Nearly one in four workers plan to quit their jobs in 2025, according to predicted attrition data from 10 million employees in the UK.
Twenty-three per cent of workers in the UK plan to leave their jobs in the short term – a 3% increase on 2023 – according to employee experience provider Culture Amp.
A further 13% do not see themselves working for their current employer in the long term, until 2026.
Culture Amp reviewed “commitment to stay” data gathered from employee responses to 97 million questions globally (10 million from the UK), across 5,000 organisations, 1,000 of which are in the UK.
UK attrition in 2025
Sick workers without job flexibility four times more likely to leave
UK workers’ interest in quitting is more pronounced than in other leading economies with only 19% of US workers and 18% of Australians considering resignation. Only Germany exceeded the UK, with 24% looking to move on in 2025.
When considering recruitment fees, productivity and the impact a departure has on a team, CultureAmp estimated the cost of replacing an employee starts at 30% of an average employee’s salary, rising to 200% for top performers.
With the average salary in the UK in 2024 being £37,400, this means employers could face costs of between £11,200 and £74,900 per employee to replace departing talent.
Nick Matthews, general manager for EMEA at Culture Amp, said: “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. The critical challenge remains employee retention, which directly impacts organisational performance.”
The company’s analysis shows that leadership quality is one the most critical factors influencing commitment to stay for employees, far outweighing the influence of managers.
With a great manager and a great leader, employees’ commitment to stay is 94%; a good manager and a poor leader sees that commitment drop to 35%; while a poor manager and a poor leader reduces the commitment to just 19%.
Culture Amp’s global data also shows employee turnover at an organisation increases more after a change in leader compared to a managerial shift. Within six months of a leader’s departure, teams directly affected see 40% higher attrition compared to those which have seen no change at the top. A change of manager only results in an attrition rate of 16%.
“Our research challenges the traditional notion that employees simply leave bad managers. It’s imperative that organisations leverage their leadership layer in conjunction with their front-line managers to ensure that they have a coherent and strategic focus on employee experience as they navigate 2025’s challenges,” added Matthews.
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