Employee turnover fell from 12.3% to 10.5% during the last year amid rising unemployment, a survey by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has revealed.
The CMI study, which questioned 350 firms, also indicated that just 3.9% of workers resigned during the 12-month period – the smallest total for five years.
The survey also found that just 0.2% of those questioned had decided in the past year to retire and staff loyalty was not rewarded with big pay rises, with salary increases averaging 2.2% last year.
Ruth Spellman, chief executive of CMI, said: “It seems that UK employees are more content to stay in their current jobs. Despite increasing demands on time and pressure to deliver more for less, employees have retained some sense of loyalty to their employers and their efforts are being noticed.
“It’s reassuring that employers have been able to offer modest pay rises, something we hope indicates that the era of pay freezes may be about to thaw. Of course, no one should believe that the only way to retain employee loyalty is by throwing money around.”
Copyright © Press Association 2011
