How Does Employee Engagement Affect Retention
When it comes to predicting retention, there are a number of factors you can use. One of the strongest predictors of retention is employee engagement. This proves consistent as a predictor.
Employees who are engaged with their work and feel supported in their role are more likely to stay longer in their job.
This is why an employer should put employee engagement and employee retention at the top of their priority lists. This will make it more likely that they have a high retention rate.
This article will look through evidence-based findings. This will prove that there is an alignment between employee engagement and retention.
Using research studies, we look at how it affects retention and what employers can do to help their employees. We look at specific claims from peer-reviewed or workforce studies to back up our claims.
Keeping employees engaged is a vital part of retaining them.
Why Engagement Is the Core Driver of Employee Retention
Engagement is where an employee feels a connection to the role at the workplace. They are committed to work and want to complete the role effectively. They are also a part of the team and are an enthusiastic member of staff.
When the employees are engaged at the job, they are more motivated to hit deadlines. You will find that these employees will probably be more present in their roles. This is because they feel supported, and they have a purpose to reach a certain target.
When they are disengaged, they are likely to leave. If this is ongoing, it will affect the turnover and performance of the company. Here is why research finds engagement is a core driver in retention.
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Schedule Your Free ConsultationEngagement Predicts Intent to Stay
One of the earliest indicators of real turnover is the intention to quit. It’s one of the most powerful signs of turnover issues. Researchers have found that engagement is linked to the intention to quit. Employee engagement should be boosted as part of a retention plan.
Reducing intention to quit is so important, and it is one of the retention levers you can work on as an employee. You need to focus on supporting your employee and helping them have a connection to their role.
If you decrease the overall intention to quit in your company, this will benefit your business. Retention will be likely to increase, ensuring you have a stable workforce.
Engagement Builds Resilience and Reduces Burnout
Burnout causes a lot of employees to want to leave, and this drives turnover. Research found that hospital staff who can suffer from burnout are less likely to think about leaving if they are engaged. This tends to be as they build resilience which is a key factor against burnout.
As well as being a good tool for burnout, building resilience can help you cope with stress. This can help the employee manage their stress instead of leaving the role.
Highly Engaged Employees Are Less Likely to Leave
Next we have some interesting data collected by a corporate leadership council. This found that 87% of staff who are highly engaged are less likely to leave.
This data strengthens the argument that employee engagement affects retention. As they have surveyed a large number of employees, this means the data is reliable. This can show patterns across the workforce and across different departments.
Higher Engagement, Higher Retention Intent
A 2024 study in India was completed on 495 employees for an IT company. The results found that employees' intention to stay with a company increased with higher employee engagement.
These results show yet again that engagement and retention are linked.
Talent Management Practices Strengthen Engagement
Businesses can help with engagement by putting development systems into practice. For instance, companies should do more training and offer feedback to their employees. With these strong systems, it can help to motivate and build a connection.
43 studies found that when talent-management practices are in place, you can boost engagement. These practices meant employees were less likely to leave.
Career pathways show how an employee can get to a certain position and the pathway to get there. This encourages motivation in the workplace.
Performance feedback is given by an employer to their employee. This enables them to highlight the work the employee is doing.
Leadership support is important as it helps those in power to feel supported in their role.
What Employees Say Matters Most for Staying
Employees' priorities have also been revealed in research. According to a SHRM study, the following is most important for a satisfying job role. These include:
Having good job security is important
Compensation overall pay
Job security can encourage employees to stay
Having the opportunity to use their main skills and abilities
How they get on with their supervisor, and their relationship
These factors are all important in retaining employees. This can prevent good people from leaving for another job. They want to feel like they are secure in the role. If they don't, turnover will increase as they look for a more suitable role.
Being able to actually use their skills plays a big part in how engaged people feel. If they are given tasks that don’t enable them to use their abilities, they will get disengaged and leave the role.
How Poor Engagement Drives Turnover (What to Watch For)
A lot of the time disengagement comes into play due to several factors that can be seen in a pattern. Gallup found the following on what you should watch out for with poor engagement.
Detachment and Disengagement Lead to Turnover
An employee who is feeling detached from a company will have lower engagement. There is also a higher chance of quitting. Research from Gallup found that unclear expectations, poor communication led to employees leaving. This caused higher turnover rates.
Signs of detachment can include the following:
Absenteeism - This is where an employee might end up being absent from the workplace.
