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Top 10 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Jobs

reasons why employees leave

The reasons why employees leave their jobs may vary depending on their workplace atmosphere and personal lives.

Employers need to become aware of these reasons to retain and develop their talent. In this blog post, we are listing the top 10 reasons why employees leave their jobs for you to keep your employees around.

However, this list simply consists of example scenarios.

To effectively combat employee attrition, keep scrolling down and discover our unique solution!

10 Reasons Why Employees Leave Their Work

Understanding the common reasons why people leave their jobs can help you come up with the right strategies that target employee turnover. Below you can find the top 10 reasons why employees leave their work.

1. Toxic Workplace Culture

reasons why employees leave: toxic workplace culture

One of the most common reasons why employees leave their work is having a toxic workplace. Toxic work environments reinforce the “every man for himself” mentality and this leads to resentment among employees.

In toxic workplaces people are usually willing the throw other employees under the bus because they are scared. Employees who work in a toxic work atmosphere will feel resentful, less productive, and they will ultimately want to leave.

2. Looking for a higher salary

One of the important reasons why employees leave is being underpaid for the work they do.

Lifestyle changes or having a family that is currently growing may result in a decision to hunt for other jobs.

3. Wanting to have a healthier relationship with management

Getting along with certain people at work is inevitable and perfectly normal. However, having a subpar relationship with management is another story.

If this relationship is affecting well-being and productivity at work and it can’t be fixed, then it’s understandable that some employees may wish to change their jobs.

4. The need for more autonomy

Although it’s understandable that managers may need to monitor everything to streamline processes, it can backfire.

More autonomy at work can provide employees with the opportunity to figure out how they should work on their own and increase job satisfaction.

When this opportunity not given, employees may feel stressed and they may look for another place for employment.

5. Needing more recognition

Needing more recognition from management is one of the most common reasons why do people quit their jobs.

If direct reports are feeling that their efforts are not truly appreciated through positive feedback and praise, they may feel a lack of motivation.

6. Feeling unsatisfied with policies

There are companies that offer flexible scheduling and remote work opportunities. If an employee thinks that the workplace policies prevent these arrangements, they may seek employment in other companies that offer such benefits.

Inadequate paid time-off and sick leave policies can be among of the reasons why employees leave as well.

7. Seeking work-life balance

reasons why employees leave: seeking work-life balance

If you find yourself constantly working overtime, at a certain point, it can negatively influence your personal life and lead to burnout.

Seeking a healthy work-life balance that allows you to spend time for your loved ones and hobbies is one of the common reasons why employees leave their work.

8. Feeling disengaged

Disengaged employees won’t be loyal to their companies for long. Gallup found that one-third of employees in the US feel engaged at work and this disengagement leads to job search.

Moreover, the employees who feel disengaged are less productive and their performance plummet over time. Therefore, it’s important to detect disengagement early on before it becomes detrimental for your organization.

9. They feel underused

Feeling underused at work when it comes to the volume of tasks and the type of tasks they are doing can be one of the reasons why employees leave.

Employees seek meaningful work or challenges to expand their skill sets and if they feel like their work is not stimulating enough, they may look for other opportunities.

10. Feelings of isolation

Employees spend a great amount of time in their workplace. Feelings of isolation will negatively influence how employees work and it may ultimately lead to job searching.

To overcome this issue, you can incorporate fun interactive activities into your daily meetings which can eliminate the sense of isolation and strengthen team bonds.

Conducting Exit Interviews: Find Out Why Employees Are Leaving

Benefits of Exit Interviews

We have compiled this list of 9 reasons that reveals the importance of exit interviews. Read on and discover more!

1. Employees who are quitting their jobs are usually more forthcoming than those who are still working in your company.

2. You can discover why your employee is leaving in the exit interview and the reason why employees leave may be different than you’ve anticipated.

3. With an exit interview, you may allow your departing employees to leave on a positive note and receive their constructive feedback.

4. You can review the continuing obligations thanks to the last touchpoint that exit interviews provide such as non-competes and intellectual property agreements.

5. During exit interviews, you can ask employees the issues that you need to be aware of.

6. The departing employees can provide you with honest feedback about your organization’s culture and atmosphere.

7. You may receive insights into your hiring, onboarding and training practices.

8. You can improve employee retention with the help of candid feedback you receive.

9. Exit interviews can reveal how you can improve management development and succession planning.

How to Conduct Exit Interviews within Microsoft Teams & Outlook?

In order to conveniently conduct and analyze exit interviews inside platforms like Microsoft Teams and Outlook, you need to take advantage of performance review software.

For this example, we will be showing you how you can conduct exit interviews with Teamflect, the highest-rated performance review software in the Microsoft Teams app store.

1. Access Teamflect Reviews Module and Click New Review

Access Teamflect Reviews Module and Click New Review: reasons why employees leave

You need to access Teamflect’s Reviews Module first to begin your exit review.

For this, open Microsoft Teams and search for the Teamflect app. Next, you should enter the Reviews module.

