The Ultimate Retention Playbook: Keeping Talent Aboard in 2026

Lori Cole (00:08):

Hi. Thank you everyone for joining. We’re just going to give it a couple of more minutes because we still have people popping in, but while we’re doing that, I am excited to tell you about this brand new feature that we just launched. It is our candidate interview scheduling tool. This is now included in your job slots at no extra charge, and it really makes scheduling interviews easier. You can schedule and manage all of your candidate interviews right from the iHire platform. It syncs with your calendar and your conferencing tools instantly. It’s so easy to set up and candidates can pick their own time slots based on the time that you have available. Then you’re able to set your preferences. You can choose what type of interview you’re doing, whether it’s a phone interview or in person. You can choose the duration and you can even add special instructions for the candidate. And the best part of this is that our clients are seeing a 33% decrease in interview no-shows. So that is huge. We’ve got a lot of people using it and it takes so much friction out of the interviewing and the hiring process. So I would really encourage you to check out that tool and get set up for it. Like I said, it’s free and it’s super easy to set up and use.

(01:43):

All right, let’s go ahead and get started. I think we’re good to go here. Oh, here we go. My screens are a little bit behind everybody, so sorry about that. My name is Lori Cole and I am a certified career coach, content creator and brand ambassador here at iHire. I want to offer you a warm welcome to today’s webinar, The Ultimate Retention Playbook Keeping Talent Aboard in 2026, and so we’re all thinking about that right now as the new year comes up. Before we get started, I want to point out some features of the webinar platform that will really put you in the driver’s seat. The widgets that you see on your screen allow you to move and resize windows and explore content related to today’s presentation. Make sure that you find that ask a question widget and submit your questions at any time during the presentation.

(02:43):

Only our producers will see those questions and we’ll answer as many as we can after the webinar. Also, I want you to find that emoji widget. It should be, there’s a bunch of different little widgets across the bottom of your screen. Find that wit and start sending them out because we really appreciate it as presenters when you send us an emoji if we’ve said something that you can really get behind and relate to. Also, keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for a recording of this webinar. And lastly, just a quick reminder that you’ll earn one credit today for SHRM and HRCI recertification, so make sure that you stick around to the end of the webinar so that you can get that widget to pop up and download your certificate. With that, I’d like to introduce our presenters Today we have Heather Gonzalez and Carlton Boujai. Heather, let’s start with you first. You are, iHire’s hiring solutions, excuse me, manager, and you oversee the mid-market team helping employers fill keyword. Excuse me,

Heather Gonzales (04:09):

I got you all choked up, Lori, you did.

Lori Cole (04:13):

Because we’ve worked together so long since 2001, you have 20 years of experience in sales. You’re a SaaSy Sales Leadership and Sandler Bronze Certified Sales Professional, and you have your AA-ISP. You’re also passionate about connecting employers with top candidates, and we really want to welcome you and say thank you for being here again.

Heather Gonzales (04:43):

Oh, I love being here. Thanks for having me.

Lori Cole (04:46):

Thanks. And you did get me choked up. Wow. I know. And then we have Carlton. Carlton is an iHire hiring solutions advisor with nearly a decade in sales and project management and is also a certified PMP. So I believe that stands for project manager and he is passionate about connecting businesses with exceptional talent. He leverages expertise in communication, problem solving and strategic execution to deliver technology driven solutions for driving higher growth and creating lasting impact for businesses and communities. Great to have you with us, Carlton.

Carlton Boujai (05:33):

Thank you so much, Lori. I’m glad to be able to join and join in the conversation.

Lori Cole (05:38):

Yeah, we’re excited to have both of you here today. So let’s kick things off with a little poll here. Have you experienced voluntary employee turnover this past year? For instance, did any of your employees resign or quit in 2025? Yes. No, or unsure. So while we’re waiting for those results, we’re going to go over a little bit of this talent retention report. So Heather, I’ve heard of job hugging before, but I’m sorry, I’ve heard of job hopping before, but I’ve never heard of job hugging. So what is that

Heather Gonzales (06:22):

Same Lori, until I read more about it. But for everybody that’s on the call, why don’t you show us, Lori talked about those emojis. Why don’t you show us an emoji If you have heard the term job hugging or job hugger this past year, if you’ve answered the poll, feel free to throw those emojis up if you’ve heard of job hugging or job huggers, and if not, job hugging has been another HR buzzword that refers to employees who are hunkering down and staying at their job out of caution given uncertain economic times and a slow labor market. I’d almost call myself a job hugger, but I’m not staying for those reasons. But anyway, a new term for some have heard of it, it’s not just another trendy hashtag, job hugging is happening. BLS data shows that quit rates have stabilized since the days of the Great resignation and our 2025 talent report or talent retention report suggests the same.

