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With the end of the Great Resignation, it may seem that employee retention is no longer a top problem for HR leaders. But in high-security industries — those involving security clearances, running critical infrastructure, managing private security personnel and more — retention remains a costly challenge.  

This specialized labor pool is small; for example, just over a million people have a Top Secret security clearance, and while that number seems large out of context, when considering the number of roles to be filled, it’s actually not very big. On top of the constrained candidate pool, hiring in these high-security industries is a laborious process complete with extensive background checks, identity verification and a specific set of skills required.  

The time and effort it takes to hire high-security employees and ensure they obtain the training and clearances they need for their jobs mean that losing an employee carries prohibitive costs and can leave critical roles unfilled.  

What can HR leaders do to prevent turnover in these industries? Competitive compensation packages are table stakes, particularly as inflation hits all sectors of the economy. But there is more to staying at a job than just the salary. HR leaders can utilize these five strategies to reduce turnover in this unique employee population.