How to Prevent Employee Turnover (Before It’s Too Late)

Every business leader has felt the sting of a great employee walking out the door.

They gave their notice. You wished them well (looking cool and composed on the outside, but internally crying “please don’t leave us”). Then you scrambled—again—to fill the gap, keep things moving, and calm the team left behind.

And here’s the kicker: 42% of those exits were preventable. Nearly half of these employees say their departure could have been avoided, according to Gallup’s latest findings. That means leaders have more power to prevent employee turnover than they think.

Which begs the question:

If nearly half of employee turnover is preventable… why aren’t more leaders doing something about it?

The Real Cost of Turnover (And Why It’s Not Just an HR Problem)

Most leaders underestimate how much turnover eats into their bottom line.

• Replacing a frontline worker? 40% of their annual salary.
• Technical talent? 80%.
• Managers or execs? Try 200% of their salary.

These are Gallup’s conservative estimates—but in practice, the real cost often reaches 3x to 4x the employee’s salary, depending on the role. As SHRM notes, the total cost of hiring can quickly balloon when you factor in recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity, disruption to team dynamics, and knowledge drain. In truth, it’s nearly impossible to calculate the full hit when a truly great employee walks.

And that’s just the cost you can measure. There’s also lost momentum, broken trust, lower morale, and a ripple effect that hits customer experience and revenue alike.

But here’s the good news: turnover isn’t a mystery—it’s manageable. And if you’re serious about how to prevent employee turnover, it starts with aligning your leadership team around the conversations, behaviors, and systems that reinforce why people stay.

First, What Not to Do

Waiting for employees to tell you they’re unhappy? Too late (or it won’t even happen).

Thinking “they should just be grateful to have a job”? That’s not a strategy—it’s denial. The world of work has changed dramatically since our parents’ generation. Today’s employees expect more: purpose, growth, respect, flexibility—not just a paycheck. If your mindset hasn’t evolved, don’t be surprised when your team does.

Treating performance reviews as your only feedback loop? That’s a fast track to surface-level feedback and missed red flags. When conversations are tied to comp or promotions, people tend to show their polished side—not their real concerns. It’s not the time for transparency—it’s the time to showcase their worth.

The truth? Employees rarely announce they’re leaving until they already have one foot out the door.

Step 1: Know What Counts as Preventable Turnover

Voluntary turnover (resignations) is what we’re talking about here. Not retirements, layoffs, or someone moving to Fiji to run a juice shack.

Preventable turnover = an employee left your company for reasons that could have been addressed with better leadership, culture, clarity, compensation, or opportunity.

And if you’re in a growth stage, every avoidable exit slows you down. If you want to prevent employee turnover, you have to proactively address the root causes.

Step 2: Build the Leadership Habit That Stops Turnover Cold

Turnover prevention is a conversation habit. Not a program.

What keeps employees? According to Gallup’s study:

• Regular, meaningful conversations with their manager.
• Feeling seen, valued, and developed.
• Knowing there’s a future for them on the team.

Weekly check-ins about goals, strengths, recognition, and development can make all the difference when you’re trying to prevent employee turnover.

Step 3: Talk About the Right Things (Not Just the Workload)

When employees were asked why they left, the top responses fell into three buckets. Here’s what they are—and how to fix them:

1. Compensation & Career Path (30%)

• Is your pay and benefits package competitive in today’s market?
• Does the employee know how they can grow—and is there a clear pathway to get there?
• Are raises and promotions tied to performance and progress, not just tenure?
• Are they being appropriately rewarded for their contributions?

(Pro tip: If you’re not sure how your compensation stacks up, a Market Insights Report—also known as compensation or salary benchmarking—can help. If you don’t have a go-to partner for this, Hoops can support. We care less about where you get it from—just make sure it’s current, accurate, and useful enough to drive real decisions.)

Just don’t be like Burger King. One long-time employee went viral for never missing a day of work in 27 years… and received a meager goodie bag as a thank you. Seriously. Don’t be that employer.

Transparency builds trust—and so does compensation that reflects real value.

2. Relationship With Manager (29%)

• Do they feel respected, heard, and empowered to contribute?
• Are managers consistently showing up with meaningful weekly 1:1s?
• Do they feel like they’re on the same winning team—or just a pawn to make their manager look good?
• Do they trust their manager to advocate for them, provide honest feedback, and invest in their growth—not just delegate tasks?
• Are they treated like true partners, not just a means to hit metrics?

