‘Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The Choice is Yours | McKinsey

At a time when many workers continue to contemplate and decide to leave their jobs, this article argues that to address the issue, employers need to take the time to understand why their employees are leaving. Without this understanding, organizations risk implementing solutions based on faulty assumptions. For example, Exhibit 5 shows the misalignment between employers’ and employees’ perspectives on why employees leave. Employers cite compensation, work-life balance, and poor physical and emotional health as the top reasons employees leave. And while these issues matter to employers, among the top factors employees cited as reasons for quitting are: 1) they didn’t feel valued by their managers (54 percent) or their organizations (52 percent) or 2) because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (51 percent). Said differently, employees were far more likely to prioritize relational factors versus transactional ones. The article also offers seven questions for firms to consider as they understand why employees are leaving. “By understanding why employees are leaving and by acting thoughtfully, firms may just be able to turn the Great Attrition into the Great Attraction.”