Nearly one in four UK employees are thinking of handing in their notice in 2025.
According to a poll by Culture Amp, 23% of employees plan to quit their jobs in the short-term.
That’s 3% higher than in 2023.
Meanwhile, a further 13% said they don’t expect to be working for their current employer in 2026.
These will be worrying numbers for many businesses, as replacing a member of staff can be a lengthy and costly process.
In fact, Culture Amp estimates that the cost of replacing an employee can be around 30% of the average salary - in other words, more than £11,000.
And it could cost around £75,000 to replace a departing employee on a high salary.
This suggests that businesses looking at their bottom line could benefit from looking at the issue of staff retention, loyalty and what might be driving people away.
Quality of leadership makes a big difference
One factor that’s influencing employees’ decisions to stay or go is the standard of the people at the very top.
The study rated people’s commitment to staying at 94% as long as they had a great manager and a great leader.
By contrast, their commitment to stay fell to 35% if they had a good manager and a poor leader, and just 19% if they had a poor manager and a poor leader.
Figures also showed that a change in manager leads to a much smaller attrition rate than a change in leadership.
“Our research challenges the traditional notion that employees simply leave bad managers,” said Nick Matthews, general manager for EMEA at Culture Amp.
“It’s imperative that organisations leverage their leadership layer in conjunction with their front-line managers.”
This, he added, would ensure that they have a “coherent and strategic focus on employee experience” as they move through 2025.
UK workers among the keenest to move on
Notably, employees in the UK appear to far keener to move on than their counterparts in many other leading economies.
Whereas 23% of Brits are planning to quit their job in 2025, just 19% of workers in the US said the same.
Meanwhile, just 18% of people in Australia expressed a desire to change roles next year.
Only Germany had a higher proportion of people looking to move on, as 24% of German employees said they’re thinking of quitting their job in 2025.
“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,” Mr Matthew commented.
“The critical challenge remains employee retention, which directly impacts organisational performance.”
Written by James Glynn
Senior Financial Content Writer