Manager relationships shape the culture more than any policy ever will. If employees don’t feel seen, supported, or safe speaking up, no amount of perks will make them stay.

How you lead your people shows up in your revenue. Every. Single. Time.

When employees know their manager listens, supports, and invests in them, they feel a sense of belonging that can’t be replicated with perks or ping pong tables. Just 15 minutes of honest connection each week can surface blockers early, spark development conversations, and build lasting trust.

Most people don’t leave companies—they leave managers. And if leaders aren’t building real relationships, trust and retention start slipping. This is where culture takes root—or starts to rot. If you want to prevent employee turnover, this is where momentum starts.

3. Organizational Frustrations (22%)

• Is the workload realistic and sustainable?
• Are the systems and processes supporting your team—or slowing them down?
• Do they feel like part of a holistic team that values their input and prioritizes continuous improvement?
• Do they have people they can count on when the workload is heavy—or are they left to shoulder it alone?

You don’t need perfect operations. But to prevent employee turnover, you do need to show your team that when they raise a red flag, someone’s listening—and fixing what’s broken. When the same friction points show up day after day—clunky tools, unclear roles, inconsistent workflows—people get tired. Not just tired-tired, but why-am-I-still-doing-this tired.

And let’s be real—burnout isn’t just about long hours. It’s about that hopeless loop of inefficiencies, miscommunication, and never-ending rework. Over time, that frustration becomes fatigue. That fatigue becomes turnover.

Retention isn’t just about culture—it’s about operational sanity. And it’s essential if you want to prevent employee turnover.

Step 4: Create the Stay Plan (Not Just the Exit Interview)

Exit interviews are post-mortems. Stay conversations are prevention.

And while we’re at it—this is why engagement surveys and stay interviews should never be tied to performance reviews. If someone thinks their honesty might cost them a bonus or a promotion, you won’t get the truth. Create safe, confidential spaces where your team can share what’s really going on.

Make this part of your process:

• Ask, “What would make you stay for the next 2+ years?”
• Follow up quarterly (Hoops can help automate this if you’d like—otherwise, just make sure it happens consistently.)
• Track early warning signs: disengagement, silence, missed goals.

And deepen the conversation. Consider adding questions like:

• What would make your work feel more sustainable?
• Do you feel you’re growing here?
• Do you have the tools and support to do your job well?
• Do you feel valued and recognized by your team and leadership?
• Do you see a future for yourself here—and is it clear what that path looks like?

Bonus: Document and track these “stay factors” each quarter. When these insights are visible to leadership—and taken seriously—you’ll spot retention risks before they become goodbye emails.

And this goes beyond trying to prevent employee turnover. These conversations can reveal blind spots in workflows, gaps in communication, or operational clogs that leadership can’t always see from the top. Employees live in the day-to-day—and when they’re invited to pull back the curtain, it’s not just their experience that improves—it’s your business.

Step 5: Treat Retention Like a Strategic Business Metric

Retention is not just a people problem—it’s a business problem. And like any other key business issue, it needs real measurement.

Track your:

• Voluntary vs. involuntary turnover rates
• Stay factors by department or role
• Manager-specific retention trends
• Retention of high-performing vs. average team members

If you want to improve it, measure it. And don’t just look at the numbers after the damage is done—build a rhythm of reviewing this data monthly or quarterly so you can spot problems early.

Retention isn’t HR’s job. It’s every leader’s scorecard. If you want to prevent employee turnover, make it a strategic conversation and not a reactionary one.

Step 6: Take a Systematic Approach (Here’s Our Playbook)

Quick fixes don’t prevent employee turnover. Frameworks do.

At Hoops, we help our clients implement the Winning Team Advantage. You can steal our retention system right here:

5 Steps to Prevent Employee Turnover:

1. Define Talent Priorities
2. Coach Leaders Regularly
3. Map Career Paths
4. Benchmark Compensation
5. Track Real Retention Drivers

This is how you prevent employee turnover at the root.

Final Thought: Preventing Turnover Is a Leadership Advantage

Preventable turnover is a silent killer of growth. But it doesn’t have to be.

The best teams don’t just “try to hang onto people.” They build systems that make people want to stay and grow.

If you want help diagnosing your risks, our Talent Health Checkup is a great starting point.

But whether you work with us or not, please take away:

Retention isn’t the result of luck or perks—it’s a conscious strategy. And it’s how the best companies build their winning teams.