Want to retain talent? Prioritize career paths & relationships with managers, finds McLean & Company

Voluntary turnover is a serious risk to organizational performance.

According to McLean & Company’s 2025 HR Trends Survey, organizations with low attrition (10% or less) were more likely to report strong performance.

Not only does it cost around $4,700 per hire to replace those who leave, according to data from SHRM, there’s an “intangible cost” in loss of productivity, and specialized skills.

This is particularly acute for high performers, the loss of whom can impact business continuity, according to new insights from McLean & Company.

The issue is that “every employee departure has a story – but too often, that story is only told in the exit interview, or not at all”, Molly Woudenberg, project manager, HR Research & Advisory Services, at McLean & Company, stated.

Therefore, it’s high time that organizations move away from an informal, ad hoc approach to measuring attrition and flight risk, according to the analyst firm, and instead focus on creating the conditions that make people want to stay.

Of course, “it's not realistic to create custom retention strategies for every employee”, McLean & Company’s Practice Lead, HR Research & Advisory Searches, William Howard, exclusively tells UNLEASH.

However, it’s worth putting the effort in to capture data and insights around the needs of “high performers and those in critical roles since those individuals often have a disproportionate impact on organizational outcomes”.

While HR has a clear role to play in addressing flight risk, for Howard, “the biggest impact often comes down to the individual relationship between the manager and employee”.While HR has a clear role to play in addressing flight risk, for Howard, “the biggest impact often comes down to the individual relationship between the manager and employee”.

Research from Gallup found that four in ten employees who voluntarily left their organization said their manager could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job.

HR, it’s time to work more closely with people managers and leaders within your organizations if you want to reduce your attrition.

“To truly move the needle on retention and decrease voluntary turnover, HR leaders need to increase their focus on leadership development within their organizations", states Howard.

This is about “intentionally equipping managers with the leadership competencies needed to have regular, honest conversations with employees about their engagement, goals, and areas where their needs aren't being met”.

“Facilitating and empowering these types of touchpoints is one of the most proven ways to uncover the insights and actions needed to improve retention that data alone can never fully predict,” Howard concludes.

McLean & Company: Career paths are also a key part of retention

In addition to empowering leaders to have so-called ‘stay conversations’ with their employees, particularly high-performers, another McLean & Company report found another piece of the puzzle on retention is career pathing.

"Employees are telling us they want to grow – but they don't see a path forward," stated Lexi Hambides, Director, HR Research & Advisory Services at McLean & Company."Employees are telling us they want to grow – but they don't see a path forward," stated Lexi Hambides, Director, HR Research & Advisory Services at McLean & Company.

"Our research shows that when career pathing frameworks are unclear or non-existent, employees disengage, seek opportunities elsewhere, and organizations struggle to retain critical talent.”

When organizations successfully match employees with work and projects that suit their skills and interests they have higher organizational performance, according to McLean & Company’s 2025 HR Trends data.

It’s a win-win – you reduce turnover, and you retain the top performers that keep your business running now, and will also drive your future success.