Employee Turnover Persisting—The Promise of a Better Job No Longer Enough

Companies look to hire new employees at a job fair in southern Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In the not-so-distant past, employee turnover in almost any job market was handled with employers simply getting other workers to replace ones who had quit, resigned, been fired or laid off, or just took a temporary leave of absence.

The same would be true now, except that there is currently too much employee turnover in too many job markets.

As 2025 begins, the challenge facing numerous U.S. businesses and industries for the rest of the 2020s is not only how to find and keep enough qualified workers in a tight job market but also where to look for replacements from dwindling pools and sources.

“Reasons for leaving a job—lack of career development, health and family issues, and work/life imbalance—are long-standing challenges in the workplace,” Jim Link, chief human resources officer with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), told The Epoch Times via email.

“However, their impact has become more pronounced in recent years due to shifting employee expectations, the rise of remote and hybrid work, and a greater focus on mental health and well-being.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently estimated that the U.S. workforce has only 7.1 million unemployed workers to fill approximately 7.7 million job openings.

And based on recent SHRM findings, workers are quitting because of work and life imbalances, health and family issues, and lack of career opportunities or development.

“About 27 percent of U.S. workers quit their jobs in 2023, costing employers nearly a trillion dollars to replace them,” SHRM online editor Roy Mauer said in a 2024 posting. “And turnover is expected to climb as labor market experts are predicting a Great Resignation 2.0 in the near future.”

Whether or not this happens, or even whether the first so-called Great Resignation in 2021—when 47 million U.S. workers quit their jobs—was anything more than a long-developing trend, one item is clear: Hiring for workers across almost any job market these days isn’t the same as it was for previous generations.

For example, it used to be that if a business owner or manager needed to hire for an open job, they might put an ad in a newspaper; ask around among colleagues and associates to see if they knew of someone available; wait until someone happened to walk through the doors looking for work; or, if the opening required previous experience, to interview a handful of candidates at most to see if an intangible—such as the ability to type—might bring an added bonus from the hiring.

Employers held almost all the cards, routinely providing on-the-job training with both benefits and bonuses offered at their discretion—and if an employee quit for any reason, the employer simply looked for a replacement.

Now, employees have more say in the hiring process than would have even been thought possible only a short time ago—and Link said that the once-simple solution of hiring others to replace them is, in reality, “far more complex.”

“Talent acquisition comes with significant costs—both financial and in terms of time—and it can take months to onboard and train new hires to reach peak productivity,” he said.

“Employers recognize high turnover impacts organizational stability and morale, which can further hinder productivity. Employers focusing on retention by enhancing employee experiences, development opportunities, and well-being will not only be able to reduce turnover but also strengthen their organizational culture.”

HR Digest further predicts that in 2025, employee benefits will be the strategic lever for attracting, retaining, and engaging top talent.

But while benefits packages were once standard with new employees, they can now vary from one individual to another.

For instance, while a 24-year-old baby boomer in 1980 might have valued a simple yearly bonus and raise and an eventual promotion, recent college graduates are putting more importance on long-term family health care, mental health care, workforce diversity, work locations, retirement planning, help with student loan repayments, and even employer attitudes toward the environment.

“What we’re observing is a steady current of workforce movement driven by a persistent labor shortage, rapid technological advancements, and shifting employee expectations,” SHRM senior labor economist Justin Ladner told The Epoch Times via email.

“Workers today prioritize flexibility and purpose—factors that sometimes clash with return-to-office mandates and traditional work structures. This dynamic is creating ongoing churn across industries, requiring employers to adapt.”

Put another way, U.S. employees are holding more of the workforce cards than ever before—even among an older workforce—and curbing the turnover is going to require more than just the promise of a better job.

“The current U.S. work landscape differs from the past due to a convergence of transformative factors,” Link said.

“The pandemic reshaped how employees view work-life integration, mental health, and job satisfaction, while remote and hybrid work models introduced new expectations for flexibility. These shifts have heightened awareness of these long-standing issues, compelling employers to take more proactive and innovative approaches to address them.”