Employees Quitting? Why They're Leaving and What You Can Do to Keep Them
- Kimberly Wilson
- Jun 2
- 10 min read
Updated: Jun 2
TL;DR – Why Employees Are Quitting and What You Can Do About It
▍ Employees quitting is rarely about money. It’s about misalignment, lack of trust, and feeling unseen.
▍ Quiet signals like withdrawal, silence, or disengagement often come before a resignation.
▍ Life transitions, toxic culture, and poor leadership are key reasons people walk away.
▍ Inclusion, flexibility, and psychological safety are not perks but retention strategies.
▍ To keep top talent, leaders must build cultures of trust, clarity, and human connection before it's too late.
Want to retain the people who make your company thrive? Create a workplace they want to stay in, not escape from.
Why Employees Quit: It's Rarely About Money
When you see employees quitting, it’s easy to blame the salary. But compensation is rarely the only reason, and often, it’s not the real reason at all.
Compensation plays a role, but most people leave because something deeper is misaligned. They feel undervalued, disconnected from the company’s purpose, or unsupported in ways that affect their daily experience. These are human motivators rooted in belonging, trust, and psychological safety, none of which can be resolved with a raise alone.
People stay where they feel seen, heard, and part of something meaningful. When that’s missing, even a generous paycheck won’t hold them.
If your company is seeing increased turnover or employees quitting unexpectedly, it’s worth asking:
Are we building a workplace people are loyal to or just one they’re paid to tolerate a little longer?
Spotting the Signs: When Employees Are About to Quit
Resignations often feel sudden, but they rarely are.
Before an employee gives notice, there are almost always quiet signals. These cues don’t shout “I’m leaving,” but they whisper it steadily.
Most leaders don't notice these signals while caught up in deadlines and performance goals, unintentionally missing the subtle cues that something’s off.
If you think something might be off with an employee, here’s what you might notice:
They appear consistently stressed, withdrawn, or emotionally checked out
Eye contact fades, and communication becomes strained or minimal
They stop offering ideas, speaking up, or engaging in meetings
Their tone, body language, or demeanor shifts
They avoid leadership or meaningful conversations
They spend more time bonding with peers than engaging with managers
None of these signs means someone will quit, but together, they indicate growing disconnection.
Leaders need to lean in early instead of waiting for someone to raise a flag. Try questions that invite trust and reflection:
“What’s been on your mind lately that we haven’t discussed?”
“What part of your role feels most energizing and what feels like a drain?”
“Is anything getting in the way of you doing your best work?”
“If you could change one thing about your experience here, what would it be?”
“Do you feel like your work is having the impact you want?”
These aren’t casual check-ins. They’re signals that you care about the person behind the performance, which might be the difference between reengagement and resignation.
Employees Also Quit During Life Transitions, Not Just for Logical Reasons
We often assume quitting is a purely logical decision: a better salary, a toxic manager, or limited advancement. However, many resignations are triggered by personal life transitions that shift a person’s values.
A new parent rethinks priorities. A health scare prompts someone to seek more balance. A relocation, a divorce, or even a milestone birthday can shift someone’s relationship to work.
These aren't spur-of-the-moment choices. They're thoughtful decisions rooted in changing needs and evolving purpose.
The pandemic brought this to light across the workforce. It wasn’t just about remote work or burnout. It was a global reevaluation of how, where, and why people work. The result? More employees are choosing meaning over habit.
When leaders recognize that quitting is often emotional before it's strategic, they gain an opportunity to connect sooner and retain the people they’d otherwise lose.
The Culture Gap: What We Say vs. What People Feel
Most organizations genuinely want to build a great culture. But there’s often a quiet gap between intention and impact, especially between what’s said and what people actually experience.
Values stated on a website don’t mean much if someone feels dismissed in meetings, left out of key conversations, or hesitant to speak up. Words don’t define culture; everyday interactions shape it.
When employees don’t feel safe, seen, or supported, they begin to disconnect—often silently—long before they ever submit a resignation.
If high performers are leaving, it’s worth asking: Are they drawn to something new or quietly stepping away from something that no longer feels right?
The Role of Inclusion in Employee Retention
Inclusion isn’t a perk. It’s the culture people stay for.
Most companies say they value inclusion. But if employees don’t feel heard in meetings, don’t see people like them in leadership, or constantly have to navigate unspoken barriers, they’ll start to pull away.
