Attrition rates, How do you compare?

10% Is your company higher or lower?

The year, 2021. Companies were losing 20-25% of their staff as the “Great Resignation” started. Driven by return to office (RTO) and lifestyle changes that saw people saving money by not going out thus willing to take lower paying jobs for better work life balance (WLB.) It was a scramble, especially for those companies that announced their RTO plans. Recruiters were having a great time though. So many searches.

Thankfully, those days are gone.

Workplace attrition rates have eased from the peak of the “Great Resignation,” but most organizations are still operating in what can be described as a retention crisis, with double‑digit (10-12% by department) annual turnover now the norm in many markets. At the same time, studies are showing that workplace attrition is being driven by a mix of compensation, flexibility, development opportunities, and employee experience rather than a single dominant factor like during the Great Resignation.​

What attrition rates look like now

Recent benchmarking surveys show voluntary turnover stabilizing and closer when compared with pre‑pandemic norms.​

• In the United States, Mercer’s 2025 US Turnover Survey reports average voluntary turnover of about 13% for 2024–2025, down from 17.3% in 2023 and 13.5% in 2024, based on data from more than 2,600 organizations.​

• A 2024 retention report by Work Institute estimates that 27% of US workers quit their jobs in 2023, with nearly 45 million people leaving employers voluntarily, a 37% increase in quit rates compared with 2014.​

• In Canada, Mercer’s 2024 survey places overall turnover at 11.9%, with retail and wholesale roles experiencing rates as high as 25.9%, while executives see turnover closer to 3.8%.​

These numbers suggest that while the acute spike in resignations may have passed, attrition remains structurally high and varies sharply by sector and job level.​ Min wage and entry level jobs are still seeing the highest rates of attrition compared to executive and C-Suite roles.

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Key drivers of workplace attrition

There are several recurring reasons employees leave: pay, flexibility, development, workload, and managerial relationships.​

• Compensation: A 2024 analysis referencing Lattice data reports that 55% of employees who quit move to roles with higher pay, highlighting compensation as the leading driver of turnover. One study showed that a one‑dollar‑per‑hour pay increase for warehouse workers improved retention by 2.8%, while a one‑dollar‑per‑hour pay cut increased turnover by 28%.​ Compare that to the full onboarding cost of a new employee. *More on that below.

• Flexibility and work‑life balance: iHire’s 2024 Talent Retention Report found that work‑life balance and burnout remain key reasons for voluntary quits, alongside pay and lack of growth. iHire’s data showed that 20.8% of employees who quit in 2024 cited poor work‑life balance as their primary reason, and over 40% would accept lower pay in exchange for more flexibility.

• Career development: The same 2024 iHire report indicated that 18.3% of employees who recently left a job did so due to a lack of professional development, and 15% cited lack of growth opportunities.​ Many companies simply don’t outlay or plan for employ growth relying on them to just apply for roles internally.

• Engagement and “quiet quitting” (always hated that term): Deloitte’s 2024 Global Human Capital Trends paper highlighted Gallup’s findings that 59% of the global workforce were “quiet quitting,” meaning they were mentally disengaged but still employed, which often precedes actual turnover.​ A study by Genomind showed a strong correlation between rates of depression and quiet quitting which explains why they don’t look for a new job.

A 2024 study in Cogent Business & Management found that both workspace and functional flexibility have helped develop significantly more positive relationships with employee engagement especially among young workers, implying that flexible designs can indirectly reduce attrition risk.​

Emerging trends: from Great Resignation to “Great Stay”

Several large‑scale surveys suggest that the wave of resignations has given way to a period of relative stability, sometimes called the “Great Stay,” though not all job sectors share this experience equally.​

• Voluntary quitting: US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 data showed that national quits rate dropping from an average of 2.8% in 2022 to 2.4% in 2023 and about 2.1% on average in 2024, with 1.9% recorded in August 2024.​

• More employees want to stay: WTW’s 2024 Global Benefits Attitude Survey reported that 72% of employees intended to stay with their current employer, up from 53% in 2022, and the percentage of workers open to switching jobs has fallen from about 25% to 11% over the same period.​

• Sector and nonprofit sectors are struggling: While corporate turnover is easing, some social‑impact sectors are experiencing the opposite; a 2025 study of Canadian charities found that organizations reporting high turnover (21–100%) increased from 27% in 2023 to 39% in 2024, with fewer organizations reporting low or no turnover.​

Despite improved stability, highish quit levels mean organizations are stuck in a retention crisis and cannot rely on the market alone to solve attrition challenges.​

The true cost of onboarding

Studies indicate that high attrition rates erodes financial performance through direct replacement costs, lost productivity, and damage to culture and customer experience.​

• Cost of turnover: In 2025 analysts cited that US companies spent nearly 900 billion dollars replacing employees who quit in 2023, underlining the macro‑economic scale of turnover costs.​

• Productivity and engagement: A 2024 report saw 34.7% of employers experienced lost productivity due to turnover in the past year, and 25.5% saw declines in employee engagement, both of which directly affect financial results.​

• Organizational risk: Work Institute’s 2024 Retention Report noted that voluntary quits have grown steadily as a share of the civilian labor force over the past decade, meaning that many organizations are effectively operating with structurally higher replacement and onboarding costs unknowingly baked into their business models.​

Treating attrition rates purely as an HR metric, rather than a core business risk, underestimates their impact on profitability and long‑term competitiveness.​ It also undermines client trust and retention.

So, what can you do?

Current research points to a multi‑pronged approach that combines competitive pay, flexible work models, development pathways, and intentional culture design.​

• Pay and rewards: Benchmark base pay and total rewards against market data, prioritizing at‑risk roles, and use small but targeted pay adjustments, which experiments show can meaningfully improve retention.​ People don’t look for a new job when they get regular raises that ideally match cost of living increases. A Lattice study pegged this number to a 19% uplift compared to 2022.

• Flexible work design: Expand options for where, when, and how people work, given evidence that flexibility meaningfully increases engagement and retention, particularly among younger and knowledge‑based employees.​ Once again, what’s more important, the work being completed or the time spent on it?

• Career planning: Build structured career paths, internal mobility programs, and professional development options to address the roughly 33% of quits linked to career and growth concerns.​ Managers should remember the employees belong to the company not the department and encourage promoting from within. This also lowers onboarding costs and an internal hire can act as a mentor for the new hire replacing them.

• People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers: Invest in managers’ skills in coaching, feedback, and workload management, as both engagement research and retention reports show that local leadership quality heavily shapes attrition outcomes.​ If a department is seeing a high turnover then the company needs to look at the manager rather than just hiring practices.

• Metrics are key: Track attrition by segment (role, level, demographic group) and link exit data to employee survey results, mirroring the analytical approaches used in large‑scale retention reports and academic studies.​ Exit interviews can provide a valuable insight into finding solutions.

It’s never to late to make positive changes. Organizations can bend attrition curves downward when they treat retention as a strategic discipline, using evidence‑based levers rather than isolated perks or one‑off pay increases.​