Retention
Why do good people keep leaving?
Updated 5 October 2026
Research on voluntary turnover suggests that how people feel about a job is only part of the story. Mitchell and colleagues (2001) found that job embeddedness, meaning the links and fit a person has at work and what they would give up by leaving, predicted who left beyond satisfaction, commitment and job alternatives.
What does the research say about why people stay?
Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski and Erez (2001) introduced job embeddedness in the Academy of Management Journal. It covers a person's links to other people, teams and groups, their perceived fit with job, organisation and community, and what they say they would sacrifice if they left. Their results showed that embeddedness predicted both intent to leave and actual voluntary turnover, and explained variance over and above job satisfaction, organisational commitment, job alternatives and job search.
Is it about satisfaction and pay?
Satisfaction matters, but the 2001 study suggests it does not cover everything that keeps a person in place. Allen, Bryant and Vardaman (2010), writing in Academy of Management Perspectives, argue that turnover science and management practice have drifted apart, and set out to replace common misconceptions with evidence-based retention strategies. Their paper is a useful read before anyone designs a retention programme.
What do the wider workplace numbers show?
Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report for 2026, covering 2025 data, puts global employee engagement at 20%. Manager engagement was 22% in 2025, down nine points since 2022.
Global employee engagement: 20% (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026, 2025 data).
Those figures describe engagement. Gallup's report does not measure departures, and we are not claiming a link between the two.
Where does the research stop?
Holtom, Mitchell, Lee and Eberly (2008) review a long run of turnover research in the Academy of Management Annals. Leaving has many causes, and a general finding cannot tell you what is happening in your own team. That needs a look at how people there work day to day.
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See KOZMO Team →Where does this come from?
Mitchell, T. R., Holtom, B. C., Lee, T. W., Sablynski, C. J. & Erez, M. (2001). Why people stay: using job embeddedness to predict voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44(6), 1102-1121. Open record · doi:10.5465/3069391
Allen, D. G., Bryant, P. C. & Vardaman, J. M. (2010). Retaining talent: replacing misconceptions with evidence-based strategies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(2), 48-64. doi:10.5465/AMP.2010.51827775
Holtom, B. C., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W. & Eberly, M. B. (2008). Turnover and retention research: a glance at the past, a closer review of the present, and a venture into the future. Academy of Management Annals, 2(1), 231-274.
Gallup (2026). State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report (2025 data). gallup.com