Team retention and culture

The small things that keep people around

I’ve written elsewhere about why I set up Kempt, what we built, and what I learned the hard way along the way. If you want the longer version and the context for where these views come from, start with my Business History page, particularly the section about Kempt at the start.

This post is the practical bit. It’s the set of behaviours that fell out of those years, and the mistakes I was determined not to repeat.

Running a business is hard work. Running one while quietly bleeding good people is worse. Retention is rarely fixed with grand strategy. It’s fixed with small, repeated signals that tell people: you’re valued, you’re safe, and the day-to-day is worth it.

The beliefs behind the behaviours

I’ve always come back to a few simple ideas:

It should be possible to enjoy work and make decent money at the same time.
A great team is like a great band: mutual respect, shared rhythm, and genuine friendship.
Credit matters, for good work and good ideas.
Niche appeal is powerful. The people who like you really like you, and it filters out the people who don’t.

Everything below is just those beliefs expressed as actions.

Belonging: create places and rituals that feel like ‘us’

People stay when they feel part of something, not merely employed by something.

Pick a home base. Choose a café or pub you can return to and make it yours. Go regularly enough that it becomes a rhythm, not an event.
For remote teams, the same principle applies: a shared space people actually use, whether that’s Discord, Gather, or even a Minecraft server.
Buy a round sometimes. The cost is trivial. The signal is not. Small generosity lands because it feels human, not transactional.
Talk properly outside the office. Those outings are not just social. They’re where you learn what’s really happening. People are more candid when they’re not at their desk.
Don’t make alcohol part of the job. Keep drinking out of the office. It’s not fair on people who don’t drink, or who struggle to control it.

Reduce friction: make it easy to do good work

Most culture damage is avoidable. It comes from daily irritations you could remove but don’t.

Simplify wherever possible. Don’t get tied up in unnecessary process. People hate it because it steals time and implies mistrust.
Provide decent kit. Quality equipment removes constant drag: computers, peripherals, stationery, books, the right software. Fix the annoying stuff before you buy “perks”.
Invest in comfort. If people sit for long periods, good chairs matter. Comfort is not luxury, it’s performance and wellbeing. You can do this in a cost-aware way and still take it seriously.

A mantra I’ve used for years: it takes twice as much work to fix something broken than it does to get it right in the first place.
Friction compounds. So does care.

Onboarding: your culture is how you welcome people

If you want people to feel valued, prove it early.

Spend time 1:1 on day one. A couple of hours with a new starter is not indulgent. It’s a shortcut. Give context, expectations, and a feel for how decisions get made.
Do a simple social handover. Take them out to lunch with their immediate colleagues. It reduces awkwardness and helps the team gel faster.
Make your principles legible. If you have a way of working, say it. New people settle quicker when the operating system is obvious.

Feedback and candour: the retention multiplier

A lot of “culture” is simply how feedback works day-to-day. People can tolerate pressure and ambiguity if they trust the intent and the honesty. If they can’t tell where they stand, everything else starts to wobble.

One useful frame is Radical Candor: feedback that combines care with directness.

Praise without truth becomes noise.
Criticism without care becomes threat.

The goal is a rhythm where people know what “good” looks like, hear when they’re getting closer to it, and feel safe raising concerns early. In practice, that means recognising success as well as failure, listening properly, and being specific. Clear feedback is a form of care.

Celebration and memory: mark the work, not just the output

People don’t leave because of one bad day. They leave after months of feeling invisible.

Celebrate birthdays. Buy a cake. It’s a small ritual that says someone noticed.
Celebrate wins together. Consider marking the losses too. A good team can take a hit if it feels shared.
Be creative with recognition. Thought beats spend. The more specific you are, the more it lands.
Collect memorabilia. Keep little reminders of what you’ve done together and put them on display. It creates continuity. It makes the “band” feel real.

Keep celebrations proportionate to the achievement:

A nice lunch for a medium win.
Ad-hoc drinks after a loss.
A day out for something spectacular.

If you can, organise something special at least once a year, scaled to how the business is doing. A few things I’ve done in the past:

A trip to Alton Towers via a nuclear bunker in a VIP coach
An endurance go-karting tournament at Wembley Stadium
Giant Valentine’s cards for the team, customised with specific praise

Money and fairness: avoid accidental resentment

This one catches leaders out because it feels generous.

Avoid regular bonuses. They become an expectation. The moment you need to pause them, you create dissatisfaction even if the team is otherwise treated well.
Prefer occasional, explainable rewards. Tie bonuses to exceptional business results unless they’re small enough to be reliably affordable. A modest Christmas bonus is usually appreciated and shouldn’t break the bank.

Transparency: don’t let people fill gaps with fear

When things are hard, silence creates fiction.

Stay transparent about the business. Guesswork breeds insecurity. Being honest, and outlining your plan, reassures people even when the news is not great.

Closing

None of this is complicated. That’s why it works.

Culture is what people experience repeatedly. The small signals. The default behaviours. The way you treat someone on a Tuesday when nobody is watching.

If you’ve got tips to add, send them over and I’ll fold them in. If you’d like a credit, I’m happy to add that too.