What makes employees quit? And what makes them stay at jobs they’d otherwise ditch?

The reasons vary by generation, but the top reason for leaving, according to a new study from Rochester, New York-based and payroll and human resources services provider Paychex, is salary — across the board.

After that, the reasons differ by generation. The most important reason by far for millennials to leave a job and go elsewhere, is a low salary — so said 70.82 percent of millennial respondents. That was followed by Gen Xers at 69.32 percent, while it was not quite as important to boomers, 58.46 percent of whom said they’d quit without enough pay.

The second most popular reason to leave, for both millennials and Gen Xers, was being overworked — 65.93 percent of the former said so, and 60.36 percent of the latter — while 49.23 percent of boomers quit over lack of benefits. Being overworked was their third most common reason, at 47.69 percent.

Interestingly, not all who quit do so over such obvious reasons; 46.03 percent of millennials quit because of a lack of recognition or award, and even more Gen Xers (46.61 percent) said that was their reason. And while their top reasons for quitting varied by industry, salary was the absolute top reason cited by 84.31 percent of respondents in the legal field, while in education, overwork won that dubious honor, at 72.15 percent.

So if they quit because of low salary, overwork and lack of benefits, what convinces them to stay in a job they might otherwise like to leave behind? Inexpensive, quality health care, at 7.95 out of a possible 10, with 10 indicating that they would stay while 1 indicated they would not. It was, incidentally, the top choice for both boomers and Gen Xers, with millennials putting it second.

After that came bonuses, at 7.93 (millennials gave bonuses as their top reason); paid sick days, at 7.64 (it was third place for both boomers and millennials, while Gen Xers ranked work-from-home days third); work-from-home days, at 7.54; flexible schedules, at 7.50.

Boomers’ top 5 choices, incidentally, were health care, bonuses, paid sick days, 401(k) matching and a dental plan, while Gen Xers’ top five were health care, bonuses, work-from-home days, paid sick days and flexible schedules (that last probably reflected in their “sandwich generation” status) and millennials went straight for bonuses, then health care, paid sick days, work-from-home days, and flexible schedules.

Instant Insights /

Reasons for keeping, leaving a job differ by generation, study shows

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