As a business leader, knowing how to increase employee retention is critical to long-term success. Poor hiring decisions can lead to productivity losses, cultural disruption, and costly turnover. Hiring the wrong person is an expensive mistake—one that impacts your team, your bottom line, and your company’s future.

Predictive hiring offers a solution by helping you make smarter, more informed decisions. It aligns hiring practices with your company’s goals and values, ultimately reducing the costs associated with high turnover. Applying principles of stewardship and careful attention to hiring helps build a workforce that drives sustained growth and success.

How to Increase Employee Retention With Predictive Hiring

Predictive hiring uses data, assessments, and analytics to make informed hiring decisions specific to your company’s goals. That sounds simple, but how does it work?

In traditional hiring, you might choose someone to hire based on a gut feeling. Perhaps their resume checks off all of the right boxes. They seem like a solid fit. Predictive hiring, alternatively, uses actual data, is strategic, and is structured.

Focus on Proverbs 16:3: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” When you combine trust in God with data-driven hiring practices, you make better decisions to increase employee retention.

Three Key Pillars of Predictive Hiring for Retention

Focusing on the three key pillars outlined below is essential for effectively leveraging predictive hiring to boost retention.

1. Alignment with Business Goals

Prioritize your company’s long-term vision when hiring. Instead of just filling an immediate gap, consider how well a candidate aligns with your bigger goals. Think about how their leadership style fits with your company culture and mission. Finding that alignment early helps build a foundation for lasting employee retention.

2. Assessment Beyond the Resume

Leverage behavioral and cognitive assessments to predict long-term success. It’s more than just what’s on a piece of paper that makes an employee a good fit. It’s our duty to look deeper, as we learn in 1 Samuel 16:7: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

To achieve this, incorporate skills tests to assess relevant knowledge, use structured interviews to gather deeper insights, and engage in personality profiling to gain a more authentic and comprehensive understanding of each candidate.

3. Cultural Fit and Employee Engagement

The third key to increasing employee retention is hiring individuals who align with your company’s core values. When employees connect with the company mission, they are more likely to stay long-term. Proverbs 22:6 reminds us, “Train up a child in the way he should go…” This principle applies to your workplace as well—building a strong foundation from the start and fostering ongoing mentorship can guide employees towards long-lasting success and commitment.

Business Benefits of Predictive Hiring

Applying this strategy creates clear business benefits, including:

  • Reduced turnover, leading to lower hiring costs
  • Higher employee engagement and productivity because of better alignment
  • Stronger team cohesion and workplace culture

Your team is better selected, more driven by your mission, and creates a better product or service for your customer.

Purposeful Hiring for a Thriving Workforce

Predictive hiring is not about filling roles. Instead, it’s about learning how to increase employee retention so that each person you bring into your business is creating a lasting impact.

Take the time to assess your current hiring strategy. Make intentional, informed decisions instead of going with your gut. In Colossians 3:23, we read, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.”

Ready to embrace better hiring and business success? Join the conversation at C12 Greater Detroit.

Tom Rivers, the principal chair of C12 Greater Detroit, a CEO peer advisory group.

Tom Rivers

Principal Chair