Can an employee exclude their email and/or phone number so that Retain won't use it?

Yes. When an employee sets up or verifies their Retain profile, they can choose not to use their cell number or email address.

During setup, each employee picks how they want Retain to reach them — email, text, or both. If they leave one out, Retain honors that, even if that phone number or email is still in your HRIS data file. Retain remembers they've opted out of that method and won't use it.

This works the same way for both email and cell number.

Employees make this choice in their Employee Profile. What they choose affects whether Retain can reach them — see Contact Information and Reachability. If someone opted out and wants to opt back in, see If an employee has opted out of being contacted by Retain, how can they opt back in?