Employee lifecycle: maximizing engagement at every stage

Engaging a candidate and engaging a tenured team member require different approaches. That’s because these individuals are in distinct stages of the employee lifecycle.

But not all phases of the employee lifecycle are so easy to distinguish. Employees may fall into different lifecycle phases depending on their time with your organization, engagement levels, career trajectory, and goals.

Understanding the stages of the employee lifecycle is key to boosting retention, attracting top talent, and improving the employee experience.

In this guide, we’ll define all seven stages — attraction, recruitment, onboarding, retention, development, offboarding, and (hopefully) happy leavers — and provide tips on improving engagement during each.

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The 7 stages of the employee lifecycle

The employee lifecycle encompasses seven distinct stages. It starts with a successful recruitment strategy (the “attraction” phase) and culminates in the “happy leavers” phase. In this ideal outcome, employees part ways on positive, constructive terms, leaving as advocates for your organization.

HR initiatives should look a little different at each stage. We’ll cover all of that — and more — below.
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1. Attraction

The employee lifecycle starts long before both parties sign an employment contract. It begins even before a person submits their initial application; often, the initial touchpoint occurs months or years before a potential employee becomes a team member. This is known as the attraction stage.

With more than half of US professionals searching for new jobs in 2025, building a strong employer brand has never been more critical. Showcasing your values, culture, and employee success stories can help you stand out and attract top talent in a competitive market.
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How to optimize the attraction phase

• Leverage employer branding platforms: Share your company culture via websites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn.
  
  
• Showcase team successes: These are ideal opportunities for employee recognition and highlighting team-building activities (but always obtain employee consent before sharing).
  
  
• Use social media strategically: Highlight unique workplace experiences to attract top talent.
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2. Recruitment

At this point, potential employees have become candidates. They’ve submitted applications, communicated with recruiters, or shown interest in joining your company.

The quality of your candidate experience is critical, even for applicants who don’t become employees. Nearly three-fourths of job seekers say job hunting has hurt their mental health over the last year. Furthermore, potential employees face many hurdles, including a tight post-pandemic job market. By showing these individuals respect, professionalism, and grace during the hiring process, employers can reinforce their commitment to a people-first workplace.
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Tips on creating a people-first recruitment experience

• Communicate transparently: Share interview timelines and promptly update candidates about changes.
  
  
• Do not ghost: Always follow up, even if an applicant isn’t moving forward.
  
  
• Offer feedback: Provide constructive insights to candidates, particularly those progressing through multiple interview stages.

🤔 Did you know?

Four in ten job seekers indicate that they’ve been ghosted after a second or third-round interview. In addition, 47% of applicants share that they’d voluntarily withdraw from a recruitment process if they faced poor communication.

Companies that prioritize open and honest communication can differentiate themselves from competitors and create more empowering relationships with candidates.

3. Onboarding

Congrats — you’ve just hired the best candidate for the job! Their first day is fast approaching, and the onboarding process begins. This is your chance to roll out the red carpet and lay the foundation for a successful, long-term employee-employer relationship.

Onboarding is a critical step in building a positive, long-term employment relationship.

Professionals who rate their onboarding experience as “exceptional” are 2.6 times more likely to feel extremely satisfied at work. Moreover, companies with robust, individualized onboarding plans significantly improve time-to-productivity for their new hires.
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Best practices for a winning onboarding strategy

• Make preboarding count: Engage new team members before their first day by sharing key information, sending pre-onboarding materials, and encouraging new hires to ask questions. When companies take these kinds of proactive steps, employees are remarkably more willing to refer other candidates.

• Invite the broader team into the mix: Introduce new hires to their colleagues early to help them hit the ground running. It’s the fastest way to spark connections, create a sense of belonging, and give them a real feel for your company culture.

• Prioritize regular 1:1 check-ins for long-term success: Onboarding is an ongoing process that requires consistent support and attention from managers. In fact, Gallup estimates that it takes new employees about 12 months to reach their full potential. By scheduling regular check-ins, you can address concerns early and provide timely, tailored guidance as team members get used to new processes and workflows.

