8 High-Impact Actions Leaders Can Take to Reduce Turnover

When Sarah accepted the role of Senior Product Manager at a fast-growing tech startup, she was thrilled about the company’s mission and potential. Eighteen months later, she found herself updating her LinkedIn profile. The reason wasn’t compensation or the workload—it was her manager, Dave. While technically competent, Dave focused solely on deadlines and deliverables, rarely acknowledged her team’s successes, and showed little interest in her professional growth.

Across town, Sarah’s former colleague Mike was celebrating his fourth year at another tech company. Despite receiving multiple recruitment offers, Mike couldn’t imagine leaving. His manager, Elena, had transformed their department into what he called his ‘dream team.’ Elena regularly shared customer impact stories that connected their work to the company’s mission, invested in each team member’s development, and wasn’t afraid to push back on unrealistic deadlines from senior leadership.

These contrasting scenarios illustrate a crucial reality in today’s workplace: as much as 75% of employees who voluntarily leave their jobs cite their manager as the primary reason for quitting.

How Leaders Reduce Turnover

The Great Resignation taught business leaders an expensive lesson about employee retention. With average turnover rates hovering between 15–20% across industries, organizations are bleeding talent— and money. The cost of replacing a single employee can soar to double their annual salary when you factor in recruiting expenses, lost productivity, and training costs. For a mid-level manager making $100,000, that’s a $200,000 hit to the bottom line.

Some sectors feel this pain more acutely than others. Tech companies, despite their generous compensation packages, watch talent walk out the door at alarming rates. Retail and hospitality businesses often seem caught in an endless cycle of hiring and training. Even the rise of remote work, which initially helped companies retain talent by offering flexibility, has created new challenges as some organizations push for return-to-office mandates— only to watch their best people leave for companies with more flexible policies.

But here’s what’s fascinating: while industry trends and work arrangements matter, they’re not the deciding factor in whether an employee stays or goes. Our research, analyzing data from 97,566 global leaders, revealed a striking truth: the manager makes or breaks retention. The numbers tell a compelling story— employees working under the least effective leaders are five times more likely to have one foot out the door compared to those working for highly effective leaders (53% versus 10% considering quitting).

The difference between these leaders isn’t just about technical competence or experience. It’s about specific behaviors that make employees feel valued, engaged, and excited to come to work every day. Think of it like a magnetic field— certain leaders naturally attract and retain talent, while others unknowingly repel it. Through our analysis of over 500,000 employees and their managers, we’ve identified eight key behaviors that create this ‘magnetic’ leadership effect.

Magnetic Leaders: The 8 Behaviors That Reduce Turnover

What differentiates a leader people flee from and one they’ll follow through challenging times? Our data analysis revealed eight critical behaviors that set exceptional leaders apart:

1. Inspirational Leadership: These leaders transform work from a series of tasks into a meaningful mission. Instead of pushing employees to complete assignments, they illuminate the broader purpose, helping team members see how their work contributes to societal progress and creates meaningful change.
2. Conflict Resolution Masters: Workplace conflict is more than a distraction—it’s a potential team destroyer. Magnetic leaders neutralize tension by introducing humor, creating a positive environment, and addressing conflicts before they erode team morale and productivity.
3. Holistic Performance Champions: Delivering results isn’t just about metrics—it’s about understanding the human behind the performance. These leaders balance aggressive goal achievement with genuine empathy, recognizing that acknowledging an employee’s personal situation can profoundly impact motivation and commitment.
4. Deliberate Development Architects: Professional growth is the lifeblood of talent retention. These leaders view team development as a strategic priority, actively creating opportunities for learning and challenging assignments, understanding that personal development is as critical as current productivity.
5. Team Culture Cultivators: Beyond traditional team management, these leaders create emotional ecosystems where collaboration feels natural, and belonging is a privilege. They embody the principle that “Together Everyone Achieves More,” transforming groups of individuals into cohesive, high-performing units.
6. Purpose and Direction Navigators: In an era of constant change, these leaders provide crystal-clear organizational direction. They prevent team disengagement by maintaining consistent, transparent goals and ensuring every team member understands their role in the bigger picture.
7. Balanced Feedback Craftsmen: Effective feedback is an art of proportion and timing. These leaders build a foundation of frequent, genuine praise, making occasional constructive suggestions not just acceptable, but welcomed as opportunities for growth.
8. Humble Continuous Learners: True leadership is characterized by radical openness to improvement. By regularly seeking feedback from their team, these leaders demonstrate vulnerability, showing that great leadership is about asking better questions and continuously evolving.

Conclusion: Make the Choice to Inspire

Leadership is not a title—it’s a profound responsibility to create an environment where talent can thrive.

These behaviors aren’t just nice-to-have leadership qualities—they’re retention strategies that pay measurable dividends. In Zenger Folkman’s study, leaders who consistently demonstrated these eight behaviors saw turnover rates 40% lower than their peers, along with higher productivity and employee satisfaction scores.

More importantly, these behaviors create a virtuous cycle. And in today’s competitive talent market, that’s the difference between organizations that struggle with constant turnover and those that become talent magnets.

-Joe Folkman