might discover that your engineering team has a 95% retention rate whilst your sales team sits at 75% - that tells you exactly where to focus your efforts.

Average employee tenure is another powerful indicator. Calculate this by adding up the total years of service for all current employees and dividing by headcount. If your average tenure is dropping over time, that's a clear signal that something needs attention. For context:

• Technology and consulting: 2-3 years average tenure
• Education: 5-7 years average tenure
• Manufacturing: 4-6 years average tenure

**The Power of Predictive Analytics**

Here's where retention measurement gets really interesting - using engagement data to predict who might leave before they actually do.

Modern platforms like Visier and Workday Peakon use regression analysis and machine learning to identify at-risk employees based on engagement scores, manager changes, and historical patterns. These systems can predict turnover risk with surprising accuracy by analysing combinations of factors that often precede resignations.

Pulse surveys are your early warning system. These short, frequent check-ins (monthly or quarterly works well) can reveal engagement dips before they turn into departures. Look for patterns: teams with consistently low scores, individuals whose engagement drops suddenly, or departments where satisfaction is trending downward.

The magic happens when you start correlating this data with actual departures. You'll begin to spot the warning signs - maybe employees who rate "intent to stay" below 6 out of 10 are three times more likely to leave within six months. Survival analysis techniques, particularly Cox proportional hazards models, can help you understand not just who might leave, but when they're most likely to do so.

**Making Exit Interviews Actually Useful**

Most organisations do exit interviews, but few use them strategically.

Instead of treating each interview as a standalone conversation, systematically categorise the feedback using structured taxonomy systems. Create buckets for:

• Management issues
• Compensation concerns
• Workload problems
• Cultural mismatches

Many leading companies now use qualitative coding - either manual or AI-assisted - to sort responses into these key themes, enabling pattern recognition across multiple data sources. Track these themes over time and you'll start seeing patterns that point to systemic issues.

Advanced platforms can apply sentiment analysis to exit interview feedback, transforming qualitative insights into quantitative trends that highlight urgent areas for improvement.

The real value comes from comparing exit interview data with your pulse survey results. If people consistently mention poor management in exit interviews, but your engagement surveys show high scores for "manager effectiveness," you know your survey questions need work.

**Internal Mobility as a Retention Indicator**

Don't overlook internal movement rates. Employees who can see a clear path for advancement are far more likely to stay. Track how many people move roles internally versus how many leave for external opportunities. If you're losing people to competitors for roles you could have filled internally, that's a retention strategy gap.

Key metrics to monitor include:

• Internal fill rates (percentage of roles filled by existing employees)
• Promotion rates
• Time to promotion or transfer

Companies like IBM now use AI-driven platforms that recommend personalised career moves to employees, actively tracking lateral moves versus upward progression to ensure comprehensive career development. Platforms like Workday and Oracle HCM Cloud offer internal job boards and employee skill inventories that make tracking these movements straightforward, giving you clear visibility into whether your internal mobility programmes are actually creating retention benefits.

For education providers and organisations investing in professional development, tracking how internal credentials and achievements contribute to retention is equally important. When employees earn verifiable digital credentials for their learning and achievements, these can become powerful retention tools by demonstrating clear career progression and skill development paths.

Implementation Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

Even with great metrics, implementation can make or break your retention efforts.

**The One-Size-Fits-All Trap**

The biggest mistake we see is applying blanket solutions across the entire organisation. Your software developers might be motivated by technical challenges and flexible working, whilst your sales team might prioritise commission structures and clear advancement paths.

Segment your approach based on role, department, and even generational differences:

• Gen Z employees: Prioritise flexibility and career development (average tenures often under two years)
• Millennials: Seek advancement and skill development
• Gen X: Value work-life balance and stability
• Baby Boomers: Value stability and meaningful work (tenures often extending 6-10+ years)

A 25-year-old graduate will likely have different retention drivers than a 45-year-old senior manager with family responsibilities. Your retention strategies should reflect these differences rather than assuming what works for one group will work for all.

**Addressing Toxic Microcultures**

Your overall company culture might be brilliant, but toxic microcultures within teams can destroy retention in specific areas. These are often invisible to senior leadership but devastatingly clear to the people experiencing them.

Use your segmented retention data to spot these pockets. If one team has significantly higher turnover despite similar roles and compensation to other teams, dig deeper. Often it comes down to a problematic manager or team dynamic that needs immediate attention.

