HC Talent Intelligence: The Retention Equation - Why People Leave, and What Organisations Can Do About it

Each month, HC Group's Talent Intelligence team brings you an expert view of the human capital landscape in commodity trading. Drawing on HC Group's unique position as global search specialists in the energy and commodities markets, we will decode the trends shaping talent strategies across the industry.

This month, we're talking retention. The biggest retention risk in commodity trading right now isn’t competition. It’s complacency. Even the best-run firms are losing people faster than they can replace them. When top performers walk, most firms reach for the same lever: the counteroffer. But that’s not retention, that’s a last-ditch attempt. Real retention begins long before resignation letters are sent. It starts with asking better questions and being willing to listen to the answers.

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Five Conversations Every Leader Should Be Having

1. Reward: Are we paying for impact, or attendance?

How often do we review pay bands before someone forces our hand? Are bonuses tied to contribution, or stuck on autopilot? 

Too many firms still benchmark reactively, adjusting only after they lose someone. In 2025, credible pay is less about being top of market and more about being trusted. Employees know when they’re fairly paid; they also know when a company is coasting on reputation.

2. Progression: Can people see a future here?

People don’t leave because they’ve stopped caring, they leave because they’ve stopped seeing what’s next. If mobility isn’t visible inside the firm, it will be found outside it.

Career conversations are still one of the weakest leadership skills in trading organisations. Many managers assume that good performers will “naturally progress”, when in fact the absence of visible motion is often read as a lack of recognition.

3. Leadership: What signals are we sending?

Retention is 80% leadership and 20% policy. If managers don’t model balance, recognition, and trust, the culture message is clear, even if it’s never said aloud.

Leaders underestimate how visible their behaviour is. When senior people normalise exhaustion or silence small wins, it sets a tone that no amount of HR policy can fix.

4. Culture: Do people feel known and connected?

Hybrid teams don’t build culture by accident. Connection now needs deliberate design, visibility, conversation, and inclusion, or it quietly fades away.

For trading organisations, the challenge runs deeper than remote work. Front, middle, and back office hierarchies have created cultural distance as well as operational separation. The closer a team sits to the trading book, the more visible, and often more valued, they feel. Those further from commercial outcomes can feel peripheral, even when their work underpins performance.

Culture breaks down when recognition follows hierarchy instead of impact. Middle and back office teams notice when visibility, feedback, or reward flows one way. In today’s flatter, hybrid structures, that imbalance is harder to ignore.

5. Market Position: Do we still look like an employer of choice?

What’s our story against competitors? Are we winning on pay, progression, purpose, or flexibility, or none of the above? If our own people can’t articulate why they stay, that’s the story the market hears too.

For years, front office reputation has carried employer brand. But as middle and back office functions mature, they are now part of how the firm is judged. A company known for underpaying control functions or overlooking internal growth quickly earns a market reputation, and not the one it wants.

Today’s candidates talk across functions, regions, and employers. The way a firm treats its risk, legal, finance, and operations staff is as visible as how it rewards traders.

The Bigger Picture

Retention is ultimately a test of leadership. The firms navigating this period well are the ones treating it as part of business strategy, not a standalone HR topic. They understand where their pressure points are, they keep a close view of their rising talent, and they act before risk turns into resignation.

Across the markets we track, from Houston to Geneva, Singapore to Dubai, the story is consistent. When people feel fairly paid, can see genuine career movement, and believe in the organisation’s direction, they stay.