“We have an elaborate recruiting apparatus that gives us a huge presence on college and university campuses,” said one senior executive in a major financial services firm.

“We are known for our fast-track program, so we get a huge number of applicants and we put them through this meticulous screening process. After we hire them, we invest a huge amount in them right away over the course of the first year because we truly believe they are the future of the company. Still, by the end of the second year, half of them are gone. Most of them leave to go work for another financial services firm, and the competition is happy to have them precisely because they’ve been through our fast-track program. It’s so frustrating. It seems that that no matter what we do, we just can’t keep them.”

I hear different versions of this story from leaders and managers in every industry, especially those at the highest end of the employment spectrum.

Leaders and managers are very worried about high levels of turnover among the youngest least experienced people in the workplace. And they are right to be.

In most organizations, turnover among new employees has been going up ever so slightly but steadily over the past two decades. Turnover is by far the highest among employees with zero to two years’ tenure and next highest among employees with two to five years’ tenure.

Does that mean it is impossible to retain the best of GenY and GenZ? No. You can retain the best people indefinitely, “one day at a time,” as long as you are willing to keep making it work for them. You can even turn many of the best into long-term employees and some of the very best into new leaders. You have no choice. They are the future of your organization.