During the “Great Resignation,” the U.S. saw a sharp rise in people quitting their jobs about a year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Early on, the crisis caused high unemployment, pushing companies to figure out what drives employees to leave or stay when job security is shaky.

Researchers at the University of Warwick tackled this question with two studies focused on “job embeddedness”—the factors that keep people attached to their jobs—and how it affects voluntary turnover during insecure times. Their work used the “conservation of resources” (COR) theory, which says that people try to hold on to valuable resources to prevent future losses.

“We used COR theory to explain why some workers, when facing possible job loss, look for new jobs, while others stay put,” the researchers said.

Well embedded

In the first study, they looked at how “on-the-job embeddedness” influenced the relationship between job insecurity and job searches. The researchers expected job insecurity to push more people to leave. They surveyed workers to measure their job insecurity and how connected they felt to their jobs, based on things like workplace relationships and the costs of leaving.

Three months later, they asked the same workers about their job search activities, and two years after the first survey, they checked if they had left their jobs. The results confirmed their theory: “We found that job searches explain the link between job insecurity and voluntary turnover, but employees with stronger ties to their jobs—through workplace connections or sacrifices they’d make by leaving—were less likely to search for new positions, even if they felt insecure,” the researchers said.

The second study widened the focus to look at both “on-the-job” and “off-the-job” embeddedness, such as personal and community ties. The researchers surveyed a new group of full-time employees to see how both types of embeddedness affected the link between job insecurity and turnover intentions. Again, the results showed that workers with strong ties to their jobs were less likely to think about quitting, despite feeling insecure. But the findings on off-the-job embeddedness were more complex.

Drawn to the door

“Off-the-job embeddedness—like commitments to family or the local community—seemed to make job insecurity more likely to lead to turnover. This might be because community ties provide support or open up new job opportunities for those feeling uncertain about their jobs,” the researchers explained.

This research matters because replacing employees who quit is costly—estimates suggest it can range from 90% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary. While the findings offer useful insights, the researchers note that more work is needed.

“Understanding why off-the-job embeddedness strengthens the link between job insecurity and turnover intentions requires further study,” they concluded, suggesting future research could explore how job and personal ties interact with job insecurity.