Ping pong tables and free snacks are nice, but they don’t necessarily build loyalty and make people stay. Much more is required. Rather than fancy frills, a holistic approach incorporating a combination of competitive pay, learning and development opportunities, health and wellbeing support, and a culture of trust and respect is needed if organisations are to achieve high rates of employee retention.
“Effective retention requires authentic leadership, clear career pathways, and a culture that fosters psychological safety and recognition,” says Marsh Ireland senior people partner Joanna O’Dowd. “Retention is fundamental to Marsh Ireland’s success because as a professional services firm and a people business our colleagues are our business and our greatest asset.
“We feel passionate about creating an inclusive, supportive, and engaging environment where colleagues feel valued, respected, and empowered to be their best,” she continues. “Our culture of belonging, continuous learning, and recognition really helps foster loyalty and motivation, which are critical to retaining talent.”
Improving results
Marsh Ireland has participated in the Great Place to Work programme for two years, in 2024 and 2025. “The culture we cultivate at Marsh is clearly reflected in our Great Place to Work Trust Index survey results, which show strong performance in diversity, inclusion, and overall culture. For example, 89 per cent of colleagues feel they are treated fairly regardless of their role or identity. Leadership support is also a highlight, with 84 per cent of colleagues finding management approachable and feeling more involved in decisions that impact their work. Colleagues feel empowered to do a good job (85 per cent). These results underscore our ongoing commitment to building an inclusive, supportive, and engaging workplace where everyone can thrive.”
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Hilti Ireland has participated in the Great Place to Work programme since 2011, was ranked 10th in the medium-sized company category in the 2025 and won a special award this year for employee retention, with an overall Trust Index score of 86 per cent, an increase of 4 per cent on the company’s 2024 result. That impressive result included scores of 90 per cent of staff saying management is approachable and easy to talk to; 86 per cent saying excellent performance is recognised; 90 per cent saying their performance is fairly evaluated; and 90 per cent saying the company will act on the results of the Great Place to Work Trust Index survey.
Led by HR director Esther Postigo, Hilti Ireland’s Aurora project has demonstrated how setting clear performance expectations alongside strong people support creates an environment where employees feel challenged, valued and motivated to stay.
Asking employees
Launched in 2024, the programme was aimed at boosting engagement, loyalty and retention and is firmly based on feedback from employees. “Aurora was designed to be the employee value proposition for the future,” says Postigo.
“What we did was ask our employees what they believed should be our employee value proposition for the future. It has to come from the bottom to top. Aurora is our way of turning employee’s ideas into real change – beyond salary, toward recognition, balance, development and belonging.”
Some 91 ideas were put forward by employees, and the company was able to proceed with 60 of them,” she adds. “We spoke individually to the employees whose ideas we were not able to implement to explain why.”
The programme comprised four workstreams covering benefits, work-life balance, performance and recognition, and social.
A benefits platform was created to showcase everything offered including medical insurance, pensions, life insurance, and lifestyle benefits like wellbeing coverage and the Bike to Work scheme.
Work-life balance includes leave entitlements, remote working, flexible working, and short working days on Fridays before bank holidays. Performance and recognition covers compensation including basic pay and bonuses and so on. The social element includes the company’s Engaged Beyond Business (EBB) programme which includes social activities and volunteering opportunities.
The programme also saw across-the-board pay increases for employees and the elimination of the gender pay gap in the company.
The results of the Aurora project have been highly impressive. “Before Aurora, the retention rate for account managers was very low at 50.9 per cent. Overall retention in the company was 63 per cent. This was affecting the business. We started to attract and retain more account managers almost immediately. Within a year, account manager retention increased to 93 per cent; retention for all employees went up to 95 per cent.”
Not content to rest on its laurels, the company is now moving on to a new strategy for the next two years which Postigo describes as the North Star. This will focus on aligning people performance with organisational goals, fostering a culture of excellence and commitment across all levels, she explains.
Moving up
Lennox Laboratory Supplies was first certified by Great Place to Work in 2021, ranking number 34 in Ireland’s Best Workplaces – Small Organisations. In 2022, the company ranked 27th in the same category and received Best Workplaces in Pharma & Healthcare recognition in both 2022 and 2023. In 2025, Lennox moved into the mid-size organisations category and ranked 28th.
“At Lennox, our unique strength lies in our people – their expertise, agility, and deep industry knowledge,” says chief executive Leslie Brett. “They are the driving force behind our continued success. Participating in Great Place to Work gives us an independent and credible way to benchmark how effectively we support, engage, and communicate with our teams.”
It gives the company a trusted framework that allows its people to share their experiences openly and comfortably, she adds. “Listening to their insights is vital to our growth, and we are committed to acting on that feedback and implementing meaningful changes wherever possible. Our culture is built on collaboration and continuous improvement because everything we achieve as a company begins with the people who make it happen.”
Team work
Lennox has an internal Great Place to Work team that meets on a weekly basis and is sponsored by the chief executive; they won the special award this year for this team. “The team is made up of representatives from each department within the business, ensuring everyone’s voice is heard and that everyone has the opportunity to feed back to the team,” says assistant accountant Emma Ryan who leads the activity.
The team coordinates employee engagement and wellbeing initiatives across the company. Over the past five years, these have included a refreshed Employee of the Month programme, company-wide social initiatives and seasonal activities, charity fundraising, the employee assistance programme, quarterly employee pulse surveys, health initiatives, flu vaccinations, eyesight tests, and changes to company policies informed by employee feedback.
These initiatives have delivered employee feedback and engagement improvements over time, with 86 per cent of employees feeling they make a difference in Lennox, 83 per cent feeling a sense of pride in what the organisation accomplishes and the same number feeling management trusts people to do a good job without close oversight.
