The short version
In a Forbes Business Council post (February 9, 2022), Ryan Vet, founder of Third Hospitality, argued that employee retention comes down to three things done well: recruiting for culture fit, prioritizing the linchpin employees who produce most of the results, and repeating those practices before attrition becomes a crisis. He pointed to Satya Nadella's culture work at Microsoft as the model.
Ryan Vet · Article in Forbes Business Council
Two months after writing about the cost of the Great Resignation, Ryan Vet came back to the question employers were actually asking: what do we do about it? He opened with the numbers. According to Visier, one in four workers left their job in 2021, and the Work Institute projected that could climb to one in three.
This piece is a Forbes Business Council post, written by Ryan as a member of that council. Forbes Business Council is Forbes' fee-based membership council for business owners and leaders; its posts are contributed by members, not reported by Forbes staff.
Ryan's Big Takeaways
- 01
Retention starts at the hire.
The first step is recruiting for culture fit, because the wrong hire is a retention problem before their first day. "If culture is out of whack and employees are being hired that are not cultural fits, you can kiss employee retention good-bye," Ryan wrote.
- 02
Know who your linchpins are.
Applying the Pareto principle, he argued that a small share of employees produce most of the results and hold the key relationships inside and outside the company. They deserve deliberate attention. He also pointed to sentiment analysis, which reads employee comments to surface grievances early, as a way to help management address complaints quickly and make employees feel appreciated.
- 03
Work on retention before you need to.
The third step is iteration, and it is the one most organizations skip. "So often, organizations do not focus on retention until attrition becomes an issue," he wrote. His example was Satya Nadella, who concluded Microsoft could not transform its business without first fixing its culture.
Standout Quotes
An employer who is capable of doing that will be successful in any industry.
If culture is out of whack and employees are being hired that are not cultural fits, you can kiss employee retention good-bye.
So often, organizations do not focus on retention until attrition becomes an issue.
In an age where employee tenure appears to be dropping and loyalty shifting, going back to the basics can go a long way.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are Ryan Vet's three steps to solving employee retention?
In his February 2022 Forbes Business Council post, Ryan Vet's three steps were: recruit top-tier talent that fits the culture, prioritize retaining the linchpin employees who drive most of the results, and repeat those practices continuously rather than waiting until attrition becomes a problem.
Is this Forbes article by Ryan Vet staff-reported editorial?
No. It is a Forbes Business Council post. Ryan Vet wrote it as a member of the Forbes Business Council, a fee-based membership council for business owners whose members publish contributed posts on Forbes.com.
Keep Exploring
- Appearance Forbes Business Council: The Great Resignation, from behind the bar In a December 2021 Forbes Business Council post, Ryan Vet, then the founder of Third Hospitality and owner of several wine bars, argued that employee turnover was quietly killing businesses. He used the example of a bartender whose regulars may follow them out the door, and closed on trust and culture rather than wages. Explore →
- What I called on the gig economy in 2019, and what happened Explore →
- speaking Generational keynotes Explore →
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