case study: breaking the turnover loop

Client:
A small-to-mid-sized financial services company (75+ employees)

Problem:
New hires were leaving within 2–3 months, even after onboarding improvements, incentives, and internal campaigns. Turnover remained high and unpredictable. Culture surveys weren’t showing clear answers.

Culthos Insight:
The issue wasn’t process, it was trust.
The existing team had bonded with too many hires who ended up leaving. Over time, they stopped trying. Emotional exhaustion set in. New people walked into silence, not hostility, but a lack of warmth, interest, and welcome.

No hello. No lunch invite. No eye contact. Just coldness.

“They’ll probably leave anyway.”

This became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Our Approach:
We treated retention as a social challenge, not just an HR one.
Culthos facilitated team reset sessions to rebuild internal trust and surface emotional blockers. We designed small, high-impact rituals to reignite connection and give the team new energy to re-engage with newcomers. We worked with internal culture leads to co-create a Welcome Protocol that was human, not just procedural.

Impact:

• Voluntary turnover dropped by 40% in the first quarter

• Managers reported stronger team morale and faster integration of new hires

• The internal People team was able to secure additional culture budget based on the renewed results