Policies don’t create belonging. Daily interactions create it: Who gets credit? Who gets interrupted? Who’s mentored? Who’s invited into real conversations?
When someone feels like they have to shrink, code-switch, or constantly prove their worth, staying becomes exhausting.
People don’t leave because of one bad day. They leave because inclusion is talked about, but not lived.
If your team doesn’t feel safe being themselves, it’s only a matter of time before they look for a place that feels more like home.
Explore more on this in From Bias to Belonging: Rewriting the Rules of Hiring.
Flexibility, Trust, and the Psychology Behind Quitting
For years, loyalty was defined by how long someone stayed at a company. But today, loyalty looks different, and so do employee expectations.
People aren’t just looking for a paycheck. They’re looking for trust.
They want to be trusted to manage their time, deliver without micromanagement, and choose how and where they do their best work. Flexibility isn’t a perk. It’s a signal of respect. And when it’s missing, talented people start to feel boxed in, over-managed, or unseen.
But when employees quit, it isn’t only about flexibility or schedules. It’s about how people feel about staying.
When someone doesn’t feel trusted, can’t do the work they were hired to do, or feels like they’re constantly being second-guessed, the emotional cost adds up fast. The most common reasons people give for leaving?
▍ Not enough job security
▍ Inability to do what they were hired to do
▍ Feeling treated unfairly
▍ A culture that didn’t align with their values
Each of these points to a deeper emotional thread: a lack of trust, clarity, or autonomy.
Employees don’t want to fight internal systems just to contribute. When people feel blocked, boxed in, or uncertain about their future, they quietly check out and eventually leave.
We cover how to avoid these costly missteps in Three Hires for the Price of One? The True Cost of Hiring Mistakes.
Flexibility isn’t about avoiding the office. It’s about creating the conditions where people can thrive, not just survive. It tells employees: We trust you. We see you. We’re building this together.
The companies retaining top talent today aren’t just offering raises. They’re offering freedom, safety, and respect in the form of flexibility that’s backed by trust.
People Don’t Quit Feedback, They Quit Silence
Employees want to grow, but growth requires consistent, respectful, and clear feedback. When managers avoid difficult conversations or only focus on what’s going wrong, they create uncertainty and disengagement.
Silence sends its own message: you’re not worth the effort, or your growth isn’t our priority.
On the flip side, regular, meaningful feedback fosters trust. It helps employees understand where they stand, how they can improve, and what’s possible in the future. It becomes a foundation for coaching, not criticism.
If you don’t offer feedback, someone else will, and it may be after they’ve walked out your door.
What You Can Do to Keep the People You Don’t Want to Lose
Retention isn’t about grand gestures but about what happens daily.
If you want to keep your best people, the solution isn’t more perks or panic raises after they’ve given notice. It’s creating an environment where they don’t want to leave in the first place.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
▍ Lean in early.
Don’t wait for disengagement to become performance issues. Notice the small shifts. Check in often. Be curious, not corrective.
▍ Build a culture of safety, not fear.
Psychological safety isn’t fluff, it’s foundational. People stay where they feel safe speaking up, being themselves, and knowing they won’t be penalized for having an idea or a concern.
▍ Recognize and reward the quiet wins.
Not everyone shouts their success. Pay attention to the steady contributors, the "culture-carriers," the mentors. Recognition builds loyalty.
▍ Be clear about growth and impact.
People want to know where they’re headed and how their work matters. Talk about career paths, invite them into strategy conversations, and connect their contributions to the bigger picture.
▍ Listen with intention.
Most employees will tell you what they need, if they trust you’ll hear them. Create space for honest conversations without defensiveness.
▍ Make flexibility a leadership habit.
Flexibility isn’t just a perk; it’s a way to show respect. Understand what helps each person thrive and lead in a way that supports it.
What We Learned from the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting
The Great Resignation wasn’t just a trend but a reckoning for many.
Millions of people didn’t just leave their jobs; they re-evaluated what work meant to them. It wasn’t about laziness or entitlement. It was about values, burnout, and the long-overdue realization that life is too short to stay in a role that drains you.
Then came “quiet quitting," a term that caught fire because it named what people had been doing for years: protecting their energy when they felt undervalued. Employees weren’t slacking off. They were setting boundaries in environments that expected them to over-deliver without recognition or support.