(07:24):

For our seventh annual report, we surveyed 1,185 jobs seekers and 210 employers from 57 industries across the us and we found that 36% of workers quit a job in the past year, which is down from 39% in 2024 and 43% in 2023. That’s a two year decrease of 17% showing that turnover is continuing to cool. And at the same time, our research and other studies show that job satisfaction is rising. So it’s not just caution that’s keeping people at their jobs. 56% of iHire’s survey respondents reported being satisfied with their current or most recent job, which is up from 55% in 2024. And the conference board’s 2025 job satisfaction survey showed the highest level of job satisfaction since the annual survey was first conducted in 1987. That’s the highest in 38 years. So some of us can pat ourselves on the back for that.

(08:36):

Good job on keeping people satisfied at work. Our survey also showed that of respondents who said they weren’t actively searching for a new job, 45% weren’t looking for a new job because they were satisfied with their current job or employer, which is compared to 16% who said it was too risky to look for or take another job in this economy. So the majority are saying they’re happy where they’re at. So what’s next for employee retention? If the job market heats up again, will job huggers quickly become job hoppers? And how can you ensure those workers who may seem happy now are engaged and committed long-term? Even though I said to pat yourself on the back, now is not the time to get comfortable with your retention strategies. And we’re about to share some actionable advice from our report on how you can enhance engagement and prevent turnover in 2026 and beyond.

Lori Cole (09:33):

And I love all the data on this slide because it shows that people aren’t holding onto their jobs because of fear. They actually are liking their jobs. So that is so cool to see.

Heather Gonzales (09:48):

I agree.

Lori Cole (09:49):

So let’s look at these poll results here. You have experienced turnover in the last year or so, more than I would’ve thought.

Heather Gonzales (09:59):

Thank you.

Lori Cole (10:00):

Yeah, that’s funny. I think that no matter what, this webinar is going to be a good thing for you because we’ve got so much great information about how to retain your people. Alright, let’s start with the basics here, Carlton, what should we talk about when we think about retention? I know that benefits have always been a big part of the puzzle. Is it still a big part of the puzzle?

Carlton Boujai (10:34):

Yeah, absolutely. When you look at turnover, when you look at trying to prevent that and really try to have a really great retention strategy, what do we want to start with? We want to keep it simple and we want to start with the basics. So our first tip for 2026 retention playbook is simple. Start with the basics when it comes to benefits and then we can expand to the more trendy or the progressive pet insurance, the four day work weeks that everybody is kind of talking about now. And then once your employees basic needs are met, we can expand from there. So in our survey we asked employees to select which benefits aside from pay. That’s obviously going to be a big one that employers can offer to increase the likelihood that the employers would stay with the company. Here’s the top five responses. So we have the positive work environment. That might be a surprise, but that is number one. So number two is health insurance. Number three, commitment to healthy work balance work-life balance, 401(k) options and retirement plan. And then the ability to connect with and provide professional development and upskilling opportunities. These results prove that employees prioritize a supportive and an inclusive workplace first, health and wellness benefits, and then the flexibility that financial security and that career growth that is so important to employers.

Lori Cole (12:01):

And it’s probably a good reminder that we just don’t need to reinvent the wheel as long as our basics are solid, we have a really good foundation for retaining these people. Heather, let’s build on that. How do we know if we’re offering what actually people want?

Heather Gonzales (12:23):

Yeah, absolutely. And I couldn’t agree more that starting with the basics is super important as currently mentioned. Focus on the basics, but then let’s expand. While perks like unlimited PTO and onsite childcare are alluring, they’ll have less impact. If your foundational offerings aren’t up to par, make sure you’re covering employee’s basic needs in 26 to improve retention and engagement. For example, I’ve been at IHI for 25 years now and there is a lot that keeps me here, like our culture and our amazing benefits. However, if we didn’t have basic benefits like health insurance, I wouldn’t be able to stay. So it’s things like that to keep in mind. Focus on honing a positive work environment. We’ll get into this topic in more detail later, but also focus on whether your culture and policies are conducive to helping your people strike a healthy work-life balance. Do you need to offer more flexibility, remote or hybrid options, additional days off, et cetera.

(13:23):

Evaluate your health and financial planning benefits like open enrollment is going on right now for a lot of people. We just had something with iHire where we had a marketplace now that we can choose our insurance from. So it gave us more flexibility in the healthcare choices that we had, which was kind of a neat thing to go through. So also look at what you are offering in terms of professional development. Employees want to see that they have a future with you and what that looks like. This is another topic we’ll touch on in more detail later in the presentation as well. To find out what your employees truly want and need, ask ‘em. Send out a survey chat in your one-on-ones. We send anonymous surveys to our employees quite often to stay in touch with how they’re doing in their current environment with our company. Those make a huge difference. You can’t meet their needs if you don’t know what they’re looking for out of their employers. The bottom line is that once your foundational benefits are strong, you can explore other ways to enhance the employee experience and an employer brand that attracts and retains top talent as well.

