Employee retention has always been an important focus for human resource managers. Once a company has invested time and money to recruit and train a good employee, it is in their own best interest to retain that employee and to further develop and motivate them so that they continue to provide value to the organization. However, employers must also recognize and tend to what is in the best interest of their employees, if they intend to keep them. When a company overlooks the needs of its employees and focuses only on the needs of the organization, turnover often results. Excessive turnover in an organization is a prime indicator that something is not right in the employee environment. For this reason, I chose to research and address this topic. In the near future I plan working my way through different management positions in the organization I establish myself with and ultimately reach corporate level. When this comes to fruition, I will need to know my employees, how to retain the most productive ones, and how to keep them satisfied. With this in mind, the topics covered in this report will look at the differences between retention and turnover, why employees stay, reasons why they leave, and what can be done to save them.

Employees leave organizations for all sorts of reasons. Some find a different job, some go back to school, and some follow a spouse who has been transferred out of town. Others retire, get angry about something and quit on impulse, or never intended to keep working after earning a certain amount of money. Still, others get fired or laid off, or they come into money and decide they no longer need a job. All of these examples represent turnover, but they don’t all have the same organizational implications. To distinguish their implications, we need to define types of turnover. According to David G. Allen, an associate professor of management in