What value walks out the door when a high performer leaves?  

Expertise, customer relationships, productivity and organisational knowledge can all leave with them, often with consequences that aren’t fully felt until months later. 

So how do you distinguish healthy workforce movement from genuinely costly attrition? How can organisations protect the people and capabilities that create the most value? 

Join Fiona Hughes, Chief Financial Officer, and Patrick Cunningham, Head of HR Delivery & Transformation, as they uncover why retention is a business-performance issue, not simply an HR metric. 

From identifying the departures that matter most to understanding the long-term impact of lost expertise, this session will help you take a more strategic approach to protecting your organisation’s value.  

FAQs 

Why is employee retention more than an HR issue? 

While retention is often viewed as a people challenge, its impact can extend across the organisation. Employee turnover can affect productivity, customer outcomes, project delivery, organisational knowledge and overall business performance.  

What are the hidden costs of employee turnover? 

Beyond recruitment and onboarding costs, organisations may experience lost productivity, delays to projects, disruption to customer relationships, increased pressure on colleagues and the loss of valuable organisational knowledge. 

Why do some employee departures have a greater impact than others? 

Not all turnover carries the same risk. The loss of a high performer, specialist or experienced leader can have a disproportionate impact on performance, capability and future growth compared with roles that are easier to replace.  

Can cost-saving initiatives affect retention? 

They can. While improving efficiency is often necessary, reducing development opportunities, career progression, benefits or support without understanding the wider impact can increase attrition risk and create larger costs over time.  

How can organisations identify retention risks earlier? 

Workforce data can provide valuable warning signs. Attrition trends, exit interviews, employee feedback and manager-level patterns can all help organisations understand where retention challenges are emerging and where intervention may be needed.  

Is this session for me? 

This session is designed for HR professionals, senior leaders and decision-makers who want to better understand the commercial impact of employee turnover and learn how to protect the people, expertise and capabilities that drive organisational performance.