Thakane Setsabi Mushonga, Managing Executive at Old Mutual Corporate Consultants

The idea that loyalty is measured in years of service is fast becoming outdated. The latest October 2025 Remchannel Salary and Wage Survey shows that 60% of resignations now come from employees with one to five years of tenure. These are people who’ve already cleared the learning curve and are poised to deliver real results.

This shift doesn’t mean employees no longer care about security or belonging. Commitment hasn’t disappeared, but it’s no longer one-sided. People stay where leaders back their words with meaningful action. Staying power today isn’t about decades of tenure; it’s about choosing workplaces that support growth in real ways.

In Old Mutual’s Employee Benefits Annual Trends Survey 2025, more than 70% of employees said having a say in their benefit structure is highly important. Meanwhile, 77% of employers report that flexibility has become a deciding factor in employee retention.

Relevance is the new loyalty

For employers, this has clear implications. Retaining talent now depends less on tenure-based incentives and more on how well pay and benefit structures reflect the realities of people’s lives. Retirement remains one of the most powerful tools for long-term value, but only when aligned with how people live and work today.

Younger professionals are still thinking about the future. But they also want to see that their needs today, from financial support and health protection to culture and purpose, are being met. What they want is not a return to outdated loyalty models, but a modern, integrated approach to pay, benefits, culture, and development that makes them feel both supported and seen.

Offering benefits is not enough. In a world where flexibility is expected and personalisation is prized, the real differentiator is how those benefits are experienced. Do they make sense to people? Do they meet them where they are?

When benefits are misaligned with lived realities, they lose meaning, and with them, the trust they were meant to build. What was intended as a value-add can quickly become a credibility gap.

Flexibility is a prime example. It’s expected, but when offered without support, it causes confusion. Once people see the real costs of options like medical cover or insurance, many stick to the basics. The problem is choice without clarity. Some employers made medical aid voluntary, only to face backlash when employees opted out of cover they didn’t fully understand and thus found themselves without cover when they most needed it.

Benefits must be designed for real people. Most employees can’t weigh complex decisions under pressure. Without clear guidance, what seems empowering can become risky instead.

Most employees don’t know what their organisations already offer

And this challenge is made worse by a more basic problem: many employees don’t have full visibility of the benefits their employers already offer.

One of the most effective steps employers can take is to audit and communicate what they already offer. Many don’t have a clear picture of what’s included across their retirement funds and group policies. That kind of blind spot makes meaningful improvement or integration almost impossible.

This isn’t about offering more. It’s about making what’s already in place work better as a whole, and ensuring it makes sense to employees at every stage of their working life.

Benefit design shouldn’t sit in an HR silo. When it’s treated as a shared responsibility, across leadership, finance, and governance, it becomes more than a tick-box exercise. It becomes a strategic tool to build trust, reinforce culture, and retain the people who power the business.

It’s time to rethink what we’re measuring

We’re no longer in a world where time served guarantees loyalty. If someone stays for five years but disengages after two, is that success? And if someone stays for three years, builds systems, mentors others, and leaves on good terms — is that failure?

In today’s workplace, value lies in contribution, not just longevity. The true indicators of engagement are productivity, purpose, and advocacy, not just how long someone stays. Instead of focusing on extending tenure, we should be asking: how do we make each employee’s time here more meaningful?

It’s not about reviving an old model of loyalty. It’s about designing one that reflects the present and prepares us for the future, where wellbeing and financial confidence go hand in hand. When benefits reflect how people live, they pay attention. When they’re communicated clearly and designed intentionally, they inspire trust and engagement, not because they must, but because it makes sense too.

ENDS