You can click New Review, then name the review as Employee Exit Review.

2. Select Review Template and Fill Out the Important Information

reasons why employees leave:  Select Review Template and Fill Out the Important Information

The next step is to pick the review template that best serves your performance review needs. In this particular case, all you need to do is to select the exit interview template.

Of course, these templates can be fully customized with various different question types, or used as they are.

3. Complete Exit Review and Submit Review

reasons why employees leave: Complete Exit Review and Submit Review

Once the exit interview has been sent out, all that is left on the employee’s part is to fill out the exit questionnaire.

4. Access Detailed Reports On Review Results

Reasons why employees leave: Access Detailed Reports On Review Results

The purpose of an exit interview is to gain insights into employee departures. Teamflect’s advanced reporting capabilities allow leaders to analyze exit interview responses in bulk, and analyze the patterns, in order to understand why their employees are leaving.

Looking to streamline your performance reviews?
No sign-up required.
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Employee Attrition vs Retention

Employee attrition and retention are two opposite sides of the same coin. Employee attrition measures the number of employees who departed and employee retention is related to who you have managed to keep in your organization.

When put together, they can reveal how stable a company is. Here are the key differences of employee attrition and retention:

Attrition and retention are two opposite concepts that describe the movement of employees in and out of an organization.

Attrition

Attrition can be defined as the departure of employees from a company over a given period, and it could be voluntary or involuntary. You can understand employee turnover or churn rate by measuring attrition in your organization.

Causes:

  • Low employee morale
  • Ineffective management practices
  • Inadequate compensation and benefits
  • Limited career growth opportunities
  • Toxic work culture

Retention

Retention can be defined as an organization’s ability to keep its workforce over time.

Measuring employee retention through retention surveys can reveal important insights into why employees are choosing to stay with an organization.

Factors that influence retention:

  • Positive work environment
  • Supportive leadership
  • Fair compensation and benefits
  • Promoting work-life balance
  • Opportunities for career advancement

Benefits Of Knowing Why Employees Leave

Benefits of Knowing Reasons Why Employees Leave

Knowing the reasons why employees leave can help you pinpoint the underlying issues in your organization. Here are the most important benefits of knowing why people quit their jobs.

1. Improves Retention

You can improve the retention rates by understanding why employees leave their jobs. Addressing resentment and other concerns can help companies create a more positive work environment in the long run.

2. Cost Savings

Turnover is costly since it includes expenses for recruitment, onboarding and, training. Another key benefit of knowing why people leave jobs is mitigating the turnover costs. You can implement strategies to retain your talented employees and save money in the long haul.

3. Enhances Hiring Practices

One of the key benefits of knowing reasons why employees leave their jobs is improving your hiring practices. You can align the job expectations with preferences of candidates to attract people who can be more loyal to their company.

4. Increases Employee Engagement

Analyzing the reasons why employees leave their jobs can reveal opportunities to improve employee engagement. The reasons why employees leave can be linked to key aspects of work such as lack of career development , absence of recognition, or work-life balance.

Improving them will lead to higher levels of employee engagement as well as productivity and job satisfaction among your employees.

5. Building a Positive Workplace Culture

Analyzing reasons why employees leave often reveals there has been issues regarding workplace culture. Knowing the reasons why employees leave their jobs can help you build a more inclusive and positive workplace culture.

6. Helps You Identify Patterns

Another key area that of the benefits of analyzing why employees leave their jobs is identifying the patterns and trends in your organization. These trends and patterns provide you with insights into addressing recurring problems and anticipating challenges to prevent turnover.

7. Maintaining Organizational Knowledge

One of the worst aspects of employee turnover is the loss of organizational knowledge. When experienced employees leave your company it can hinder growth and productivity throughout your organization.

Understanding the reasons why employees leave their jobs can help you implement processes for knowledge transfer and strategies for succession planning to mitigate this risk.

8. Gives You Competitive Advantage

Last but by no means not least, as an organization that seeks competitive advantage in the job market, addressing the reasons why employees leave their work can help you come up with right strategies to combat employee turnover.

You can stand out among the competition as an employer who values employees and builds a positive work environment to attract top talent.

FAQ

How to leave a job amicably?

Set up a one-on-one meeting in person (or via Zoom) 
Be direct about your decision at the front of the conversation 
Outline the reasons why you’re leaving 
Express gratitude and appreciation for their leadership 
Provide the appropriate two weeks’ notice 
Help put together a transition plan 
Provide your formal letter of resignation 
Complete (or request) an exit interview.

Why do employees leave a job?

ToxicWorkplace Culture
Looking for a higher salary
Wanting to have a healthier relationship with management
The need for more autonomy
Needing more recognition
Feeling unsatisfied with policies
Seeking work-life balance
Feeling disengaged
They feel underused
Feelings of isolation

Written by Duygu Soysanli

Duygu is a content writer who enthusiastically writes useful content about the dynamic world of HR.

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