We often hear that “people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses.” It’s a catchy line, widely repeated in business media and HR circles, but a new study published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior shows just how much it oversimplifies reality. Sabine Hommelhoff, Ferdinand Keller, and Mark Stemmler examined voluntary turnover from multiple angles: a review of 78 studies covering nearly 900,000 employees, an online survey of 197 workers, and an analysis of 312 exit interviews from a software firm.
The findings are consistent: employees rarely leave for a single reason, but rather for a combination of three or four. Work overload and stress emerged as the most common avoidance-related motive, followed by problems with managers. On the approach side, attractive opportunities and prospects for advancement stood out as central. In the online survey, more than half of respondents cited a desire for a career change, 41% mentioned growth opportunities, and 38% pointed to management issues. In the exit interviews, attraction to other jobs and advancement possibilities dominated, leaving “boss issues” in third place.
This research highlights the importance of distinguishing between departures driven by avoidance and those driven by approach. Some employees leave to escape stress, conflict, or a toxic work culture, while others are drawn to better conditions or stimulating challenges elsewhere. The two often coexist in the same decision, which helps explain why simplified narratives fail to capture the true complexity of career moves.
For HR and managers, the lesson is straightforward: reducing retention to the quality of direct leadership risks missing the bigger picture. Work overload, often structural in many sectors, remains a central driver of departures, and a lack of growth opportunities fuels turnover among top performers. While conflicts with supervisors remain important, they do not account for most resignations. In short, the “people quit bosses” adage may be memorable, but it glosses over the real mix of factors shaping employees’ decisions to leave.