The Retention Institute

Program Overview

The Retention Institute offers HR executives and other professionals an online program in employee retention leading to certification as a Certified Employee Retention Professional (CERP). The program consists of 6 modules that candidates take over a six month period that equips them with professional knowledge and newly-developed tools to perform retention tasks on the ground in real time within their organizations.

The tools are based on the Rethinking Retention Model^SM developed by Dick Finnegan in conjunction with his book, Rethinking Retention in Good Times and Bad. The Model drives organizations to address employee retention with the same types of processes they apply to sales, service, quality, and safety. Importantly, the tools require candidates to work under the guidance of an executive sponsor and to interact directly with executive managers so these executives will discover the program’s effectiveness and support it throughout the organization.

How the Program Works

The most important feature of this program is that your candidate will learn the absolutely most effective employee retention techniques and apply them to your organization in real time. This candidate will then become an employee retention champion who you can assign to other parts of your organization to continue improving employee retention and reduce employee turnover costs.

Throughout the program, the candidate and executive sponsor track retention results to ensure they are achieving their goal. At the program’s conclusion, the executive sponsor signs off that the candidate has completed the assigned tasks and fulfilled all requirements for the Certified Employee Retention Professional (CERP) designation.

The program also offers additional employee retention tools and tasks for candidates each month. These are optional and not required for certification, but are available for those who want to do more.

Who would benefit most from the Certified Employee Retention Professional program?

1. HR professionals who struggle with high turnover in hospitality, retail, distribution centers, call centers, and other industries with low-skilled workers
2. Senior managers and HR representatives who must retain salespeople, engineers, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, lawyers, and other valued professionals
3. Senior representatives from companies that have reduced staff and now must retain survivors
4. CEOs and executives from small and medium businesses that would be crippled by key staff losses
5. HR professionals who want to develop a valuable new skill set to enhance their careers
6. Consultants who want to increase their credentials and market value

What specific outcomes can candidates expect for themselves and their organizations as Certified Employee Retention Professionals?

• Improved retention: Employee turnover will come down, resulting in higher retention of valued employees
• Increased productivity: Engagement, morale, and most importantly productivity will increase, leading to higher revenues and profits
• Continued application: The certified candidate will have the skills to reduce turnover in other parts of your organization which multiplies your investment
• Career growth: The certified candidate will be learning, growing, and contributing more, and therefore have more reasons to stay with your organization

SHRM / HRCI Credit

This activity may be submitted to the HR Certification Institute for credit under the On-The-Job category which has a maximum credit limit of 20 hours. You will need to include in your submission how this activity added to your HR knowledge and how it was implemented.

Upon completion of the six-part program, candidates are certified by the Institute as Retention Experts and are entitled to add the CERP designation to their names.

Take a moment now to review The Certified Employee Retention (CERP) Program and contact Ernie Hinderliter at for further details.