Many companies are scaling up operations and adopting new technologies to boost CX. But technology alone isn’t enough. Without investing in the employee experience, even the best digital transformation efforts can backfire, leading to higher employee turnover — and that’s where the cracks begin to show.
High turnover among frontline staff can disrupt service delivery, erode institutional knowledge and undermine team morale. As a result, the consistency and quality of customer interactions suffer, making it increasingly difficult for brands to maintain a seamless experience and nurture lasting customer loyalty.
Why employee retention powers CX
Frontline employees are the true face and voice of car rental brands. When companies retain their talent, staff build expertise, master processes and build meaningful customer relationships. This continuity is crucial for executing long-term projects — like rolling out new platforms or expanding multilingual support — with greater efficiency and reliability.
A stable team also better embodies company values, acting as authentic brand ambassadors whose confidence and consistency build customer trust and satisfaction. When teams are constantly changing, brands risk losing that vital connection.
The link between employee engagement, retention and CX is clear:
- Companies that prioritize retention see a 2.2% higher five-year return on equity.
- Employees who feel deeply connected to their organization are 2.7 times more likely to take responsibility for quality and 4.9 times more likely to respond quickly to customer needs.
- High engagement and low attrition deliver a 20% boost in customer satisfaction.
- Replacing an employee can cost from 50% to 200% of their annual salary.
In an industry where reliability is everything, engaged employees drive operational resilience and help turn CX initiatives into lasting competitive advantages. Making employee retention a strategic priority means better service, stronger brand reputation and sustainable performance — especially across Europe’s fast-changing markets.
Cutting attrition, boosting results
One global car rental brand recently faced this challenge when a major CX improvement initiative in the U.K., Germany and Spain wasn’t hitting its targets. Digging deeper, they spotted rising attrition at their multilingual hub in Athens. The company took action — using absence tracking, focus groups and team discussions to pinpoint why people were leaving and build a structured retention plan.
Key initiatives included:
- Refresher training to improve skills and confidence
- Regular engagement activities to strengthen brand connection
- Incentives focused on strategic outcomes
- Aligning business lines with agent strengths
They also added a subject matter expert (SME) to support frontline staff with complex customer interactions, such as handling prepay refunds. Performance was tracked closely, with new operational controls and data-driven coaching to sharpen skills and improve outcomes.
Driving up performance
Just three months after launching the retention plan, attrition rates dropped from 8% to 3.75%.
Refresher coaching and SME support pushed the satisfaction quality index above 77% for support and 80% for reservations.
Rental readiness — the percentage of inventory prepared and available for customers — jumped by nearly 15 percentage points to 71.2%, beating the target. Average handling time improved by 110 seconds. Calibration sessions drove a sustained improvement in quality, translating to real business impact: reservation rates soared from 71% to 90% in the U.K. and from 83.1% to 91% in Germany.
The brand also expanded its team, launching a new satellite support hub based in Porto to deliver extra Spanish-language capacity and operational flexibility.
The bottom line? Quarterly revenue shot up by 35%, and gross margin improved by 4.7 percentage points — from 29% to 33.7%.
By focusing on engagement, development, and support, car rental companies can drive performance, enhance customer satisfaction and secure sustainable growth. Discover the full success story behind how this car rental leader used employee retention to fuel CX performance.