Retention Is a Communication Strategy: HR + Comms on Why People Really Stay
With insights from Ana Emilia Collazo, People & Culture Generalist, The Junto Hotel (Columbus, Ohio)
Most organizations talk about retention as if it lives in a black box — some unsolved mystery or workplace urban legend that feels like a conspiracy theory that hasn’t been proven yet. Every leader swears they want to “retain great people.” And yet, most of what they do communicates the exact opposite.
Retention is not a pizza party, a vague promise of “growth,” or a once-a-year performance review. Retention is communication — the daily, structural signals that tell people:
You are safe here.
You are seen here.
You matter in the future of this organization.
People stay when an organization communicates clearly, consistently, and with enough transparency that employees feel anchored in a shared mission that aligns with them.
I’ve watched this dynamic inside municipal government, long-term client work, city communications, and creative teams. My sister, Ana, watches it from the HR side — through stay interviews, morale trends, quiet escalations, and the stories employees only tell when they feel genuinely safe.
This is the collaboration I wish more leaders understood. It’s why I pulled Ana into this piece: her day job is balancing people, culture, and compliance in a high-pressure hospitality environment. She does it like what she is — a very smart, very unbothered, textbook Capricorn — and she’s also the only Collazo sibling with an MS Ed in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Dayton.
Together, our fields meet in the same place:
People don’t stay because of perks.
They stay because of clarity, trust, and belonging — all delivered through communication.
Why People Actually Leave (Not the Reasons Leaders Assume)
Leadership tends to interpret turnover through the lens of compensation or performance issues. HR knows the truth is far more human.
Research from SHRM, Gallup, and Gartner paints a consistent picture:
79% of employees leave because they don’t feel appreciated.
60% leave due to poor communication from leadership.
54% leave because they don’t see a future for themselves internally.
42% cite lack of clarity in expectations or priorities.
These aren’t abstract theories; they show up in almost every exit story.
“I’ve seen this play out many times: when team members feel undertrained and thrown straight into the deep end, their confidence disappears. They start doubting the quality of their work, performance drops, and discipline follows. At that point, most people don’t wait to see if things improve. And the ones who do stay often become jaded or pessimistic — and neither outcome is good for them or for the organization.” — Ana Emilia Collazo, People & Culture Generalist, The JUNTO Hotel
When people feel unseen, uninformed, or uncertain, they don’t wait for things to improve — they quietly plan an exit. Obviously, pay and benefits matter, but communication determines whether people believe they belong.
What Stay Interviews Reveal — Long Before a Resignation Letter Appears
What stay interviews really expose is the gap between what leaders say and what the workplace signals. Leaders may insist that communication is a priority, but if employees are learning news from hallway whispers and screenshots, the signal says otherwise. Leaders may claim there’s room for growth, but if no one can articulate the path, the signal wins. People respond to signals, not statements — and stay interviews are where those signals finally get named out loud.
“One thing I genuinely value about Makeready [the Junto Hotel’s management company] is that we give team members multiple, structured chances to speak honestly about their experience. We have an open-door policy, biannual surveys followed by departmental action plans, and Quarterly Conversations with every single person — from our Managing Director to our dishwashers. When people know their voice has a place to land, the real insights surface long before a resignation letter ever does.” — A.E.C.
Which is exactly why HR keeps coming back to the same core idea: belonging isn’t about everyone getting along or liking each other on a personal level. It’s about whether the environment is predictable enough that people feel safe telling the truth — and trusting that the truth won’t be used against them.
Belonging means:
decisions follow a clear process
expectations don’t shift overnight
updates reach everyone, not a chosen few
managers communicate the same information
culture is enforced, not just stated
psychological safety is real, not a tagline
Belonging is emotional — but created by structure, not sentiment, and when that structure collapses, no holiday event, pizza party, or swag bag can compensate for the feeling of being unmoored.
Internal Communication Is Internal Reputation
Inside a workplace, communication is branding — not the logo or the website, but the lived experience. Employees judge an organization by how quickly information moves, how transparent leadership is during change, how consistently managers deliver updates, whether everyone hears the same message, and whether decisions feel intentional or improvised.
In Cleveland Heights, I watched how quickly trust evaporates when internal communication falters. Employees notice every gap — the silence, the contradictions, the rewrites, the emails that dodge context, the updates that arrive weeks late. I saw those moments stack up in real time. I didn’t have the authority or the runway to repair all of it while I was there, but I did have a front-row seat. Over time, those small fractures harden into something bigger: an emotional temperature. Internal communication sets that temperature — and when that temperature drops, people start to feel like an organization is unstable, even when the numbers say otherwise.
In Cleveland Heights, I watched how quickly trust evaporates when internal communication falters. Employees notice every gap — the silence, the contradictions, the rewrites, the emails that dodge context, the updates that arrive weeks late. I saw those moments stack up in real time. I didn’t have the authority or the runway to repair all of it while I was there, but I did have a front-row seat. Over time, those fractures harden into something bigger: an emotional temperature. Internal communication sets that temperature — and when it drops, people start to experience the organization as unstable, even when the numbers say otherwise.
For the record: under Mayor Kahlil Seren, Cleveland Heights did not have a retention problem. The idea that it did came from rumor, was publicly debunked, and was never supported by the actual data. What it did have was a communication problem big enough that a false “retention” story could outrun the truth. The way that narrative was handled is its own story — one I’ve written about in a separate piece, which you can read here: When the Record is Refused.
What matters here is the universal truth: internal communication sets the emotional temperature of a workplace, and that temperature determines whether people stay.
Retention isn’t shaped by grand gestures; it’s shaped by the quiet, cumulative signals people absorb every day. Delayed communication says, “You’re not trusted with information.” Contradictory messages say, “No one is aligned.” Selective sharing says, “Your role isn’t important.” Cryptic memos say, “You’re not supposed to understand.” Reactive leadership says, “There is no long-term plan.” Silence during conflict says, “You’re on your own.” People stay where communication feels stable. They leave where communication feels like guesswork.
This is the part leaders consistently underestimate: visual and written systems are retention strategies. When employees recognize the format of an update, the style of an internal memo, or the cadence of leadership communication, they feel oriented. Visual systems create familiarity, cognitive ease, pattern recognition, organizational identity, and cross-department consistency. Written systems create clarity, accountability, fairness, transparency, and stability. When communication is structured and predictable, people relax into their work. When it’s improvised, they brace for impact.
“Hospitality doesn’t run on routine the way some industries do — every day looks different. That’s exactly why clear, consistent communication matters even more. When expectations shift constantly, people need strong communication systems to stay grounded. Without them, uncertainty spreads fast.” — A.E.C.
Retention Requires HR + Communications — Together
High-retention organizations have one thing in common: HR and Communications operate as a joint stability function. HR protects morale, belonging, and psychological safety. Communications protects clarity, cadence, and consistency. Together, they build the trust that people stay for.
The organizations that keep their people communicate early, not perfectly; use stay interviews as real diagnostics; explain the “why,” not just the “what”; build internal communication rhythms; standardize messaging formats; and treat communication as cultural infrastructure. Retention isn’t mysterious. It’s intentional communication repeated over time.
People stay when they feel informed, supported, valued, and anchored — and that’s not HR or Comms alone. That’s both, working in lockstep.
If this conversation resonates, this is exactly the work my studio does: building communication systems, internal rhythms, visual infrastructure, and leadership-ready messaging frameworks that keep organizations aligned.
If you’d like support strengthening your internal communication or retention-driven systems, you can learn more about our studio support here: franceseugenia.com
