Why are workers quitting after getting promoted?

Promotions are typically seen as recognition for excellent work and a way to solidify someone’s place within a company. But that might not be the case anymore, according to a recent ADP Research Institute study. The HR and payroll company found that within a month after a first promotion, 29% of people left their employer compared to only 18% had no promotion occurred. While the risk of leaving decreases after the six-month mark following promotion, the question remains: why are employees increasingly choosing to celebrate promotion by swiftly walking out the door?

According to Ben Hanowell, the director of people analytics research and author of the ADP report, “These data suggest that landing a promotion gives a person a leg up in their search for work outside their current employer. But they’re also consistent with another workplace phenomenon: People who are given more responsibility without adequate preparation, compensation or resources could be more likely to quit.”

There are a few other factors that could help explain this trend too. Data from Gallup’s 2023 State of the Workplace Report show that in the US, nearly half of employees are watching or actively seeking new jobs and that a little over half think now is a good time to find a job. While that amount decreased over the last several months—perhaps due to headlines in the news about widespread layoffs at companies like Spotify and Cisco—the majority of Americans still consider the job climate to be good.

Factors influencing quit rates

While the perceived favorability of the job climate acts as an outside factor in driving workers to reenter the job market, there are also elements within the workplace that influence people to leave their jobs in search of something else.

Increased worker stress

Worker stress reached an all-time high last year with 52% of workers in the US reporting feeling stressed a lot of the day, which is 8% higher than the global percentage, per the 2023 Gallup report.

These increased stress levels extend to managers as well and have an impact on their intent to leave their positions. In an international survey carried out by the Workforce Institute at UKG, 46% of managers said they’d quit their jobs within the next year due to too much work-related stress.

Not only does work-related stress have an impact on employees’ intent to leave, but it also has an effect on the work itself. More than three-quarters of employees say that stress negatively impacts their work performance.

Lack of employee engagement

Employee engagement has a tangible effect on worker stress too, with it having 3.8 times as much influence on stress as work location. So, when engagement is low, employee stress is adversely affected. According to the data from the 2023 Gallup report, employee engagement in the US has taken a hit in the last couple of years. Where global employee engagement saw a 2% bump in the last year, US employee engagement saw a 2% decrease instead.

A similar survey from Gartner Inc. found that only 31% of employees report they are engaged, enthusiastic, and energized by their work. “Despite organizations making investments in engaging their employees, our research shows that almost 70% don’t feel as engaged as they should be and aren’t feeling a meaningful connection to their job,” Keyia Burton, senior principal, advisory in the Gartner HR practice, said in a press release on the data. “Figuring out how to actually impact employee engagement is a huge priority because it has a significant impact on several key business outcomes.”

That’s where HR can come in and become a positive influence on employee engagement.

How HR can help

Dr. Mary Hayes, research director at ADP Research Institute, recently co-conducted a survey to investigate the value of HR and what it can do to impact employees within an organization. The data showed that workers with no intent to leave are 3.8 times more likely to see HR as a net benefit.

“Leaving behavior is not a one-to-one relationship with HR,” says Hayes. “An individual joins an organization for the mission, the vision, and the values, but they leave an organization because of the person they worked for.” She says HR plays an important role in that essential dynamic between the manager and employee because they help facilitate an employee-manager relationship where both feel valued in their roles. “HR is the scaffolding—the umbrella support system under the manager—that allows them to provide what an employee needs.”

In other words, if a manager doesn’t have the necessary tools and resources that HR can help provide then the relationship with their employees will suffer, which can lead to feelings of stress burnout, and dissatisfaction.

Support for employee well-being

Meisha-ann Martin, senior director of people analytics and research at Workhuman, spoke at the 2023 Gallup at Work Summit about different ways to help employees thrive at work. She recommended that organizations design initiatives that make well-being part of the business processes because “well-being and recognition go together like peanut butter and jelly.”

“Thriving may look different for different people because they have different needs,” Martin said. “So in order to do wellbeing well, you have to put an inclusive lens on it.”

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are an example of such an initiative. EAPs date back to the late 1930s when they were created to help with alcohol addiction assistance. Since then, they have evolved to help improve employee productivity and focus by helping employees heal and build better habits in and outside of work. Nowadays, EAPs include a variety of forms such as wellness apps like Headspace or virtual wellness platforms like Holisticly that include access to fitness programs, meal planning, and mental health tools.

“In the past, a lot of times HR is [seen as] the bad guy, but we want to make it so that we understand that HR can be a value add,” Hayes says. “The only way that we win is when the manager and the employee have a good relationship.”

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