Lori Cole (14:32):

Yeah, sometimes the best retention strategy is just to ask them, Hey, what do you need? How can we make things better for you? And then actually follow through on some of the things that are most realistic for your company.

Heather Gonzales (14:46):

Yeah, that’s definitely key. Follow through

Lori Cole (14:50):

Carlton. It looks like pain matters, but it’s not actually the deal breaker that we always think it is. Tell us about why raises aren’t necessarily a magic retention solution.

Carlton Boujai (15:04):

And this might come as a little bit of surprise to a couple people that the next piece of advice is recognize that pay raises aren’t the magic attention solution. So not to get us wrong, competitive pay is very crucial and that is a major aspect to consider, but it’s not the only reason that an employee chooses to stay or to leave. When we asked survey respondents who had left the job in 2025, why did you do so? Right? Only 15% noted that it was unsatisfactory pay that drove that. So let’s take a look at this list here so far behind other reasons like toxic work environments or poor leadership was tied with burnout and stress. So just taking a look at this list here, toxic work environments, poor leadership, unhappy with your manager, lack of growth, it’s not even in the top five. So just kind of giving that really great picture of what is that information? What are those feedbacks that why employees are leaving?

Lori Cole (16:13):

Yeah, so it’s not the main reason, like money is not the main reason. There’s clearly more going on with this toxic or negative work environment especially, and that’s another thing I want to mention. If you are in a management position and your employees are coming to you about a toxic work environment, please, please listen to them. We coach people all of the time. I coach candidates all of the time that will tell me that they’ve been to HR and HR won’t do anything. So that I would really encourage you if you have any people coming to you about a toxic work environment. It’s the top reason that people are leaving.

Carlton Boujai (17:05):

One other thing, Lori, I actually had a conversation about this this morning of an employer said I was listening to the grumblings in the break room, but Heather already alluded to that. Being able to connect with the survey and be able to get that information and hear what people are saying, what people need, I mean that’s so crucial. That’s really good.

Lori Cole (17:25):

Yeah. Well I know employers sometimes feel like if they throw money at a problem it’ll go away, but what happens when money can’t actually solve the problem?

Heather Gonzales (17:38):

Great question. I do want to say I find it very interesting that satisfactory pay is not even in the top five that Carlton mentioned. I’m going to have to remember this in conversations with employees and really talk about that toxic environment because the company profiles we offer can really help them to show their culture. So I’ve got to remember that. So thanks for that Carlton. But your question, Lori, additionally, there’s nearly 20% of employers surveyed, I can’t talk today. Surveyed said that they tried to prevent an employee from leaving by giving them a pay raise and it failed. We all think that if somebody’s leaving, that money’s the best thing to throw at the problem, but sometimes it’s because a departing employee may use your counter offer to get a higher salary starting somewhere else. They don’t have an intention of staying. So you’ve just wasted your time and effort instead of resorting right away to upping your pay scales or going back and forth with counteroffers.

(18:34):

Consider whether non-monetary elements of the employee experience could use some improvements as well focus on things like leadership and management training, building a supportive culture, enhancing work-life balance, giving employees more flexibility and resources to combat stress and burnout are all things that can help still. As we’ve mentioned, if you haven’t revised your pay scale in a while, it’s still a good time to do so. Actually our HR services team can help you with that. We do compensation studies and we can ensure you’re offering competitive pay. If you’d like to book a consultation to see what we can offer to help with that, click the Calendly widget on your dashboard and fill out your details as well.

Lori Cole (19:19):

Yes, our HR services department is phenomenal at these compensation studies. Absolutely. Especially if you have a new position and you’re not quite sure you’ve created this position, you’re not quite sure what it should pay. That is the time to get in touch with the HR consulting services. Agreed. Alright. Heather, nurturing a positive work environment or is this Carlton’s list? Carlton’s slide. I’m sorry. We’ve talked about this positive work environment several times here, but how do we actually follow through and do it?

Carlton Boujai (19:59):

Yeah, and it’s come up a couple of times in this presentation of it being a key topic in the retention report. So as we know, a positive work environment was a top factor that employees cited that we saw earlier in the presentation. And the toxic work environment was the number one reason that employees left the job in the past two years. So in 20 25, 20 6% of the workers said that that was the reason that they actually left their previous job. So what exactly is considered a work environment? Let’s take a look at that. Generally speaking, a positive work environment includes a culture built on trust, on respect on collaboration, and then that open communication that we talked about with that feedback and being felt like you can really be open to be able to provide that feedback that you need. People feel respected, people feel supported and able to do the best work without that unnecessary friction from a toxic leader, it promotes fair expectations, recognize this contributions, and then offers employees a sense of belonging.

