Most HR and leadership teams rightly focus on retaining great employees. Turnover is expensive, disruptive, and difficult to manage. In fact, the cost of replacing a single employee can range from one-half to two times their annual salary. As more employees stay, some organizations are discovering that high retention can hide its own set of risks: stagnation, disengagement, and blocked career paths. In today’s labor market, it’s time to rethink retention and what it should deliver.
When Retention Becomes a Risk
To improve retention, CBIZ helps clients implement best practices: training managers on stay interviews, benchmarking competitive pay, and developing career ladders. We also promote flexible work policies, engagement surveys, and employee recognition platforms. These efforts help strengthen retention by aligning with employee needs and expectations.
At the same time, national trends show that employees are staying in their roles longer. As of early 2025, the U.S. quits rate dropped to 2.0%, down from nearly 3.0% during the Great Resignation (source: BLS). Median wage growth is now slightly higher for job stayers (4.4%) than job switchers (4.2%), further reducing the economic incentive to leave.
Lower turnover doesn’t always signal a healthy workforce. In some organizations, employees may be staying not because they’re energized or engaged, but because external opportunities feel limited. This can lead to talent stagnation, when your workforce sticks around but stops progressing. It’s critical to look beyond retention rates and consider if people are thriving or just staying.
Here are three key risks and how to get ahead of them:
Reluctant Retention
When employees only stay because of economic uncertainty, they may disengage while remaining on the payroll. Without strong performance management, these employees can quietly reduce their output while continuing to draw compensation increases and benefits.
Higher retention creates a great opportunity to review your performance expectations. Strengthen your performance management processes, support managers with coaching, and calibrate pay-for-performance programs to reward contribution, not just presence.
Stalled Growth
A long-tenured, low-turnover workforce can inadvertently slow innovation and skill development. Without fresh perspectives or new talent, your organization may default to legacy thinking. Stagnation can quickly become a competitive risk in fast-moving areas like AI, analytics, and compliance.
To avoid, prioritize employee learning and development as a strategic imperative. Invest in targeted training, stretch assignments, and cross-functional exposure to build new skills. Consider using a learning management system (LMS) to scale and track these efforts. Focus on continuous capability-building, not just compliance training.
Career Bottlenecks
When mid-level and senior staff stay put, advancement opportunities shrink. Ambitious early-career employees may find limited room to grow and take their talent elsewhere. This dynamic can lead to a top-heavy structure with high-potential future leaders quietly leaving through the side door.
An experienced workforce presents an opportunity to expand non-linear growth paths like project leadership roles, rotational assignments, and strategic visibility opportunities. Use job architecture to clarify career pathways and define growth opportunities, even when promotions aren’t immediately available.
The Bottom Line
Retention is still a worthy goal, but it must be connected to engagement, development, and performance. High retention can become a long-term advantage for organizations that recognize its potential pitfalls and address them proactively.
At CBIZ, we help clients build total rewards strategies that support these goals, from rethinking job structures to installing pay-for-performance systems and guiding manager capability. We believe retention should be more than just a measure of who stays, but reflect how well your workforce thrives and contributes to the company’s success.
Ready to take your retention strategy to the next level? Connect with our advisors to learn how we can help your organization thrive.
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