Nearly one quarter (23 percent) of workers in the UK plan to leave their jobs within the short term – a 3 percent increase on 2023.
Furthermore, another 13 percent already do not see themselves working for their current employer in the long term, through to 2026.
This insight into employee attrition comes from research by Culture Amp, an employee experience provider, which has reviewed ‘Commitment to Stay’ data gathered from responses to 97 million questions (10 million from the UK) answered by employees across 5000 (1000 UK-based) organisations.
UK workers’ interest in quitting is more pronounced than in other leading Western economies with only 19 percent of American workers and 18 percent of Australians considering resignation. It was only exceeded by Germany, where 24 percent are looking to move on in 2025.
When taking costs such as recruitment fees, productivity and team impacts into account, CultureAmp estimates the cost of replacing an employee starts at 30 percent of an average employee’s salary, rising to 200 percent for top performers. With the average salary in the UK in 2024 being £37,430, this means employers may have to fork out between £11,229 and £74,860 per employee to replace departing talent.
Additional Culture Amp data – gathered from over three million employees at 4700 companies globally – reveals that other factors could play a big part in employee attrition in 2025.
The analysis shows that leadership quality is one the most critical factors influencing ‘commitment to stay’ for employees, far outweighing the influence of managers, because workforces closely associate strong leadership with an organisation having a clear direction and enjoying robust health/performance. With a great manager, and a great leader, employees’ commitment to stay is 94%; a good manager and a poor leader sees commitment drop to 35%, while a poor manager and a poor leader has commitment plummeting to 19%.
The company’s global data also shows employee turnover at an organisation increases more after a change in leader compared to a managerial shift. Within six months of a leader’s departure, teams [directly affected see 40 percent higher attrition compared to those which have seen no change at the top. A change of manager on the other hand only results in an attrition rate of 16%.
“As Europe faces ongoing political, economic, and social/workplace uncertainties in 2025, organisations must prioritise their strategic workforce management in this unpredictable post-pandemic landscape. The critical challenge remains employee retention, which directly impacts organisational performance,” says Nick Matthews, general manager, EMEA, at Culture Amp.
“Our research challenges the traditional notion that employees simply leave bad managers. It’s imperative that organisations leverage their leadership layer in conjunction with their front line managers to ensure that they have a coherent and strategic focus on employee experience as they navigate 2025’s challenges.”