(21:05):

They can really be able to contribute in that environment, in that organization. And then moving to the survey, it shows a strong connection between work cultures where people feel like they can belong and have that job satisfaction. So we asked workers to think about your current or most recent jobs and do they feel or do they feel or do they feel a sense of belonging or inclusion? So while 54% said yes, 30% said no and of the group that said no, 57% said that they were dissatisfied with their jobs. So what does that say to us? It’s crucial to take a hard look at the culture and the type of work environment that we’re nurturing and creating for the employees, but creating a positive environment takes time and it takes consistent effort. So leaning on a set of core values is really what can help you bridge that gap and start that process.

(22:06):

So to guide through your company’s decisions and the behaviors, providing managers with pools to lead with empathy and support, offering opportunities for different teams to collaborate and work together towards a common goal. So there are a few ways to be able to shape your culture in a positive way that is going to, at the end of the day, help retain that staff. And if you’re not sure where to begin, you can start by gathering that employee feedback. I mean it’s really a key that I’ve heard across many conversations of just being open to receive that information so you’re equipping yourself with information to be able to provide and start that process.

Lori Cole (22:47):

And really the managers, this is part of their job to keep tabs on what’s going on in their department. They will understand how people are interacting with each other. They’ll understand if somebody seems like there may be the outcast or not being included in the group, and you’ve got to do all you can to be as inclusive of everyone and to build that team and get them to all work together.

Heather Gonzales (23:21):

Carlton, I love what you went over with the core values at iHire we’re huge on our core values. We hire based on them and sometimes we part ways with an employee because of them. And then collaboration, we have a lot of fun collaboration. We have cross teams that collaborate together and scheduled meetings or impromptu meetings. So that is all super key.

Lori Cole (23:43):

Yeah. Yeah, I feel like iHire does a very good job within our individual teams of the Fun Friday scrums and just not making it all about business all the time, especially with the remote workforce. It was a lot different when we were in the office and we still had our little games and things that we played on Fridays, but it’s different now just being remote and not seeing people face to face.

Heather Gonzales (24:16):

So

Lori Cole (24:16):

Heather, talk about some of the ways we can actually get employees to communicate what they need with us.

Heather Gonzales (24:24):

Yes, absolutely. So think about it this way, I think, Laura, you mentioned this earlier, you can’t fix problems you don’t know exist. That’s why gathering employee feedback is critical for proactively identifying and addressing issues that may lead to turnover. And employees do want to feel heard when you listen and act on what they have to say. So not just listen but actually act on it. They feel respected and valued, which increases retention. What did our survey find about employee feedback? I’m glad you asked. 68% of employers conduct exit interviews, which are excellent ways to gather actionable feedback on what worked and what didn’t. However, recognize that you might not get completely truthful feedback here, especially if you’re departing. Associates don’t feel they can trust their managers or their hr. In fact, our survey show that employees often give vague or even untrue reasons for leaving their jobs in their exit interviews. And the reasons that workers we surveyed gave for quitting jobs differed from the reason the employees we surveyed said they were given or employers said that they were given. You can read more about this misalignment in the full report. So don’t wait until someone leaves or a problem arises to ask for feedback and ensuring you get truthful feedback that can help you make better decisions involves homing in on that positive work environment as well.

Lori Cole (25:52):

Yeah, I think the disconnect there is that employers will report that the reason that their people left was for a better opportunity, but then when you ask the employees, it’s like, no, it’s a toxic work environment or it was something else. So there is that real disconnect there between what employers think happened and what actually happened with the employee.

Heather Gonzales (26:22):

Absolutely. And another way that you can get input from employees rather than waiting until those exit interviews is through stay interviews. I love these in stay interviews. You ask your workforce why they chose to remain with you and where you can improve. However, only 30% of employers surveyed conduct stay interviews. Those that do not miss out on a great opportunity to gather invaluable information that can improve retention aside from formal exit and stay interviews, consider the following ways to gather employee feedback. So we’re back to that survey again. Use pulse surveys to check the culture pulse and address concerns in real time. So don’t just send a survey out there and never act on anything. Address those concerns that you’re hearing at. iHire, we send out these monthly anonymous surveys, usually five quick questions to keep tabs on how associates are feeling, what we can do differently, et cetera.

(27:22):

We respond to every piece of constructive criticism and monitor KPIs like manager trust based on the survey data, if we see a metric as falling, we can take action. So those surveys definitely help a lot. Another thing, focus groups, skip level interviews. I really like this where a manager meets with someone two levels down from them so it shows you care. You’re not too important to go down and talk to someone that is in a role that doesn’t typically answer to you. I think those are fantastic. One-on-one meetings, job shadowing, like managers join salespeople on a sales call. I love joining my sales team on their sales calls. I learn from them as well. So it’s not just about what you can teach, it’s about what can you learn and grow from as well. So definitely use some of these. They definitely work. We use them here at IHire.

