Definition

To keep employees from jumping ship to your competitors by offering just enough compensation, culture, or free snacks to make them stay. In HR circles, retention is the art of convincing talented people that the grass isn't actually greener on the other side. It's also what lawyers do when you pay them a retainer—essentially putting them on standby like a professional fire extinguisher.

Example Usage

After the third engineer resigned this month, the VP finally approved retention bonuses to stem the exodus.

Source: Common HR and legal terminology

Related Terms

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See “retain” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

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