Knowledge Center

Reasons for Leaving

• People leave jobs because of push factors and/or pull factors. Employers have little effect on pull factors. 1

COMPANIES CAN REDUCE TURNOVER BY FOCUSING ON PUSH FACTORS 2

• In a Catalyst study, senior-level women gave their top three reasons for which they would leave their current organization, with 42.0% citing increased compensation, 35.0% to accept the opportunity to develop new skills or competencies, and 33.0% to pursue greater advancement opportunities.3
• High-level men gave the same reasons, with 51.0% citing increased compensation, 32.0% to accept the opportunity to develop new skills or competencies, and 30.0% to pursue greater advancement opportunities.4
• A 2007 study looked at professionals and managers who left their place of work due to unfairness and found that: 5
  • 9.5% of people of color that were professionals or managers left due to unfairness in their job.
  • 3.0% of Caucasian men and 4.6% of Caucasian women left their place of work due to unfairness in their jobs. 
  • 5.6% of gays and lesbians that were professionals or managers left due to unfairness in their job. 

SPECIFIC UNFAIRNESS EXPERIENCED AMONG RESPONDENTS WHO LEFT THEIR
PLACE OF WORK 6

The Cost of Turnover

• Employee departure costs companies time, money and other resources. Research suggests that replacement costs can be as high as 50%-60% of an employee’s annual salary with total costs associated with turnover ranging from 90%-200% of annual salary.7
• High turnover rates are linked to shortfalls in organizational performance. 8
• When retention is higher than normal, customer satisfaction, productivity, and profitability also tend to be higher than normal.9
• Organizations can compute the cost of turnover to their organizations with a turnover calculator.10

Turnover by Industry, 2011 11

Tenure 12

• The median employment tenure of all wage and salary workers in January 2012 was 4.6 years, up from 4.4 years in January 2010 and 4.1 years in January 2008.
• Women had a median tenure of 4.6 and men 4.7.
• In January 2012, management, professional, and related occupations had a median tenure of 5.5 years.
• Service occupation workers had a median tenure of 3.2 years. 

Collective Turnover* Antecedents 13

• HR systems and practices – There are links between the adoption of "high-commitment," "high involvement," or "high-performance" HR management systems and lower collective turnover.
• Collective attitudes and perceptions – HR investments enhance workers’ attitudes (satisfaction, commitment), increase feelings of equity or fairness, reduce the attractiveness of alternatives, and/or weaken turnover intentions.
• Collective characteristics –
  • Management/leadership quality – In six studies where collective turnover has been correlated with aspects of supervisor quality, no relationship has been found.
  • Climate/culture – A negative climate often results in a higher turnover rate
  • Cohesiveness/teamwork – Despite intuitive appeal, there is limited support for possible turnover-mitigating effects of group cohesiveness or teamwork.
  • Satisfaction/commitment – There is an inverse relationship between job satisfaction and collective turnover.
  • Justice/fairness – Research reveals no relationship between collective turnover rates and feelings of injustice or unfairness.

*Aggregate levels of employee departures that occur within groups, work units, or organizations.

How to cite this product: Catalyst. Catalyst Quick Take: Turnover and Retention. New York: Catalyst, 2012.

• 1. “ When Talented Women Leave Your Company: Is it Push or Pull?” WFD Consulting, It’s About Time, Vol. 10 (Winter 2004).
• 2. “When Talented Women Leave Your Company: Is it Push or Pull?” WFD Consulting, It’s About Time, Vol. 10 (Winter 2004).
• 3. Catalyst, Women and Men in U.S. Corporate Leadership: Same Workplace, Different Realities? (2004).
• 4. Catalyst, Women and Men in U.S. Corporate Leadership: Same Workplace, Different Realities? (2004).
• 5. The Corporate Leavers Survey, The Cost of Employee Turnover Due Solely to Unfairness in the Workplace (2007).
• 6. The Corporate Leavers Survey, The Cost of Employee Turnover Due Solely to Unfairness in the Workplace (2007)
• 7. David G. Allen, Retaining Talent: A Guide to Analyzing and Managing Employee Turnover (SHRM, 2008).
• 8. David G. Allen,Retaining Talent: A Guide to Analyzing and Managing Employee Turnover (SHRM, 2008).
• 9. Paul R. Bernthal, and Richard S. Wellins, Ph.D., Retaining Talent: A Benchmarking Study (Development Dimensions International, 2001).
• 10. Center for Economic and Policy Research,“ How Much Does Employee Turnover Really Cost Your Business?” (2012).
• 11. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 16: Annual Quits Rates by Industry and Region, Not Seasonally Adjusted” (2012).
• 12. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Tenure in 2012 (September 2012).
• 13. John P. Hausknecht, Charlie O. Trevor, “Collective Turnover at the Group, Unit, and Organizational Levels: Evidence, Issues, and Implications,” Journal of Management, Vol. 37, No. 1, (January 2011).