Employee Retention Guide
The top companies for employee retention in 2025
High employee turnover is costly for both a firm’s finances and its company culture. We found out which countries are doing the best job at retaining talent – in the UK, the U.S. and globally.
Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction
In this chapter you’ll learn
- Why employee retention is a critical issue right now.
- The main causes for high employee turnover.
- How Moorepay identified the top companies for employee retention worldwide.
Why employee retention is a critical issue right now
Job-hopping is trending, AI-powered applications are making it harder to discern true talent, and one in two U.S. employees are watching for or actively seeking a new job – the highest “open to leave” rate in ten years. In the UK, 23% of people are actively planning to leave their jobs in the short term.
In such a climate, holding on to staff you know and trust becomes a matter not just of cutting costs but of shaping your company culture and developing realistic long-term goals.
The main causes for high employee turnover
In the U.S., the median tenure for private sector employees is just 3.5 years – meaning that half of all staff have been in their job for fewer than 42 months. Workforce experts Randstad identify six main factors for employee turnover:
- Retirement
- Low wages
- Burnout
- Toxic work environment
- Lack of recognition
- Limited growth opportunities
How Moorepay identified the top companies for employee retention worldwide
Which firms have tackled these and other employee retention issues, and managed to buck the trend of high turnover in HR?
To find out, Moorepay sourced the median employee tenures from the LinkedIn company profiles of over 3,100 major companies worldwide, including those with the highest market caps and any other notable brands. We then mapped the top company for employee retention in every country and ranked the top 15 in the UK and the U.S.
Key findings
-
16.8
years on average – Greece
Median tenure at Greek firm Intracom Holdings, the best employee retention of any major firm worldwide. -
11.8
years on average – U.S.
Median tenure at ConocoPhillips, the best employee retention of any U.S. company. -
8.7
years on average – UK
Median tenure at education firm, Pearson, the top firm for retention in the UK.
Chapter 2
The top company for employee retention in every country
In this chapter you’ll learn
- The region where high-retention companies are clustered.
- The Greek firm that has the best retention rate in the world.
- What the company says about its employee relationship.
We started by identifying over 3,100 major firms worldwide, including the top companies by market cap and other notable names. The six countries with the longest tenures among top firms are all in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean regions: Greece, Jordan, Cyprus, Romania, Egypt and Syria.
The ‘brain drain’ effect has been especially notable in the Balkan region as young talent leaves in droves; however, whether this is a cause or a result of high employee retention figures remains a point of debate.
The major company with the best employee retention in the world is Intracom Holdings in Greece, where the median tenure is 16.8 years. Intracom has a range of interests, including IT, construction, defense electronics solutions, telecoms and real estate. Benefits of working for Intracom include full health cover, free annual health tests, opportunities for learning and development, shuttle buses, free refreshments and subsidised meals.
“Our people are at the heart of our business success.”
“This is why their health and safety in a protected and stable environment is our primary concern, so that our employees are motivated to be productive and results-oriented, take initiatives furthering the company’s interests and to manage their personal growth with zeal and integrity.”
Learn more about employee retention
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Why are employees really leaving? Exit interview insights
When there is no pressure or consequences on employees, it’s more likely they will be honest. That’s why exit interviews can provide raw and detailed accounts of an employees experience that they otherwise wouldn’t talk about.
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Retention strategies | Keeping your best people
Discover how to build a loyal, motivated workforce with our free guide on retention strategies that actually work.
Chapter 3
The top companies for employee retention in the UK
In this chapter you’ll learn
- Which UK company has the longest median employee tenure.
- How the UK’s best company for employee retention compares globally.
- How diversity has been a swaying factor for some long-term employees.
Next, we identified the major UK companies with the best employee retention rates. There are three utility companies and three banking & finance firms among the top 15.
The top UK company for long tenures is education resource provider Pearson. However, Pearson’s median tenure is just 8.7 years, making the UK the 104th-placed country for top tenure. Employees praise Pearson’s healthcare and pension benefits. The company is also highly rated for diversity initiatives.
Pearson really invites its people to ask why because as a company, it’s been committed to transform itself over the period of its existence, which is almost two centuries.
Says Zerin Karim, Technology Business Partner at Pearson.
“Women in Technology is one of the initiatives that I partner with a lot of my colleagues at Pearson as a tool to try and address this representation gap, at least to start with in Pearson, and then more broadly, externally to try and influence the wider industry.”
Chapter 4
The top companies for employee retention in the U.S.
In this chapter you’ll learn
- How Verizon maintains loyalty across a team of 110,000 employees.
- The number one U.S. company for employee retention.
- How the number one company takes a chance on talent.
The top 15 U.S. companies with the highest median employee tenure include three oil and gas companies and three telecommunications firms.
Verizon (8.4 years) recently rebooted its HR strategy, developing a “cultural operating system” called Culture OS, with the core values of trust, care and excellence.
“Trust, for me, is one of the biggest ways that you drive performance, that you drive empowerment in your employee base, and that you create loyalty.”
Says Executive VP and Chief Human Resources Officer Sam Hammock.
The U.S. number one is the hydrocarbon exploration and production firm ConocoPhillips, where the median tenure is 11.8 years.
ConocoPhillips maintains a team ethos named SPIRIT (Safety, People, Integrity, Responsibility, Innovation, Teamwork) across its workforce. Training coordinator Brad Olson has been with the company for over three decades – having assumed he’d failed his original interview due to his speech disorder.
“Conoco believed in me.”
“And they’ve supported me all these years. It’s been a great honor working for a company who rolled the dice on me.”
“Everyone has some sort of problem. Perhaps they hobble. Maybe they have a scar on their face. Maybe they have some sort of speech issue like me. Maybe they lack self-confidence. Or perhaps they don’t make a good first impression. Don’t overlook them.”
PAST WEBINAR
Retention strategies
Struggling to keep top talent? Discover how to build a loyal, motivated workforce with our free HR Masterclass on retention strategies that actually work.
In this session, we explore the true cost and causes of employee turnover, how to measure your retention rate, and what role HR plays in creating a culture where employees want to stay. You’ll gain practical insights into the Three Rs of Retention and learn proven strategies to strengthen employee loyalty and engagement.
Chapter 5
Frequently asked questions
In this chapter you’ll learn
- A summary of key statistics from our findings.
- Study methodology and sources.
FAQs
23% are actively planning to leave their jobs in the short term, according to employee experience provider Culture Amp, which used predicted attrition data from 10 million employees in the UK to arrive at that figure.
Retirement, low wages, burnout, a toxic work environment, a lack of recognition and limited growth opportunities, according to workforce experts at Randstad.
The major company with the best employee retention in the world is Intracom Holdings in Greece, where the median tenure is 16.8 years.
The top UK company for long tenures is education resource provider Pearson, with a median tenure of 8.7 years, making the UK the 104th-placed country for top tenure.
The number one U.S. company for employee retention is hydrocarbon exploration and production firm ConocoPhillips, where the median tenure is 11.8 years.
Methodology & Sources
We sourced the median employee tenures from the LinkedIn company profiles of over 3,100 major companies worldwide. The seed list of companies comprised the top firms by market cap for each country from companiesmarketcap.com and a manually curated seed list of any missing major notable brands.
Data is correct as of July 2025.
Contents
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