The need to sustain an adequate, appropriately qualified workforce is key to sustainable primary health care services and improving health outcomes in small rural and remote communities. Many of these health services experience shortages of health workers and high levels of staff turnover. Unnecessarily high workforce turnover results in loss of skills and experience, restricts consumer access to care, compromises the continuity and quality of care, and results in high recruitment costs. However, little is known about what is a reasonable length of stay for health workers or the effectiveness of retention incentives. This study provides a framework and methodology that enables managers to monitor workforce retention by connecting human resource inputs with workforce outcomes, service performance and sustainability.