Lori Cole (28:20):

Yeah, I know that we have an atmosphere of wanting people to feel like their ideas count and their ideas matter, and anybody is able to throw out an idea. And some of our best come from those quick pulse surveys. So Carlton, this next one is huge. If employees can’t see a path forward in career growth, they’re probably not going to stick around, right?

Carlton Boujai (28:54):

Right. And just about every year we’ve conducted this research and we found a really strong correlation between retention and those, just like you said, the career growth opportunities. So let’s take a look at this using survey. So nearly a quarter of people who quit their job in 2025 did so because of a lack of growth or advancement opportunities. Meanwhile, 57% of all employees respondents said that access to professional development, upskilling opportunities, those are the trainings, the classes, the workshops, those would increase the likelihood that they would stay with an employer. So providing those opportunities and 54% said about the same of the career advancement opportunities, being able to see and have vision for the pathway to promotion and that next level for them. So in other words, employees will stick around with companies where they can see that future and have that vision you really cast for them and can see it for themselves.

(29:53):

So to improve retention in 2026, we’re going to invest in our people’s career journeys and professional development. So first, let’s show the teams the tangible career paths in their roles. What does that look like? What’s the next step that they can take to get there? Offer access to training, to courses, webinars, conferences and workshops that equip them with the new skills and certifications. We can also offer in that realm offer stipends or reimbursement plans just as an enhancement to that. I know that I went to a dental conference here recently through iHireDental just to see what the industry is experiencing and it’s a really eye open experience. So being able to see and be able to engage in that need.

(30:46):

So we do this at, iHire and encourage employees to seek professional development opportunities. Often we will invite an associate to give a knowledge share during a presentation to their teams to go over some kind of key takeaway from a training so more people can benefit. This can be a wide range of things. It could be somebody experiencing a great win on your sales team. It can be somebody did just go to a conference and experience something that’s very big in the industry and can come back and share about it to the team. It gives those kind of small wins, those small opportunities, cross training and opportunities to collaborate with other teams. Heather, you talked a little bit about this as well. Departments on large projects can also combat stagnation and support professional growth. Other ways to invest in your employee’s growth can include providing mentorships leadership or emotional intelligence trainings and those stretch assignments and more.

Lori Cole (31:49):

I can speak to the knowledge share part of this because I returned from an AI conference in October and I knew that I was going to be doing this knowledge share, so I took so many pictures and screenshots of the different, everybody’s holding their camera up and taking pictures because you know have to go back and share it with people. But then you end up with a hundred pictures of, oh, I want to share this and I want to share this, and that’s way too much. You have to cut it down. But I think that that’s good for the employee not to think, well, I’m just going to go here and not have to bring anything back. I think that that’s important part for you to ask people to do that knowledge share on the backend and that helps them retain even more and pick up as much material as they can and have the basis for that knowledge share.

Carlton Boujai (32:47):

That’s really good, Lori.

Lori Cole (32:51):

Alright, let’s talk about what it actually looks like to support someone’s growth. Oh no, I told you my screen is like five seconds behind everybody, so it’s not coming up. Heather, we were just talking about AI and it’s so huge in recruiting right now, but how are people using it to help their employees stay with them?

Heather Gonzales (33:21):

That’s a great question and it’s also one of my favorite topics. I love ai, so you can turn to AI for help on these retention things. If you’ve attended some of our past webinars or visited our resource center, you’ll see a ton of content about AI in recruiting as employers are increasingly adopting these new technologies to simplify their hiring process. We use this in sales a lot and it’s extremely helpful. I’m also using it for a presentation coming up, but don’t tell anybody. But what about retention? Yes, AI can help prevent turnover. Now, a majority of employers aren’t using AI as a retention tool. In fact, 80% of those surveyed were not using it, but we expect that number to grow just as we’ve seen it rise with regards to recruitment of the employer surveyed who are using ai, 9% are using it to analyze employee engagement and feedback data. 8% are using it to personalize learning and career development ops and 6% are supporting employee recognition or rewards programs. One that stands out to me is actually closer to the bottom, but matching employees to internal roles or projects like internal mobility, which I find really interesting.

Lori Cole (34:46):

I’m really shocked that those numbers aren’t higher.

