6 Strategies for Retaining Key Talent During Organisational Change

The hum of uncertainty resonates through the halls of any organisation undergoing change. Your coffee breaks become filled with quiet discussions, and your Slack messages are more measured. Your best employees silently start searching for new positions. When a merger, digital transformation or leadership adjustment occurs, it can leave employees feeling unsettled and uncertain.

How you handle the situation determines whether the pivot succeeds or fails. Retaining key talent during periods of flux is about more than loyalty. It’s about keeping the intellectual and emotional infrastructure that enables organisational recovery. Following six simple strategies ensures continuity and reduces employee turnover.

1. Communicate With Transparency

Research by McKinsey indicates that only 30% of company transformations succeed, and even positive shifts often fail to capture all value points fully. Unclear messages or a lack of updates can drive top talent to seek other employment opportunities. Communicating transparently fosters employee trust during corporate transformations. People do not disengage because they dislike change. They disengage when they feel uninformed or powerless. Many businesses share news before they have all the details, which can leave employees with more questions than answers.

Sharing only the dates and that a shift is coming is insufficient. Employees want to know how the change will affect their work and how management will measure success. Straightforward updates can create more goodwill than generalised memos that lack substance. Creating feedback loops can identify problems with the organisational change before they become insurmountable. A wise approach is to ask employees what’s working and what isn’t before you’re forced to learn those answers during an exit interview.

2. Involve Employees

People rarely resist change that they are instrumental in creating. Involving employees in decisions ensures company-wide adjustments become a shared mission. When you allow departments to pilot new processes and systems, they can offer feedback. Management then understands employee pain points and can adjust new policies before fully implementing them.

When you encourage employees to participate, they can take ownership of new methods and feel a sense of belonging on the team. Utilising staff ideas to shape the final outcome of restructuring allows them to see the vision leadership has for the company’s future. Host town halls and encourage cross-team workshops. Let staff submit anonymous surveys as a safe space for input.

3. Realign Career Growth

The biggest casualty of restructuring may be the career ladder that employees once valued. Structural change can create uncertainty about a worker’s career path. Leaders who want high retention rates will have their employees redraw those maps in real time.

It’s essential to plan for the future workforce, defining new job titles and clarifying how current positions align with the updated roles. Communicate the value the person brings to the team and why you value them. Employees who understand their role within the organisation are six times more likely to feel engaged at work.

4. Prioritise Psychological Safety

Retraining and upskilling opportunities send a strong message to workers that the company intends to develop its people, not replace them. When staff see the path to career advancement, they’re more likely to stay instead of leaving for other opportunities. Spend extra time discussing adjustments with staff members who require special accommodations and reassure them about their salaries and benefits. Around 85% of people with a cognitive, learning, emotional or mental disability reported being worried about their compensation keeping up with inflation.

Culture is a lifeline during times of uncertainty. When employees feel their positions are unstable, they may look to their work relationships and shared values for a sense of stability and security. Reaffirming purpose and trust are critical for holding teams together.

Encourage leaders to remain visible and accessible to staff. Casual check-ins lead to informal conversations about challenges and worries. Those working with disabilities may require frank discussions about what they need to feel secure.

5. Prioritise Top Talent

Retention strategies are most effective when planned ahead of the change, identifying the roles that are most tactically or operationally critical for the transformation. Key roles may not necessarily be held by a C-suite leader, but could also include a lead engineer, project manager or cross-functional team member. Map your talent ecosystem early to anticipate some of these ripple effects.

Identifying the employee groups that drive retention allows you to align incentives and engagement efforts with their unique motivations. When companies tailor retention efforts, such as developing the careers of one group and offering leadership opportunities to another, these efforts prove more effective than generalised financial incentives. Stay interviews can help uncover what keeps them engaged and what would cause them to consider leaving. Look for early warning signs, such as when participation declines or deadlines are missed. These signs may indicate an employee’s intention to resign.

While the concept is straightforward, its execution requires commitment and persistence. Delay creates doubt, and doubt leads to departure.

6. Create a Retention Mindset

Retention efforts should begin before you receive a resignation letter. Straightforward daily habits, such as fairness, consistent follow-ups and genuine feedback, go a long way in preventing employee churn. Workers often leave due to poor organisational change management. Effective employee retention is part of seeing every operational shift as an opportunity to recommit, realign and progress.

If your company has a global workforce, communication becomes even more crucial to reduce attrition during organisational restructuring. Executives should consider the ongoing resources required to develop cohesive teams that operate in the company’s best interests. Losing a highly valued employee sets a department back and may impact the entire organisation.

Creating Stronger Foundations

Change can split or unite. Leaders’ speech, empowerment and support of their people during uncertainty influence whether the change in question succeeds. Employees stay when they feel seen, heard and valued. They can lead the change.

Retaining talent isn’t about clinging to the past. It’s about leading change with empathy and purpose so your people and your organisation emerge stronger.