What Makes Top Performers Stay in Their Jobs?

For Ceridian’s 2017 Pulse of Talent, we asked 1602 North Americans – a mix of salaried and hourly workers, full-time and part-time – about their views on work. We dove into the factors that affect job satisfaction, and importantly, what keeps high performers in their jobs.

What are high performers? They are those employees with the best dedication and strongest commitment to helping the company achieve its goals. For this report, we assessed views from high performers by carving out data on people who had received an “excellent” on their last performance review and had been promoted three times or more throughout their careers.

It’s not surprising that salary plays a role in keeping employees happy and engaged at work. However, a key finding from the report is that great colleagues are a primary attraction for most respondents to stay in their jobs.

“In fact, nearly half (47%) of all respondents from across the U.S. and Canada listed co-workers among a host of reasons they choose to stay at their current employer.”

Discover the Top 5 Reasons Employees Stay in Their Jobs: Download 2017 Pulse of Talent

The Team Effect

It makes sense that collegial relationships with colleagues would be a factor in job satisfaction and retention. There are several benefits of having good relationships with co-workers – whether a work best friend, or a reliable team that consistently works well together.

For one, employees with good co-worker relationships are better equipped to deal with workplace challenges or setbacks, according to research by Ron Friedman in The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace. These relationships also increase efficiency, productivity and employee work-life balance.

It’s therefore important to hire for a balance of the right skillset with cultural fit, says Lisa Sterling, Ceridian’s Chief People and Culture Officer, adding that organizations need to learn about what makes the best teams achieve more. “When people are all running after the same outcome, that’s when people feel energized and committed.”

Culture is Key to Retaining Top Talent: Download the Report to Learn More.