Heather Gonzales (34:52):

I

Lori Cole (34:52):

Know nine, eight and 6%. I really feel like we have a long way to go in incorporating AI into our day-to-day. And I know some companies are just now starting to have policies if they were really turned off by AI and said, Nope, we’re not going to use it at all. I think they’re starting to come around because AI is baked into so many of our tools now that you just can’t avoid it. And the companies know that if they’re not providing it, the employee is going to bring it with them in some way, shape, or form on their phone. So it’s time to get on board with it,

Heather Gonzales (35:38):

Even if you’re not all in on AI yet. Because I’ll admit, I used to be one that was concerned about using AI and now I absolutely love it. So now is the time to start thinking about how AI can help you better understand and support your people in 2026. There are so many up and coming tools out there. Some analyze employee sentiment or productivity to predict churn before it happens. Others create custom career or learning paths for employees. Start small with one use case and see where that takes you. You’ll be surprised how much you love it.

Lori Cole (36:13):

Absolutely. All right, I’m actually going to wait for my notes to come up this time. Let’s zoom out for a second. What is the first and most important step in retention?

Carlton Boujai (36:27):

Absolutely. This is our final piece of advice for the retention playbook, and it’s a big key here, is to hire the right people in the first place, right? That’s a huge, but it’s something that we need to think about. So retention actually starts with recruitment. You want to attract the right people who are not only a fit from a skills and requirements experience standpoint, but also people that share that company vision and values. Heather, a good call out again previously as well. Those core values can be a huge part of connecting with and finding people that are connected to those values that you share. Improve the likelihood that your new hire will be in it for the long run, or at least won’t quit in the first couple months, right? So a Forbes study showed that 30% of new hires quit within 90 days of starting a new job.

(37:22):

So we want to eliminate that as much as possible and it starts here. So moving to the next slide. We clearly define the role requirement in your job descriptions in your posting. I know that I worked through that when we’re getting a job posted with an employer is making sure that we optimize with those best practices. We put in the great content that you need to clearly show what an employee is going to be doing. So we’re going to set those expectations upfront for what the job entails, what your culture is like, what the salary and benefits are clearly communicating that. And then a misalignment of expectations is a leading cause of early quits. So we want to eliminate that. So communicate those expectations clearly with the candidates throughout the hiring process. And then evaluate candidates for both skills and values alignments, use those core values.

(38:21):

As to craft behavioral interview questions, I’m always interested by this of what questions are really trying to pull out. And one good one is, for example, one of our iHire core values is collaboration. So we might ask, tell me about a time that you had to collaborate on a project to meet a deadline. A great question to really see where their mind is on that topic. On that value skills assessment, job shadowing, work sample tests are also a good way to evaluate candidates for the right skill sets. And then lastly, don’t forget the importance of onboarding. Really structured and engaging and customized onboarding plan to get your iHire to get your new hire off to a solid start. Better yet, we’re going to embrace ever boarding. Now what’s ever boarding, ever boarding extends, onboarding beyond just that first step of getting new hires settled into their new roles with ever boarding. You continuously invest in employees learning and development throughout their tenure. We have a new on demand webinar on this topic to encourage you to watch and you’ll find it in the resources widget below.

Lori Cole (39:40):

I’m a huge fan of that everboarding mindset and just making sure that you’re always learning about that person and you’re always training them. So Heather, can you pull this all together for us?

Heather Gonzales (39:57):

Yes. I was going to say real quick, something iHire does that I find really cool when they’re first starting is the Fresh Eyes interview. It’s fantastic. As a manager, I’m always waiting for that interview. Did I do a good job onboarding? I’m always waiting on it. So that I think is the beginning stage of ever boarding. I really love that. But anyway, sorry. Yes, Heather,

Lori Cole (40:18):

If people don’t know what the Fresh Eyes interview is, can you explain that a little bit?

Heather Gonzales (40:22):

Yes. So I think it’s on the 90 day mark. They have a meeting with someone in HR and they go through different questions about how has training been going, what could we do better? It’s very similar to stay interview, but it’s more to get their fresh eyes on iHire basically, and how we’ve done getting them started with our company. So yeah,

Lori Cole (40:45):

I know that we’ve also done the thing where we ask people to go through the website and do a little presentation about what they see as a new person using the website because we just get blind to it. We’re on it, we use it every day. We know what it looks like, we know what it’s supposed to do, but it’s really nice to have that fresh perspective of it doesn’t make sense. Why do I go here when I click this button? Or why does this happen? So I think that that’s also important. Alright, Heather, now give us our recap.

Heather Gonzales (41:26):

Alright, so as always, we’ve covered a lot of information and there’s much more to dive into in our full report, so be sure to read through that. But to sum up today’s presentation, job hugging, as we mentioned, is on the rise due to a slowed labor market, but people are also more satisfied with their jobs. So that’s a good thing. Prevent turnover in 2026 by focusing first on the fundamentals when it comes to benefits and perks, but understand that unsatisfactory pay isn’t the main cause of turnover. You can also focus on nurturing a positive work environment and empowering employees with growth and advancement opportunities to retain associates as well. Regularly collect and act on employee feedback to proactively address issues and keep workers happy. And as I mentioned, turn to AI for assistance in improving engagement and preventing stagnation. And lastly, hire the right people in the first place and not just that embrace ever boarding to continuously invest in their development.

