Why Employees Really Leave — and How to Get Ahead of It

"I’m moving on to a new challenge." It’s the most commonly used phrase in exit interviews. And it’s almost never the whole story. Anyone who wants to understand why people leave needs to look beyond the reason they politely put down on paper on their last day at work.

Staff turnover costs an SME more than most entrepreneurs realise: recruitment, induction, lost knowledge, and the dip in morale amongst the team left behind. Yet we often treat the departure of a good employee as bad luck — something that just happens. Whereas the pattern behind it has been evident for months beforehand.

Salary is the stated reason, not the cause

If you ask people why they’re leaving, you often hear: a higher salary, a shorter commute, a more impressive job title. All of these are genuine, all measurable. But they’re the reasons that are easy to articulate — not necessarily the ones that tipped the balance.

Beneath the neatly completed exit forms, there’s usually something a bit more uncomfortable: it just wasn’t working out anymore. The way of working didn’t suit them, the promises made during the job interview turned out to be different in practice, or someone simply never really felt part of the team. A mismatch in values and expectations — often present from day one, but nobody mentioned it.

This doesn’t mean that salary doesn’t matter. It means that salary is rarely the first straw. It’s the reason you can write down without causing a row.

The market has shifted: values carry more weight than ever

📊 38% → 48%

The proportion of Dutch employees who turned down a job because it didn’t align with their personal values rose to almost half between 2023 and 2025.

Source: Randstad Workmonitor

That is a fundamental shift. People are increasingly turning down jobs even before the discussion turns to terms and conditions — simply because an organisation doesn’t feel like a place where they want to be. For employers, this is uncomfortable: you can put the best offer on the table and still be turned down. But there is also a silver lining. Organisations that are clear about what they stand for attract exactly the people who will stay — and waste less time on those who were never going to commit.

The exit interview is the wrong time

The painful thing about an exit interview is the timing. By the time someone is sitting opposite you with a letter of resignation, the information you needed is already worthless. The mismatch that led to their departure was probably already there at the job interview — or arose in the first few weeks, when expectations and reality began to diverge.

The question “why are you leaving?” comes months too late. The more useful question is: how do I know if someone is a good fit — in terms of values, not just skills — before we sign on the dotted line? And afterwards: how do I keep track of whether that connection remains strong, rather than just asking about it once a year in a performance review?

From gut feeling to something you can actively manage

Most SME organisations assess cultural fit based on gut feeling. “A good connection during the interview” is a fine starting point, but it’s not reproducible, it’s not fair to candidates, and it slips away as soon as you’re hiring several people at once. The result: teams that drift apart on values without anyone being able to pinpoint exactly where it went wrong.

The alternative isn’t to make recruitment more complicated — it’s to make it more explicit. State clearly what your organisation stands for, consciously assess candidates against these values, and also check with your current team whether that picture still holds true. Then culture becomes something you can actively manage, rather than something you only discover during an exit interview.

Frequently asked questions

What is the main reason employees leave?

Salary is the most commonly cited reason, but rarely the underlying cause. More often, it’s down to a mismatch in values and expectations: the work, the way people collaborate, or the culture didn’t match what someone was looking for. That mismatch is usually present from an early stage.

Why is an exit interview too late to prevent staff turnover?

By the time an exit interview takes place, the person has already made their decision. The signs that led to their departure emerged much earlier — during recruitment or in the first few weeks. To reduce staff turnover, you need to assess that ‘click’ before hiring and continue to monitor it throughout their employment.

How can you measure cultural fit rather than relying on gut feeling?

By making it clear what the organisation stands for and systematically asking both candidates and existing staff questions about this. This makes ‘a good fit’ reproducible and comparable, rather than a gut feeling that varies from one interview to the next.