Why employees quit their jobs

If you were to leave or quit your job tomorrow, what would your main reason(s) be?

Better pay	|||||||||||||||||||||||||| 26%
To retire	||||||||| 9%
Workload / stress	|||||||| 8%
Develop my career	|||||||| 8%
I would not leave	||||||| 7%
Other purpose	|||||| 6%
Managers	|||||| 6%
Poor culture	|||||| 6%
My health	||||| 5%
Location	||||| 5%

These are recoded open-ended answers to the question from our UK Workplace Study. More than half of these respondents had already said it would take a lot to get them to leave their current employer.

Other reasons included better work-life balance (4%), stability/more hours (mostly from P/T workers), co-workers and flexibility.

It's no surprise about pay, and the 26% doesn't significantly change whether people are happy/engaged or not.

Recoding comments for I would not leave was interesting because they could be a postive or negative response. Consider the following replies:

"Nothing because I love my work"

"I will stay until I am made redundant."

"I fear I am stuck in my job as I would not receive as good a pension elsewhere."

"Employer going out of business would be the only reason I would quit my job"

The 7% finding for I would not leave are based on the positive comments received (comments mentioning or inferring redundancy were grouped separately but only account for 2%). Most survey comments contain 'gold'. There are always comments that add insight or human impact to the stats.

Amongst those who answered that it wouldn't take much for them to leave: the proportion of comments about poor culture jumped to 18% and managers to 13%

"Poor leadership. The growth of the company has outgrown the ability of leadership growth. Too many poor managers , who are in the realms of self preservation, in senior roles"

"Bad management. They treat people like there slaves. Have no idea what it takes to do the job. You never get good work out them just your why have you not got more done. If you don't like it leave"

The figures change in certain groups: 2x more women than men commented about health. Chasing better pay drops as employees get older (50s onwards) - it is highest in employees' 20s.

Some of the quite simple comments feel very ... informative, possible to do something with more easily too:

"Lack of lunchtime"

"Not being listened to"

One surprising finding was no employees working for charities / not-for-profit organisations made a comment that they "would not leave". This group only account for 6% of all responses but I would still expect at least a fraction of a percent for this sector.

What do your employees think?

If you’d like to know more about our study - please ask!

Surveylab’s employee survey framework shines a spotlight on where your business is right now and what really matters. Looking for real, human insight for the year ahead? Book in a chat with Dan (or more contact info here)