Lori Cole (42:35):

Alright, so if you haven’t asked a question yet or you don’t have your question in, now is the time to do that because that’s where we’re going next. Again, if you are here for the Sherman HRCI credits, you’re going to get a popup at the end with the certification widget. So you’ve got to stick around for that so that you can download that certificate of completion. And I believe we’re also sending an email now with a link so that you can download that if you were on the webinar for long enough. Okay, so let’s get to some questions here. I’m not sure who wants how we’re going to do this or who wants to take this first one, but can I fire an employee if I find out they’re looking for another job?

Heather Gonzales (43:26):

Oh, that’s a good one. I can take one. Be careful on this one would be what I would say simply looking for another job is not usually a valid reason for termination. Most states in the US are at will, but you still need a legitimate business reason. Firing someone solely for job searching can hurt your employer brand and may lead to legal risk. In some cases, focus on performance and engagement, address concerns through feedback, coaching or development opportunities. Instead of punitive action, consider using this as a signal to improve retention strategies or discuss career paths internally. Keep documentation objective and fact-based, not based on assumptions about their intentions. That’s how I would suggest handling that situation.

Lori Cole (44:19):

Well, and this is a great place where you can bring our HR services in too. If you have questions about anything related to letting someone go or hiring someone, they can certainly help and they’re always happy to answer questions.

Heather Gonzales (44:37):

Absolutely.

Lori Cole (44:39):

Alright, is it okay to reach out to an employee who quit a year ago to see if they want their job back?

Carlton Boujai (44:47):

I’ll take this one. Yeah. I know that we’ve had multiple people that have left and come back here at iHire and been here for over 10 years. So reaching out to a former employee is an acceptable part of that boomerang employee strategy. So keep the approach friendly, professional, non-pressuring, and then focus on what’s changed. I mean, that’s a great opportunity to show what new opportunities you have and improve work environment or growth in the role. So ensure that any outreach complies with, of course, your company policies and applicable labor laws. But boomerang hires can save recruiting costs, it jumpstart, get them up to speed faster. And since they already know the company culture.

Heather Gonzales (45:33):

That’s so true, Carlton, there’s several people at iHire that are boomerangs. I work with a colleague very closely that’s a boomerang, but she’s been here a very long time and does a fantastic job. So completely agree.

Lori Cole (45:45):

Absolutely. I was talking to our owner today and this topic came up because he said, I have been at, iHire for 26 years and that’s my longest job. And I said, I was just talking to somebody at the holiday party who said the same thing. It’s been their longest job, it’s been my longest job. And then he said, well, how many times have you boomeranged now? And that would be three. I did too early on and I’m on my third, so I’m sticking this one out gang. So, okay, what should I ask in an interview to ensure that we get honest answers?

Heather Gonzales (46:33):

I can take,

Lori Cole (46:33):

Oh, in an exit interview, I’m sorry I left that crucial piece out. What should I ask in an exit interview to ensure that we get honest answers? We’re hoping that during regular interview you are getting those honest answers.

Heather Gonzales (46:46):

Answers exactly. This is a great question because we didn’t really cover this side of it. We talked more about not waiting until the exit interview. However, if you do get in that position, which a lot of us do ask open-ended questions, that’s the best way to get people talking. Like, what influenced your decision to leave? Or how could we have supported you better? And keep it conversational, don’t be confrontational about it. Make employees feel safe in sharing their feedback. Focus on experience, not personalities, things like, I don’t know, what challenges did you face in your role? Instead of what did you think of your manager? Include questions about culture and processes. For example, were there any policies or practices that made it harder to stay engaged? You can also ask for suggestions. What would you change to make this a better place to work? Have them help you figure that out. Consider a non being anonymous or allowing them to be anonymous or using a third-party facilitator if you want even more can feedback.

Lori Cole (47:57):

Alright. How do you address, oh, wait a minute. This is a long question, so I have to scroll back up to the top. If people give advice on what needs improved, how do you address it with the manager and then how do you address it with the team to show you’re working on this area? I know from my experience when I have, I put something in our anonymous feedback surveys, I’ll have someone like an HR or a manager person, they don’t know who I am, but they will come back and say, alright, that’s a really interesting idea. Tell me a little bit more about what you were thinking and how could we do this? And the good thing about our survey tool is that the managers already see that, so they’re looped in automatically. We use something called Officevibe I believe. So the managers are all automatically looped in and then hopefully that can be a point of discussion since they won’t know who actually brought it up. But that can be a point of discussion for the one-on-ones to be able to say, Hey, we’ve had this idea come up, what do you think about it? How could we implement this? What would be the right way to do that? Anything else that you guys could recommend or think about?

