Learn to spot the signals that an organization may be losing ground on retention of key talent. The most reliable way to surface those signals? Ask your people directly. Employee surveys remain one of the most powerful tools HR professionals have for diagnosing organizational health.
This resource is designed to help companies uncover worrisome patterns in employee departures before they become a costly drain on workforces. Use your organization’s employee engagement survey data and other metrics to gauge whether you have a broader flight risk problem across your teams.
For each question, select the answer that best describes your organization’s data.
Results and Next Steps
High Flight Risk
Your organization has significant retention challenges, and your data signals turnover risk is systemic. Immediate action is required: Launch organization-wide pulse surveys and targeted focus groups to diagnose what’s driving disengagement. Ensure managers are conducting stay conversations with employees in most roles to prevent regrettable turnover.
Escalate your pulse and focus group findings directly to senior leadership to get buy-in for a cross-functional retention task force to address core retention drivers. SHRM’s Global Employee Monitor links these factors most strongly to employee decisions to stay: pay, job security, benefits, work/life balance, and a fair and respectful work environment. Organizations that act decisively on these factors reduce turnover significantly; those that delay compound both the human and financial costs.
After the task force implements its organizational retention strategy, develop targeted action plans for the roles and segments most at risk.
Elevated Flight Risk
Multiple factors indicate employees of your organization may be likely to leave, which means retention can no longer rely on passive monitoring — it requires deliberate, near-term action.
Deploy pulse surveys as soon as you can to identify where dissatisfaction is most concentrated. Train managers to conduct structured one-on-one stay conversations with employees in critical and high-exposure roles. Develop targeted action plans for the roles and segments most at risk.
Focus retention efforts on the factors that SHRM’s Global Employee Monitor links most strongly to employee decisions to stay — pay, job security, benefits, work/life balance, and a fair and respectful work environment — and treat these not as long-term aspirations, but as operational priorities. In addition, invest in manager coaching to ensure frontline leaders understand how their day-to-day behaviors directly influence turnover intentions.
Moderate Flight Risk
Some of your workforce conditions are affecting retention, particularly within specific teams, roles, or reporting structures that may be absorbing disproportionate pressure.
Conduct pulse surveys and structured focus groups to surface concerns before they deepen. Prioritize stay conversations in teams where manager feedback is mixed or engagement signals are weakening.
Use these conversations to assess satisfaction across the retention factors that SHRM’s 2026 Talent Trends research identifies as most challenging — pay, career advancement, work/life balance, managers, flexible schedules, and manageable workloads — and develop targeted action plans for the roles and segments most at risk.
Low Flight Risk
Your organization shows strong retention fundamentals. Even with healthy metrics, pockets of vulnerability can develop within specific teams, so target proactive engagement where early signals appear — managers with mixed feedback, roles with thin succession coverage, or teams navigating recent change.
Continue prioritizing retention drivers — meaningful work, career growth, recognition, and manager support — to create a durable competitive advantage. Assess satisfaction across the retention factors that SHRM’s 2026 Talent Trends research identifies as most challenging — pay, career advancement, work/life balance, managers, flexible schedules, and manageable workloads — and develop targeted action plans for any roles or segments you determine are at risk.
Recommended Resources
Improve Employee Retention by Reevaluating Benefits Packages
A Smart Retention Strategy: Spot Warning Signs with Stay Interviews
Improving Employee Retention and Reducing Turnover
Foundations of Compensation
People Analytics Specialty Credential