Decision trees and random forests analysis can help identify which combinations of factors - manager, team size, workload, communication patterns - most frequently precede resignation events in specific departments.

**Scaling Considerations**

Retention strategies that work for a 50-person startup won't necessarily work for a 5,000-person corporation, and vice versa.

Smaller companies can offer more personalised development paths and direct access to leadership, but might struggle with structured career progression.

Larger organisations have resources for comprehensive training programmes and clear advancement hierarchies, but can lose the personal touch that makes employees feel valued.

Enterprise-grade analytics platforms like Visier are designed for large organisations requiring scalability and in-depth analytics, whilst solutions like BambooHR cater to small and mid-sized organisations with user-friendly interfaces and lower entry pricing.

Contextual Considerations for Success

Context is everything in retention strategy, and there are several key factors that should shape your approach.

**Generational Differences Matter**

Different generations bring different expectations to work, and your measurement systems need to capture these nuances.

Younger employees often prioritise learning opportunities, purpose-driven work, and flexibility. More experienced employees might value stability, recognition for expertise, and family-friendly policies. Gen Z particularly values workplace belonging and value alignment, often leaving within two years if these needs aren't met.

Your retention metrics should reflect this. Track retention by age group and adjust your strategies accordingly. What looks like a concerning overall retention rate might actually be healthy turnover of early-career employees balanced by strong retention of senior staff.

**Industry-Specific Challenges**

Tech companies face different retention challenges than healthcare organisations or manufacturing firms. High-growth sectors might see natural movement as employees chase opportunities, whilst regulated industries might have longer tenure expectations.

Benchmark your metrics against industry standards, not just general business benchmarks. A 85% retention rate might be excellent in consulting (where rates typically run 15-22%) but concerning in education (where rates are typically 10-12%).

Industry-specific turnover patterns include:

• Healthcare: 18-22% turnover rates
• Manufacturing: 12-15% with longer average tenures of 4-6 years
• Consulting: 15-22% turnover rates

**Remote and Hybrid Considerations**

The shift to remote and hybrid work has completely changed retention dynamics for many organisations.

Recent data shows that fully remote employees had up to 35% higher retention rates compared to their in-office counterparts, particularly in technology and knowledge-based industries. Organisations with flexible work arrangements report voluntary turnover rates 12-20% lower than those enforcing full office returns.

Remote employees might have different engagement drivers - connection to team, clear communication, and autonomy become even more critical. Your pulse surveys need to capture these nuances, and your retention strategies need to address the unique challenges of distributed teams.

Stay interviews become particularly valuable in remote settings. Leading companies like Google and Microsoft conduct these annually or at key retention risk points, using structured questions that explore what keeps employees engaged in distributed work environments.

**Building Employee Input Into Your Strategy**

The most effective retention strategies are built with employee input, not just for employees.

Stay interviews offer a structured approach to gathering this input. Effective frameworks focus on questions like:

• "What keeps you working here, and what would make you consider leaving?"
• "What one thing would you change about your current role or team?"

These conversations should be manager-led, confidential, and focused on actionable feedback rather than performance appraisal.

Create feedback loops beyond annual surveys. Regular focus groups, stay interviews with high performers, and open forums for suggestions ensure your retention efforts address real concerns rather than perceived ones.

Track how often employee suggestions are implemented and communicated back. Employees who see their feedback leading to actual changes are far more likely to stay engaged and committed to the organisation.

Advanced platforms now integrate organisational network analysis with engagement insights, offering AI-driven recommendations based on communication patterns and collaboration data from tools like Slack and Teams.

Remember, retention isn't just about keeping people - it's about keeping the right people for the right reasons. Your measurement and optimisation efforts should focus on creating an environment where your best employees choose to stay and grow.

Employee Retention in HRM: The Foundation for Future-Ready Organisations

What struck me most whilst researching this topic was how retention has fundamentally shifted from simply offering competitive salaries to creating environments where people genuinely want to stay and grow.

The statistics around turnover costs really drove home why this matters so much — losing an employee can cost up to twice their annual salary when you factor in recruitment, training, and lost productivity.

But beyond the numbers, what I found fascinating was how the five strategies we've covered all interconnect. Career development without supportive leadership falls flat. Flexible work without proper recognition feels hollow. It's the combination that creates those workplaces where people choose to build their careers.

My hope is that these insights help you identify which areas need attention in your organisation and give you practical starting points for making meaningful change.

• Yaz