Guess what, compensation isn’t the biggest reason employees leave their jobs. It kind of makes sense. After all, they knew what they’d be paid when they signed on. So what takes the top spot?
The No. 1 reason employees say they left a previous job is: a lack of opportunities for advancement.
More than one in five employees (22%) polled by BambooHR, an HR software-as-a-service company, in a recent survey cited that as a reason for resigning in the past.
Coming in second and third, respectively:
- A lack of work-life balance.
- Money.
BambooHR polled 1,034 U.S. workers over the age of 18 to find out why they’d left a previous job, and to have them rate the most annoying aspects of work in general.
The biggest deal breakers
Employees could rank work traits on the following scale:
- 1 = acceptable
- 2 = somewhat acceptable
- 3 = annoying
- 4 = considerably annoying
- 5 = deal breaker
Deal breakers are aspects of a job that would make employees head for the exits.
The top five deal breakers identified in the survey:
- The boss doesn’t trust or empower you (one in four rated this a deal breaker).
- Being expected to work or answer emails on sick days, vacations and/or after work (one in four).
- Management that “passes the buck” when things don’t go as planned (one in five).
- Work not being flexible with regard to family responsibilities (one in five).
- Not getting along with co-workers (1 in 6).
(Note: Being expected to work or answer emails while out of the office was a somewhat polarizing aspect of work, with more than one in six respondents ranking it as acceptable.)
Annoyances but not quite deal breakers
Here are employees’ four biggest annoyances that don’t quite make it to the level of deal breaker:
- Management being less aware of the industry than you or your team are.
- A lack of recognition for a job well done.
- Co-workers being promoted faster than you.
- Subpar benefits.
For more results of the study, refer to the following inforgraphic, which was provided courtesy of BambooHR:
Source: BambooHR