Why Workers Clinging To Their Jobs Is A Red Flag

What if I told you your best people aren’t loyal—they’re just stuck?

Employee Retention: Wake-Up Call For CEOs

CEOs are celebrating the news that employees are not resigning as readily as they were, with more workers cling to their jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the quit rate dropped 11% compared to 2023 and plummeted 22% from a peak in 2022.

Before you join in the celebration and pop the champagne, consider the following.

• Stability feels safe until the market shifts, which it always does, and your A-players bolt at once.
• Think about the reason why quit rates are down. Are they low because leaders are working diligently to engage their team members or are your best people staying because there’s no place for them to go right now?
• How much low-performer baggage are managers carrying to avoid dealing with hiring freezes?

Talent Market Trends: Low Quits, Slow Hiring and Stalled Mobility

You don’t have to look far to know that job pickings are slim these days, leaving existing employees feeling trapped. With so few people moving around, the labor market loses its circulation.

Here’s what fewer job choices means for your workers:

• Fewer openings mean fewer trade-up options. There are fewer opportunities to move up (maybe none) if no one is leaving. This situation can be extremely frustrating, especially for high achievers.
• Labor hoarding (preserving headcount) but not capability means people are holding onto workers whose time has expired. This leaves the productive staff to pick up the slack from workers who aren’t carrying their weight.
• Stable masks silent disengagement. No news is good news, right? Not necessarily. It’s the quiet people you must worry about most.

Why A “Stable Workforce” Drives Future Turnover

An apparently stable workforce often conceals critical issues such as poor leadership, widespread burnout and disengagement, which can trigger sudden and significant turnover, undermining long-term organizational success.

Here’s how this often plays out:

• Pent-up attrition is like a row of dominoes lined up on a table. Once the first one tips over, it sets off a chain reaction. One after another, employees start to leave. Each departure triggers the next departure.
• Stuck stars upgrade the minute a real path appears.
• Trust erodes quietly. “We’ll revisit in Q4” becomes, “I’m going to start interviewing now!”

Employee Retention Tips 

Effective leaders recognize the importance of continually nurturing their top talent, understanding that proactive retention is essential—even during seemingly stable times.

Here are some immediate steps you can take to put your retention plans into action:

• Promote workers based on potential, not tenure.
• Look around your organization and do a quarterly bench review for top 20 roles.
• Aim to fill 50% of critical roles from inside before posting externally.
• Reallocate “freeze” headcount to promotions and critical gaps.

Winning The Talent Wars

Stop funding your competitor’s talent bench.

Every time a great employee leaves because you didn’t invest in their growth, you’re handing your rivals an all-star you already paid to develop.

Win or lose on this single decision: Build clear paths for growth inside your company. Or keep training your next competitor’s leaders—on your dime.

If you’re ready to fight for your future, let’s talk. Schedule a no-fluff call with me today to uncover how you can win the talent war with smart retention tactics tailored to your company.