High Performer Retention Rate
Percentage of employees rated as high performers who remain with the organisation
What is High Performer Retention Rate?
High performer retention rate is the percentage of an organisation's top performers who stay over a period. It shows whether the people who contribute most are being kept.
Losing high performers is costly, so this rate is a more telling measure than overall turnover.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Human Resources
- Sub-function
- Performance Management
- Industry
- All Industries
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- People
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Annual
- Formula
- (High performers retained / Total high performers at start of period) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide high performers retained by total high performers at the start of the period, and multiply by 100.
For example, if there were 100 high performers at the start of the year and 92 remained, the rate is 92%.
Define high performers using a consistent rating, and follow the same group through the period.
Where it is used
Protecting key talent
Spot risk.
Evaluating retention efforts
Test whether they work.
Understanding why top people leave
Learn from exits.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Compare with retention of other staff.
- Avoid bias in identifying high performers.
- Small groups make the rate volatile.
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