• Break onboarding into clear, actionable steps: A structured onboarding process helps new hires navigate their early days with clarity and confidence. Tools like Leapsome Learning make it easy to build personalized career paths, track progress, and set new hires up for success.

🌟 Our comprehensive library of resources can help your HR team level up your onboarding approach!

✨ Read our employee onboarding guide for details on creating a structured, people-centered onboarding program. 

✨ Browse these onboarding process examples for advice on building onboarding programs that inspire new hires to do their best work.

✨ Learn how onboarding courses can improve the employee experience.

✨ Review our employee onboarding experience guide to learn how to create a memorable and engaging onboarding.

✨ Check out our comprehensive onboarding checklist to ensure your process ticks all the boxes.

✨ Access our remote onboarding playbook to learn how to welcome remote and hybrid team members.

✨ Explore our onboarding survey playbook to gather more meaningful insights from questionnaires.

4. Retention

One of the longest employee lifecycle stages starts, running parallel with development: retention.

Retention isn’t just about keeping employees; it’s about building an environment where they feel valued, motivated, and excited to contribute. This stage often defines whether team members see their role as a temporary opportunity or a fulfilling career.

You can retain top performers by prioritizing employee engagement and ensuring team members feel happy and fulfilled. Best of all, engagement and retention-boosting initiatives lead to additional workplace benefits, like improved well-being, decreased absenteeism, and better profitability. So, if these areas are important to your People team, it may be time to re-focus on the retention stage.

❗ “In times of economic uncertainty, businesses may be tempted to reduce their investment in people-centric programs like skills training, coaching, and recognition. However, this short-sighted approach risks lowering engagement and increasing turnover.

Protecting your business during tough times also means retaining top performers and high-potential employees. These programs are vital to maintaining the talent necessary for long-term success.” 

— Luck Dookchitra, VP of People at Leapsome

Boost employee satisfaction, performance, and retention with key strategies

• Create clarity through transparency: Open communication about tricky topics like appraisals, promotions, and compensation is vital. Tools like Leapsome Compensation can help create a consistent and fair employee compensation experience, supporting transparency across the board.

• Tap into employee insights with engagement surveys: Anonymous surveys uncover what motivates team members and highlight areas for improvement. Use a metric like the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) to benchmark engagement against industry standards and track progress over time. These insights can guide People teams toward initiatives that genuinely resonate with employees.

• Cultivate a culture of actionable feedback: Employees are four times more likely to feel engaged when they receive meaningful, honest feedback. Prioritize frequent, specific, and future-focused conversations to build trust and motivation. Platforms like Leapsome Instant Feedback empower team members to exchange praise and constructive insights, fostering a culture of collaboration and growth.

🌟 Explore our library of resources for more tips on improving your retention strategy:

✨ Learn why employee retention is important and how it directly impacts your company culture and bottom line.

✨ Discover proven strategies for retaining employees and creating a workplace where people are excited to stay and grow.

✨ Read our employee retention policy guide to craft policies that support a thriving, loyal workforce.

✨ Explore the essential employee retention metrics to gain actionable insights into team satisfaction and engagement.

✨ Understand what employee retention rate is, why it matters, and how to calculate it for your organization.

✨ Browse our employee retention incentives guide to explore ideas for motivating and rewarding your top talent.

✨ Compare leading employee retention software to find tools that enhance engagement, satisfaction, and long-term loyalty.

5. Development

The development stage begins once an employee feels settled into their position. At this point, they understand their responsibilities and are likely contributing to organizational objectives. However, without the proper learning and growth opportunities, employees may feel unsure, bored, or understimulated.

A development plan is crucial for incentivizing top performers to continue growing with your company. Research shows that 41% of professionals feel energized at work when they’re inspired to do their best, while 39% feel energized when facing consistent challenges. A good learning and development (L&D) strategy will hit both marks.
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Career development best practices

• Implement continuous learning opportunities: Regular training is far more effective than one-off courses. As automation and AI reshape industries, ongoing L&D is more relevant than ever. Most employees (58%) believe their job skills will change fundamentally over the next five years thanks to AI. Similarly, Leapsome’s research shows that AI is the #1 skill employees want to improve.