These weren’t isolated movements. They were symptoms of deeper workplace disconnects:
▍ Misalignment between values and culture
▍ Lack of recognition or growth opportunities
▍ Feeling unseen, unheard, or replaceable
▍ Burnout that was managed with pressure, not care
The companies that fared best weren’t the ones with the highest salaries. They were the ones that listened, adapted, and built cultures people wanted to return to, not just log in from.
These moments revealed something critical:
Employees don’t need perfection. They need to be seen, supported, and invited into a workplace where they can thrive, not just survive.
Why This Matters to Me
Have you ever quit a job without another one lined up?
I have. And I’ll never forget the moment that led me to walk away.
One afternoon, I had stepped into the office kitchen and overheard my former boss, someone I’d worked with for years, speaking poorly about me to my new manager. They didn’t realize I was standing right there.
That moment confirmed what I’d already been feeling.
My old boss was a chronic micromanager. He regularly disrupted projects with last-minute, non-urgent tasks that demanded my immediate attention, not because they were time-sensitive, but because they were on his mind. I’d tried to improve the way we worked, suggesting more efficient processes. Instead of openness, I was met with resistance. After three years on his team, it became clear I didn’t fit his mold, and he made that known by having me reassigned soon after our discussion.
I had hoped the move to a new team would be a fresh start. But after overhearing that conversation, I knew: this environment didn’t align with my values, and staying would mean shrinking myself to fit a version of work that no longer felt right.
So, I quit.
It surprised the team, but it shouldn’t have. I was the third person the manager had quietly pushed out the door.
Leaving was a weight off my shoulders. While being unemployed came with its own kind of stress, it was nothing compared to staying in a role where I no longer felt respected. But within three weeks, a colleague shared an opportunity that was a great fit, and I accepted a new position that felt aligned, supportive, and energizing.
That experience shaped how I approach recruiting to this day. I focus on helping companies attract the right people, those who thrive in the culture they’re joining rather than fighting against it.
Because I’ve been the person weighing whether to stay or go. I’ve seen firsthand how culture, leadership, and trust make all the difference.
If you’re seeing employees quitting more frequently, it may not be about perks or pay; it may be about what your culture is signaling day-to-day.
Final Thoughts: What Great Companies Do Differently
People don’t leave jobs because of one bad day. They leave because of repeated misalignment between what’s promised and what’s felt, between their values and the company’s culture, between the work they want to do and what they’re actually allowed to do.
Retention isn’t about ping-pong tables, panic raises, or feel-good slogans.
It’s about trust. Clarity. Consistency. And leadership that’s willing to listen before it’s too late.
Want a more strategic approach to hiring from the start? How Skilled External Recruiters Can Supercharge Your Hiring Strategy offers a guide.
Common Questions About Employees Quitting
Q1: What’s the number one reason employees quit?
It’s rarely just about money. Most employees are quitting because they feel undervalued, lack growth opportunities, or don’t trust leadership. Culture, inclusion, and flexibility matter more than ever.
For more on how purpose-driven hiring improves retention, read Hiring with Purpose: A Talent Strategy That Drives Engagement and Retention.
Q2: How can I tell if an employee is thinking about quitting?
Look for signs like disengagement in meetings, emotional withdrawal, reduced communication, or a lack of initiative. Employees who are quitting often show subtle signals before ever saying a word.
Q3: What should I do if I suspect someone is about to leave?
Don’t wait. Have a proactive, human conversation. Ask open-ended questions about their experience, impact, and growth. Employees who feel heard are more likely to stay.
Q4: How do I reduce the risk of employees quitting after onboarding?
Focus on alignment from day one. Set clear expectations, provide early wins, build trust quickly, and connect their role to the bigger picture. A strong first 90 days is key to retention.
Q5: Can I prevent employees from quitting if I don’t offer remote work?
Not always, but offering flexibility in other ways (hours, autonomy, trust) can help. Employees quitting aren’t just about working from home; it’s about feeling supported, respected, and empowered.
At TLR Search, we help companies in the energy and chemical industries attract and retain talent that not only fills a role but also fuels growth.
Let's talk if you have employees quitting and need to revisit retention in the talent acquisition strategy.
If you’ve noticed these signs but aren’t sure how to move forward in your next phase of recruitment, our article Hiring Stalled? How a Retained Recruiter Can Move Things Forward can help you re-engage strategically.