How the Retention Index™ works

What it is

The Retention Index™ is a structured assessment we apply to candidates for a specific open role before we introduce anyone to an employer. It scores the fit between a person and one particular seat — not the person.

The same individual can score at the top of our range for one role and near the bottom for another in the same week. A low score is not a judgment about someone's ability, professionalism, or worth as a candidate. It is a judgment about a match.

It is advisory. The Index informs whether we introduce a candidate for a role. It does not make hiring decisions, it is not used to reject anyone automatically, and it is not a validated predictive instrument. The employer runs their own process and makes their own decision.

The five dimensions

Every candidate for a given search is assessed on the same five dimensions, against the same written criteria, using evidence from our conversations and from references.

Role alignment

Whether the actual day-to-day work matches what the candidate has done and what they have told us they want.

Culture fit

Whether the candidate aligns with the organization's mission and how it makes decisions. This means shared values, not resemblance — never whether someone resembles the existing team in background, communication style, or personality.

Career trajectory

Whether the role moves the candidate forward on the path they are on, and whether the organization can keep offering that.

Stability

What the candidate needs in order to stay in this seat, and whether the organization can offer it. We never assess the length of any gap, and candidates are never asked to account for personal circumstances behind a move.

Onboarding readiness

What the candidate would need to succeed in the first ninety days, and whether the employer is prepared to provide it.

The relative weighting of these dimensions, the scoring anchors, and the sub-factors within each are proprietary. The complete methodology is available on request to any candidate we assess, and to any client organization.

What is never recorded or scored

Excluded by design

Our assessment system contains no field for any of the following. There is nowhere to put the information, so it cannot inform a score:

Race · Color · Ethnicity · National origin · Ancestry
Sex · Gender · Gender identity or expression · Sexual orientation
Age · Religion or creed · Disability · Medical condition
Pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions · Marital or family status
Immigration or citizenship status · Military or veteran status
Genetic information · Any other characteristic protected by law

We also do not score communication style, personal resemblance to the existing team, or the existence of a career gap. Requesting an accommodation is never recorded as part of an assessment and plays no role in whether a candidate advances.

How it is governed

A person assigns every score. No software screens anyone out, and no automated process determines whether a candidate advances.
A named person makes every advance-or-decline decision, with a written, job-related reason recorded.
Criteria and weights are fixed before a search begins and are version-controlled. Changing them creates a new documented version; they are never adjusted mid-search to fit a preferred candidate.
Culture-fit scores are audited for whether higher-rated candidates cluster on demographic lines, and re-examined where they do.
Constructive difference scores higher, not lower. Where an organization needs a leader who will challenge its current approach, that is a strength in the assessment.
Assessments are retained for at least four years, with the evidence recorded for each rating, so any decision can be explained if it is ever questioned.

Honest limitation. The Index has not been statistically validated against placement outcomes. Its weights are set by professional judgment, corroborated by published research, and disclosed as such. It is a structured professional judgment tool, not a predictive model — and we describe it that way everywhere, including in sales conversations.

Your rights if we assess you

Every candidate receives our candidate notice in plain language before any assessment takes place. You may:

See your assessmentAsk, and we will walk you through your scores and the reasoning behind each one.

Correct the recordIf we have a fact wrong, tell us. We re-score the affected part and note the correction.

Be considered without itAsk us not to apply the Index to your candidacy and we will represent you on the strength of your experience and our conversations instead. Declining costs you nothing and we will not ask why.

Have it deletedSubject to any record-keeping obligation we are under — in which case we will tell you what that is and when it expires.

Read the full methodologyEvery dimension, criterion, and weight. Ask and we will send it.

To exercise any of these, email contact@retainhealth.co. Doing so does not affect your candidacy for any role, now or in future.

For client organizations

The Index is a tool we use to decide whom to introduce to you. It is not a substitute for your own hiring process, your own interviews, or your own judgment, and it should not be used as the sole basis for any employment decision.

You remain the employer and the decision-maker. We provide the reasoning behind every name on a shortlist so you can weigh it yourself rather than take a number on faith.