Carlton Boujai (49:27):

I think, oh, sorry. I was just thinking a lot of times I love the hard conversations are a lot of times the good conversations. A lot of times it’s just being able to get it out there. If it’s not, you have the leadership team looking at the full results and it’s just sharing that that was a feedback, keeping it anonymous and then thinking through a thoughtful response to it of is this realistic, is it not? And then address it as a team. If this came up, it’s something that we’re thinking about, it’s something that, and have a thoughtful response to it and be able to share that as a team. So it’s not you’re singling somebody out, but you’ve heard it, you’ve received it, and then you’re trying to do something about it to address it the right way.

Heather Gonzales (50:15):

I love that. Totally agree.

Lori Cole (50:18):

Alright, this next one is my wheelhouse. I just love it. I’m a small employer, I have no idea how to actually use AI for talent retention. Any specifics that you can share? Well, I just got back from this AI conference, so I’ve got a lot of things to share, but one of the things that they talked about was having almost creating ai, an AI organizational chart and creating these chat GPTs that are specifically trained in certain areas. So let’s say you go on to ChatGPT and you say, I want to create a ChatGPT for my business, for HR or for retention. And then ask that ChatGPT, how do I do this? What do you need to know about me? I went through an exercise where I created a ChatGPT that will help me think through problems, through work problems. And I told it to ask me 30 questions so that it could get to know me and get to know what I do for my work and get to know my personality. And it’s amazing if you say, I want to create this just for an HR function or for talent retention function. Ask it to ask you questions and then ask it what you can do to form a retention strategy and how to use it best because it will give you some fantastic ideas

Carlton Boujai (51:59):

And that ends up being like a conversation so you can progressively use it. Yeah, it’s really, really cool,

Lori Cole (52:06):

Right? You can continue that thread and that’s the whole point of it. Once you have things in the thread or in that project space, you can just continue it and it will learn from you and grow with you.

Heather Gonzales (52:22):

Yep.

Lori Cole (52:23):

Alright. What’s the best strategy for dealing with team conflict? Heather, I think this really has your name written all over it. You’ve managed a lot of teams for a lot of years, right?

Heather Gonzales (52:40):

Yes. One big thing, I like to get each person’s side of the story first. I like to hear everybody individually on their view or their perception of what happened, and then depending on what the situation is, sometimes I might have to go to HR to get their help because they know how to handle things sometimes better than US managers do and can guide us through that. But I think it’s very important to make sure that you’re getting each story from each individual first and then if you have to talk to them as a group, I highly suggest talking to your HR person and really honing in on the best strategy for handling the situation. It really depends. Every situation is different. I’ve ran into a couple of different ones, but that would be my advice is hear them out and then work through it.

Lori Cole (53:37):

And this is where your AI can help too, because a lot of times you’re not really being objective about the situation. So if you can bring AI in that can be completely objective and give you some guidelines or some ideas on how to handle it, it could be things that you never thought of.

Heather Gonzales (53:57):

Very good point.

Lori Cole (53:58):

One more question here. How do you address a new hire? When they revealed they left a short-lived employment off their resume, and I’m happy to take this one because I career coach people all the time, and it happens. It’s an everyday practice where people will leave something off their resume because it doesn’t look great. They left for a reason that they’re not excited about or don’t really want to share. If you’ve hired that person, you can keep that in the back of your mind. Let’s make sure that this person is really happy. Let’s try to understand what they need from us. This is where you ask the people, what do you want to see from us? How can we retain you? How can you be happy here? But I think that it’s probably not a great thing to address it with them specifically because they’re already there. They’re working for you. Make the best of that situation and do the best you can with that employee to retain them.

Heather Gonzales (55:12):

That’s really good. Yeah, and Lori, I thought about something on that previous question too. Another thing, trust but verify. So even though you’re getting their perception of the situation trust, but go in and research, do your own research on the situation of what’s happening before the next step. Make sure that you understand the whole situation before determining a strategy to get that taken care of.

Lori Cole (55:40):

Good advice, good advice. So for your certificate of completion, you should see that widget on your screen now, so you can click that and download your certificate. Thank you again, Heather and Carlton for being here today. Just fantastic information and you did such a great job at presenting it. A reminder that you can read that full retention report at ihire.com/retention2025. If you have any other questions come to mind, you can always reach out to a customer success team member at [email protected] and we’ll get you connected with the right person. Again, if you want to do anything with our HR services, reach out to customer success and they will get you connected to Vickie, the person that kind of manages all that. Just a reminder, make sure you download that certificate of completion and keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for an on-demand recording of this that you can watch again or send it to somebody else in the organization so that they can watch it as well. I hope everybody has a great rest of your day. Thank you for the questions and thank you again, Heather and Carlton.

Carlton Boujai (56:57):

Thank you.