Speed gets you in the door. Retention is what makes a client stop shopping.
We placed a large team of AML analysts on a program that grew from 50 seats to 150. A year later, 125 of them were still there. That’s 83% retention — on a program where most staffing firms lose 40 to 50% of their placements within the first six months.
Here’s why that number matters more than the speed of the original fill. On a compliance program, turnover isn’t just a staffing inconvenience — it’s a regulatory risk. Every analyst who walks out the door takes case knowledge with them. Every empty seat is a gap in coverage. Every replacement has to be re-trained on the institution’s specific procedures before they’re productive. A program that churns half its staff in six months isn’t staffed — it’s perpetually re-staffing.
So how do we hold people in place? It starts with the same thing that lets us fill fast: pedigree. When you place people who actually fit the work — who’ve done it before, at institutions like this one — they don’t bail in month three. They’re not in over their heads. They’re not surprised by what the job actually is.
The other half is how we treat the people we place. We’re transparent about pay. We don’t bury a markup we’re ashamed of. People who feel respected and fairly compensated stay, and clients who don’t have to re-staff every quarter stop calling our competitors.
Anyone can throw bodies at a requirement. Keeping those bodies in their seats for a year is a different discipline entirely — and it’s the one that ends the vendor bake-off.
If you’re tired of re-staffing the same program every two quarters, let’s talk.