By: Nik Korba

Recent reports suggest that retaining top talent should be considered an important priority for business leaders in 2025. According to statistics published in Inc. Magazine in October 2024, 56 percent of full-time US employees say they want a new job in 2025, with 27 percent saying they are already looking.

Establishing a sound negotiation system may play a significant role in retention, especially when engaging with employees seeking better compensation. Jim Camp, Jr., author of Lead From No, highlights “leadership negotiation” as an important tool that leaders can use to potentially bring greater success to their organizations.

“Leadership negotiation itself has the potential to benefit from a process or a system,” Camp says. “Leading and establishing trust, regardless of size or function of any team, often requires a systematic approach to building vision and influencing decision making. A leader’s ability to reach challenging internal agreements may result in stronger followership, increased productivity, and less employee turnover.”

Camp is co-owner of Camp Negotiations, which helps organizations use a contrarian and counterintuitive negotiation system to become more effective in the communication techniques needed to prepare for, execute, and manage their most critical conversations. While serving in the military at the national strategic level, Camp was personally responsible for negotiating what became the largest pay increase in history for thousands of Air National Guard Instructor Pilots.

Getting to the Heart of Retention

Leaders must identify the underlying issues threatening employee loyalty to leverage negotiation and retain top talent. Recent statistics show that 63 percent of employees who changed jobs in 2021 cited low pay as the key reason for leaving. However, Camp suggests that leaders who assume salary is the driving issue might risk paying more than necessary to retain top talent.

“As you uncover the issue the employee is experiencing, which could be the need for more flexibility, growth opportunities, or recognition for his or her contributions, you’ll start to define the purpose of your negotiation, which will assist you in developing a solution that solves the problem while also giving you what you need,” Camp explains. “You won’t be able to engage in meaningful negotiations if you don’t truly know what matters to the employee.”

As leaders identify all the factors at play, they should seek to understand which ones are top priorities for their employees. Retaining top talent often involves creating a compelling vision for how the organization can meet its needs. When priorities are clearly understood, negotiations can point the employee to the root of the problem and the steps the organization might consider taking to solve it.

“If you know that an employee is considering a move because they are looking for a growth opportunity that you can provide, present it with as many details as possible,” Camp advises. “You could help them see that they are fine with accepting a lower salary to solve the true problems that have sent them on their job search.”

Using Negotiation to Improve Loyalty

It’s common for leaders to enter into negotiations seeking a “win-win” situation that will help ensure talks don’t end up at an impasse, but using a different approach to negotiations might also support talent retention while building higher levels of employee loyalty. The key, as Camp explains in his book, is seeing negotiation as a process that is open to either side responding with a “no.”

Honoring a “no” rather than pressuring your opponent for a “yes” allows a leader to see where the real problems lie. A “no” reveals the actual pain points, allowing leaders to know what steps they may need to take to improve their retention rates.

One common pain point impacting retention in today’s workplace is the desire for flexibility. In a recent study shared by Tech.co, 76 percent of employees said they would look for a new job if their company issued a return-to-office mandate. Camp suggests leadership negotiations could play a key role in keeping talent when companies decide to pursue unpopular changes, such as putting an end to remote and hybrid work opportunities.

“Despite the growing trend and reality of the virtual work environment, leaders should prioritize cohesion and personal connection with their teammates if they want to retain talented people,” Camp says. “As leaders continuously seek ways to improve processes and create efficiencies within their organization, they must accept that net gains, such as those companies seek to gain with return-to-office mandates, are not guaranteed and may come with a hidden cost in terms of retention. Simply mandating a new process doesn’t guarantee buy-in. The willingness of a leader to negotiate, seek pushback, and even hear the word ‘no’ can help build trust and respect.”

The standard approach to negotiations, in which both sides seek trade-offs to ensure an agreement can be reached, might assist companies in retaining talent in 2025. By adopting the type of leadership negotiations Camp suggests, however, companies have the potential to achieve more. As they extend the right to say “no” and learn from what it reveals, leaders can engage in more effective negotiations while building higher levels of employee loyalty, ultimately arriving at a decision that best supports both parties.

Published by Nicholas A.