It probably stands to reason that many people look for pastures new if they’re unhappy at work, but that isn’t an option taken up by everyone.

A recent study suggests that the circumstances wedding those people to their work is rather nuanced.  It says that they’re not just making the best of a bad lot, but are instead embedded in their jobs.

“There are factors outside of the job and outside of employees’ attitudes about their job that require some people to make a longer term commitment,” the authors say.

These outside factors can include things like whether we have a mortgage, if our spouse is employed, whether the job has extra perks such as being close to home or providing health insurance, or even our relationship with our peers.

“They can be powerful factors that can determine the level of commitment a person has to an organization and how long they might stay with an organization,” the authors say.

Why people stay

This construct is what’s known as job embeddedness, and it’s believed to be something that’s common in people with a collectivist nature, or in other words, people who tend to put the group ahead of their own interests.

The authors believe that employees can take advantage of this by offering a range of add-ons to encourage embeddedness, and thus retain employees.

“For example, some companies may offer free or reduced memberships to country clubs, chambers of commerce, gyms, and theatres, as well as have delayed vesting schedules on compensations and retirement packages,” they say. “Likewise, some companies offer assistance with the purchase of homes because people who purchase homes are more likely to stay longer in a particular location than people who just rent.”

The benefits of doing this are relatively clear, with lower turnover costs and an increase in retention of skilled employees clear advantages of retaining people, even if they are unhappy.

“Although there is a correlation between an employee’s happiness and their work performance, it is still quite possible that employees can be unhappy and still perform superbly at work, so just because an employee is unhappy at work doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she will perform any worse than a happy employee,” the author says.

Not all a bed of roses

Suffice to say, retaining unhappy employees is not all good news, with them more likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviors, whether that’s wasting resources, dragging down their peers or otherwise generally being disruptive at work.

Nevertheless, a better understanding of embeddedness is crucial if we’re to fully understand the various factors influencing employee turnover.

“Even when people have positive attitudes about their job, researchers can predict which are likely to turnover more quickly if they do not have strong embedded ties,” the authors remind us.