30 Reasons for Turnover

John Spacey, May 18, 2021

Turnover is the rate at which employees leave an organization. This includes termination, retirement, resignations and other any other reason for employee departure. In most cases, the majority of employee turnover results from resignations. This often has a negative effect on firms whereby it is very difficult to fully replace productive and talented employees when they leave. For example, in many cases it is impossible to fully capture or transfer the knowledge of a critical employee. The following are common reasons for resignations.

Bonus & Commission	Boreout (role lacks challenge and stimulation)
Career Change	Change Fatigue (projects often fail)
Commute	Discipline (e.g. admonished for being late)
Dispute with Coworker / Boss	Employment Terms
Engagement (i.e. feel disconnected from team)	Family Reasons
Health Issues	Hygiene Factors
Job Security (e.g. rumors of layoffs)	Lack of Communication
Lack of Confidence in Leadership (e.g. feel firm is doomed)	Lack of Feedback
Lack of Opportunity	Lack of Recognition
Lack of Trust (e.g. intrusive monitoring of employees)	Office Politics
Pay	Perceptions of Fairness (e.g. feels that incompetent employees are promoted)
Performance Reviews (i.e. disagrees with performance ratings or feedback)	Pull Factors (e.g. offered more appealing role or salary)
Role Clarity (lacks direction)	Safety Issues (e.g. feels job site is dangerous)
Stressful Work (e.g. dealing with unhappy customers)	Travel Demands
Working Conditions	Workload & Overworking

Hygiene factors are basic employee expectations that don't improve satisfaction when they are met but dramatically lower satisfaction when they aren't met. For example, an office worker who expects a comfortable chair.