Silence - This is where the employee doesn’t offer ideas or cooperate with a team.
Low participation - The employee might not join in with activities or help others to reach goals.
Poor Communication and Weak Management Increase Quit Risk
Engaged employees are more likely to stay at a company. Engaged workplaces, enjoy 21-51% lower turnover, according to Gallup. The research noted that these employees will also contribute more. They will participate in day to day company functions and are unlikely to leave.
The research found that engagement is a core retention lever. This means that if they are not engaged, they will be likely to leave the company.
Engagement can be shaped by the employer and how they communicate with their staff. They need to offer employees clarity over their role and their expectations in the job. Leaders need to lead by example as weak management can increase quit risk.
They will listen to their teams and work on how to build commitment. They will also encourage motivation within the workplace.
Engagement Reduces Absenteeism (a Leading Indicator of Turnover)
Absenteeism is normally a sign that happens before turnover. The research from Gallup found that teams have 78% fewer absences when the team is engaged. This shows that communication with employees means a higher rate of retention.
When absenteeism happens, it can be a warning sign for employees. There could be deeper issues at play. There could be stress or burnout that the employee is suffering from. Employers should put things into place now before the turnover ends up happening.
Engagement Strengthens Performance, Which Improves Retention
Gallup found that retention happens more when there is higher employee performance. Successful employees tend to stay in their roles.
When an employee feels competent at their job and is achieving results, they are more likely to stay. This connection shows the importance of communicating with their seniors. Also, how feedback needs to be given on work performance.
Why Meeting Employee Needs Has Become Critical
Employees’ needs have to be a priority for workplaces. There is a talent competition that will help change the company. There are also workplace expectations that employees have in their job. With these in mind, there is a greater turnover risk.
The 2025 Employee Sentiment Study found that six in ten employees are planning to leave their jobs in the next year. Organizations are failing to meet their employees' needs, and retention is becoming hard for companies.
Employees have set the expectations they have for a job, and want a higher level of support than many organizations offer. If they feel they aren’t getting this or any clarity in their jobs, this can lead to problems with retention.
Practical Ways Organizations Can Strengthen Engagement and Retention
Research suggest that when organizations invest in engagement, employees are more likely to stay. The next step is applying those insights to real workplace practices.
Here are some actionable steps organizations need to put into place.
Improve Communication and Manager Support
Provide feedback to your employees on their work. You should praise their efforts and the goals they are reaching. You also need to give them clear expectations of what is expected of them. Ensure the manager is always available to communicate with their employee.
As the studies showed, there is a high risk of retention if there is a lack of communication. You need to talk to your employees. There can't be poor manager support. With this communication-related disengagement, you need to put action into place now. This will help the workforce and retain staff.
Strengthen Recognition and Professional Growth
Employees want to use their skills in a role. Workers need to set tasks and clear career pathways. They will feel the role offers professional growth with a chance of promotion.
This will encourage them to stay at the job with clear advancement paths. It’s also important to offer recognition to staff members and keep this consistent. This will keep the employee in the role, and they are less likely to leave the job.
Reduce Burnout Through Better Workload and Scheduling
Employers also need to consider rearranging the workload. This encourages better employee retention and engagement. There is a high risk of burnout if there is too large of a workload put on the employee.
It’s a good idea to look at redistributing tasks across the workforce.
Build a Culture Where Engagement Is the Norm
Engagement should be a normal part of a healthy workforce. It shouldn’t be something that is an afterthought. You need to build a culture in the workplace where engagement is a priority.
Leaders need to show their staff that the business is transparent. They should tell staff about their targets and motivations. There should be recognition of the staff to keep them engaged and feel like they are doing a good job.
There also needs to be support for the employees from the leaders in the organization. This can stop burnout and help leaders avoid absenteeism.
Worried About Employee Retention?
Want to make sure your employee retention plan will work? Get in touch for a free consultation today with an experienced HR consultant.
Schedule Your Free ConsultationConclusion
Engagement is one of the key reasons why a member of staff might leave the position. This will cause a high turnover at the business. We have discussed why this is a strong predictor of retention.
Leaders in business need to take action now. This will prevent staff members from leaving their roles. They should track engagement in their business. They can work on improving this to keep their staff happy.
They can use evidence-based practices such as providing clear pathways. They should also support their staff with training and offering wellness programming. Working to build trust and safety among all departments is important.
Even making small changes can help with engagement. Putting these into practice now can reduce turnover.
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