With remote work being so popular among the workforce, it should come as no surprise that companies looking to recruit the best talent can get a leg up by offering at least some form of remote or hybrid work. But offering remote work also has the benefit of improving employee retention, which in the age of the Great Resignation can be just as vital as recruitment — if not more so.

“High turnover is expensive,” says Joseph Boll, CEO of Remote Worker, an online jobs board and resource website for remote workers, remote work jobseekers, and hiring managers, employers and HR personnel seeking to recruit and hire the top talent for remote positions. “When a worker resigns, the cost to hire a new worker and train them from scratch comes at an actual financial cost in itself. But there are also other tolls to consider — added pressure on the rest of the team, for instance. They have to shoulder a greater workload until some new can be hired and onboarded to a level where they can carry a greater share. That takes time that some employees may not be willing to suffer.”

Further, studies have shown that resignations can be “contagious” in a workforce, meaning that when staff members notice other employees leaving the company, they become inclined to do the same. This means that aside from the billions of dollars companies stand to lose when an employee resigns, they also run the risk of causing a “mass exodus” among their remaining staff.

However, the silver lining is that experts believe the “Great Resignation” is actually a “Great Reshuffling” as most workers who resign do not leave the workforce entirely but instead go to work for a different employer. Additionally, studies have shown that the number one reason for most resignations in 2022 was employees leaving one employer to work for another who was offering better benefits. As remote work continues to top the list of job perks for most American workers — even more so than salary, in some cases, this is an area businesses can easily reduce their turnover rates by simply offering more flexibility.

“New employees are not the only ones who value remote work,” Boll noted, “and offering it exclusively to newly hired staff instead of existing employees can unintentionally create resentment. Instead, use this opportunity to offer remote work options to existing staff as a way to improve morale and retention, saving you millions in the long run.”