This is my opinion based on far too many years working in various corporate environments, while paying attention and observing. Take it for what it's worth.

You lose employees due either to personal or job related reasons. The personal ones (change of career, desire to relocate, starting a business, etc) you can't do much about.

As for job related turnover, leadership is the most significant factor in employee retention. More specifically, the leadership of the employee's immediate supervisor. While there are many other factors that can come into play, with the right leadership, many employees will happily suffer long hours, low pay and follow their boss to the gates of hell and back.

Unfortunately, far too many managers couldn't even lead an ant colony to a picnic. Good leaders may seem to have a natural talent, but many have become successful by actually taking the trouble to learn and practice leadership skills.

Retaining good leaders is the key to retaining other employees. The latest employee retention *strategies* may be a temporary fix, but like most other management theories du jour, sooner or later they fall short. Cultivating good leadership from the top down is a long term and self perpetuating solution.