By Daniel Cheleste
When I read a report on employee turnover rates, I quickly recognised it as one of the most credible findings regarding why people leave their jobs. Let us take a dive into this issue.
In 2025, the Work Institute conducted more than 15,000 exit interviews, part of a six-year data set, totaling more than 120,000 exit interviews from 2020 to 2025.
And according to their 2026 Retention Report, there is one uncomfortable truth we cannot deny: Nearly 75 per cent of employees leave for preventable reasons.
Why your people are quitting
If you zoom in on the data, a clear pattern emerges. People are not quitting because of lack of perks, pay, or lack of flexibility. They are leaving because they cannot see a future (career growth is still the number one driver), because work is colliding with life in ways that feel unsustainable, and because their day-to-day experience with managers and culture simply wears them down over time.
What makes this moment tricky for leaders is that when turnover slows down, the underlying frustration does not. Employees can stay longer, not because they are fully bought in, but because they are watching, waiting, and quietly reassessing whether it is worth sticking around.
That is the real risk. Not mass exits, but quiet disengagement building under the surface. The leaders who get ahead of this moment will not wait for turnover to spike again. They will fix what has been broken all along.
That gap between staying and committing is where most organisations are losing people. They just do not see it yet. Work Institute recommends some good strategies to keep your people from leaving.
How to retain workers
To retain workers, you must consistently show them that they are valued beyond their paycheck. Key strategies include:
- Offer competitive compensation and benefits: Benchmark your salaries against local market rates and offer attractive perks ( for example medical insurance, wellness benefits, or retirement plans).
- Invest in professional development: Provide opportunities for upskilling, cross-training, or mentorship to show staff that you are invested in their long-term career growth.
- Recognise and reward contributions: Regularly acknowledge hard work through praise, “employee of the month” programs, or performance-based bonuses.
- Prioritise work-life balance: Minimise burnout by optimising workloads, encouraging time off, and offering flexible or hybrid work arrangements.
- Gather regular feedback: Conduct one-on-one meetings, pulse surveys, and exit interviews to understand what motivates your staff and to resolve workplace frustrations before they lead to resignation.
