Why employees leaving is not always a bad thing

Forget Employee Retention—The Best Companies Help People Leave

For decades, companies have been laser-focused on employee retention, treating it as the ultimate measure of a healthy workplace. The logic seemed solid: the longer employees stay, the more productive, committed, and valuable they must be. High turnover? That must be a bad sign—right?

Not necessarily. What if clinging to retention as the gold standard is actually holding businesses back? What if the most successful companies aren’t the ones keeping employees for decades, but the ones setting them up for bigger, better opportunities—even if those opportunities exist outside their walls?

This isn’t to say businesses shouldn’t value their employees or create environments where people want to stay.

But the idea that keeping employees indefinitely is the best outcome for both the individual and the company is deeply flawed. In reality, when businesses shift their focus from retention to growth, everyone benefits.

The Retention Illusion: Why Staying Isn’t Always Winning

The assumption that longevity equals loyalty, productivity, or engagement is outdated. Just because someone stays at a company for 10 years doesn’t mean they’re thriving. Some employees remain in roles long after they’ve stopped growing, simply because they feel stuck or fear change. Others stay for the wrong reasons—comfort, inertia, or lack of external opportunities—not because they’re truly engaged.

This is where many companies get it wrong. Retention should never be about keeping people for the sake of it; it should be about developing people. If that development means an employee eventually leaves for a bigger opportunity elsewhere, that should be seen as a success—not a failure.

The best companies understand that talent flows. Employees come, contribute, evolve, and sometimes move on. And instead of resisting this natural cycle, great organizations embrace it.

Why Helping People Leave can be a Win-Win Strategy

When companies stop viewing departures as losses and start seeing them as an extension of success, incredible things happen. Employees become more engaged because they know their growth is truly valued. They take more risks, bring more ideas to the table, and perform better—not because they fear losing their jobs, but because they feel supported in their career journeys.

And here’s the paradox: when employees know they can leave without stigma, they’re actually more likely to stay. Companies that invest in their people—through mentorship, skill development, and career progression—naturally foster loyalty. But it’s the healthy kind of loyalty, built on trust and opportunity, not fear of change.

Then, when employees do move on, they don’t just disappear into the void. They become powerful alumni—ambassadors who speak highly of their former employers, recommend talent, and in many cases, return later with even greater expertise. The companies that prioritize mobility don’t just build an internal workforce; they build an external network of influence that extends far beyond their own office walls.

The Role of New Amsterdam: Where Talent is Always in Motion

At New Amsterdam, we don’t see talent as something to be trapped—we see it as something to be cultivated. As a leading consultancy and recruitment agency, we’ve worked with companies that thrive on this mindset, and we’ve seen firsthand how organizations that embrace career fluidity attract the best talent.

Our role is to help businesses build dynamic, future-ready teams—ones that don’t just hold onto people, but actively prepare them for what’s next. Whether that means finding the right talent to step into a growing role or helping companies build cultures where employees feel empowered to explore new paths, we know that growth always beats stagnation.

So, instead of asking, “How do we make people stay?”, perhaps the better question is, “How do we set them up for success—wherever they go next?” Because when companies stop fearing departures and start embracing talent as a continuous, evolving force, they don’t just retain people. They inspire them. And that’s what truly makes a business thrive.