Employee Retention Program: Understanding the Potential Pitfalls

Companies are dealing with more uncertainty about managing company data than ever before. The recent shift to a remote workforce, the proliferation of technology used by employees to store company data, and now the potential or reality of large numbers of employees leaving companies creates a risk of data loss. In particular, departing employees, whether they leave a company voluntarily or involuntarily, pose additional risk to the organization when those employees are subject to ongoing retention obligations for active litigation or investigations.

After years of labor market volatility, it is important that companies plan for employee departures and manage departures to reduce the risk of data loss. In this article, we offer guidance on how companies should approach the dilemma that employee attrition presents when the departing employee must be subject to active legal retention and key steps to take to develop a defensible exit retention program employees.