• Empower growth with competency frameworks: When professionals clearly understand what to do to advance, they feel more confident and in control of their careers. A defined competency framework (click for a free template!) helps establish development goals, allows for fair promotion processes, and enables managers to make more objective, transparent decisions. 

• Make goals actionable: Objectives are more effective when paired with clear guidance. In fact, individuals who set career advancement goals are four times more likely to interact with L&D materials. Outlining promotion criteria and having regular development conversations can help employees map out their career growth possibilities.

🌟 Take a deeper dive into the L&D world with Leapsome’s employee development resources:

✨ Explore the fundamentals of employee development and why it’s essential for cultivating a high-performing team.

✨ Build initiatives that empower growth and drive success with our guide to employee development programs.

✨ Learn how to create tailored employee development plans that align individual team member goals with company objectives.

✨ Discover effective employee development methods that help team members enrich their skills and feel more confident.

✨ Browse examples of employee development plans for inspiration on impactful training initiatives. 

✨ Use our list of career development questions to spark meaningful growth conversations.

6. Offboarding

Even with stellar engagement strategies, employee turnover is inevitable. But a structured offboarding process ensures departing employees leave on a positive note and provides insights for improvement.
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Key steps for a structured offboarding process

• Show departing employees you value their feedback: Use exit interviews and surveys to gather honest insights and demonstrate appreciation for their contributions.
  
  
• Highlight areas where your People strategy may fall short: Identify recurring themes or challenges.
  
  
• Take targeted action to improve: If, for example, the performance review process is flagged as an issue, collect feedback from current team members about your performance management cycle and implement changes to address gaps.

🌟 Review our library of offboarding resources to help create a process that leaves a stellar final impression:

✨ Learn how to offboard remote employees smoothly with our playbook for respectful and thorough departures.

✨ Use our exit survey playbook to gather valuable insights from departing team members and improve the employee experience in the future.

✨ Discover how to conduct meaningful employee exit interviews that provide actionable feedback for your organization.

7. Happy leavers

The employee lifecycle doesn’t end at onboarding. Ideally, when someone leaves your company, they should become an advocate for your organization, sharing positive referrals and sending promising candidates to your door. We call them happy leavers.

Some employees will inevitably have mixed feelings when they leave your organization. However, prioritizing team member engagement and paying special attention to the offboarding process improves job satisfaction — even after people move on from your company.

In other words, prioritizing engagement throughout the employee lifecycle should create a loop that keeps bringing great candidates to your door.
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Engage employees at every stage of the lifecycle with Leapsome

From attracting top talent to having leavers become your greatest advocates, understanding the employee lifecycle is key to boosting engagement, retention, and performance.

Leapsome empowers you to take this journey to the next level. With tools designed to enhance the experience across the employee lifecycle, we can help you foster a workplace where professionals thrive, grow, and feel valued. 

Whether it’s improving onboarding, supporting development, or creating a smooth offboarding process, Leapsome ensures your people feel supported every step of the way.

🗺️ Let’s map out the employee journey

People-centered HR professionals across the globe use Leapsome to engage, retain, and motivate their teams.

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Frequently asked questions about the employee lifecycle

What is the employee lifecycle?

The employee lifecycle consists of seven stages in a professional’s journey, starting with attraction and recruitment and ending with offboarding and post-employment (known as the “happy leavers” phase when things go well). By understanding each team member’s place in the lifecycle, People professionals can craft more targeted engagement initiatives and relevant training plans — ultimately boosting employee satisfaction and enablement. 
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What are the stages of the employee lifecycle?

There are seven stages in the employee lifecycle:

• Attraction
• Recruitment
• Onboarding
• Retention
• Development
• Offboarding
• Happy leavers

Why is the employee lifecycle important?

The employee cycle is important because priorities often shift throughout the employee journey. For instance, seasoned team members may want more personalized growth opportunities, while new hires might thrive on social events and frequent manager check-ins. The employee lifecycle is a valuable framework for understanding these diverse expectations. It’s designed to help employers provide meaningful experiences for team members, candidates, and soon-to-be former staff alike.