Employee Retention Statistics for 2026
The latest research on why people quit, what turnover costs, what keeps people and the state of the healthcare and nursing workforce, with every figure linked to its source.
Key employee retention statistics for 2026: 42% of people who voluntarily left their job say it could have been prevented, and 45% say no leader talked with them about their job in the three months before they left. About half of U.S. workers are looking or watching for a new job. Replacing a manager costs about 200% of salary. In healthcare, hospital RN turnover was 17.6% in 2025 and each bedside RN who leaves costs about $60,090.
Retention is the business in healthcare staffing, where I have spent the last decade, and the numbers below explain why it matters so much. These statistics come from primary research published by organizations such as Gallup, the American Psychological Association, Deloitte, Press Ganey, Gartner, Microsoft and NSI Nursing Solutions. Each one links to its original source so you can check it and cite it directly. I have added a short note on what each set means for leaders, drawn from my work leading teams and from my keynotes.
Why people leave
Turnover and quitting statistics
- 42%. 42% of employees who voluntarily left their job say their manager or organization could have prevented it. Source: Gallup (Corey Tatel, Ben Wigert), 42% of Employee Turnover Is Preventable but Often Ignored, 2024-07-09 (updated 2026-02-16).
- 45%. Nearly half (45%) of people who quit say no manager or leader talked with them about their job in the three months before they left. Source: Gallup (Corey Tatel, Ben Wigert), 42% of Employee Turnover Is Preventable but Often Ignored, 2024-07-09.
- 51%. 51% of U.S. workers are actively looking (11%) or watching (40%) for a new job; the 52% in Q3 2025 was the highest since 2015. Source: Gallup (Sarah Fioroni), U.S. Worker Thriving Declines as Job Market Pessimism Grows, 2026-03-23.
- 27%. 27% of job seekers say leadership or management is a top-three problem in their current role. Source: Gallup (Sarah Fioroni), U.S. Worker Thriving Declines as Job Market Pessimism Grows, 2026-03-23.
- 69% / 47%. Compared with non-engaged peers, engaged employees are 69% less likely to experience burnout and 47% less likely to be job hunting. Source: Gallup, Indicator: Employee Engagement, Page current as of May 2026 (no explicit date).
Much turnover is preventable, and the warning window is often quiet. Nearly half of people who quit say no leader talked with them about their job in the months before they left. See Stay Interview Questions.
The cost of turnover
Cost statistics
- 200% / 80% / 40% of salary. Replacing a leader or manager costs about 200% of salary, a technical professional 80%, and a frontline worker 40%. Source: Gallup, 42% of Employee Turnover Is Preventable but Often Ignored; also Employee Retention Depends on Getting Recognition Right, 2024.
- $60,090; $4.2M-$6.2M. Each bedside RN who leaves costs a hospital about $60,090, an average annual loss of $4.2 to $6.2 million. Source: NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, March 2026.
- $295,000. Each 1-point change in RN turnover costs or saves the average hospital about $295,000 a year. Source: NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, March 2026.
Turnover is expensive long before you count the effect on the people who stay. See How Much Does Employee Turnover Really Cost?
What keeps people
Retention driver statistics
- 45%. Well-recognized employees were 45% less likely to have left their organization two years later. Source: Gallup and Workhuman (Rachael Yi), Employee Retention Depends on Getting Recognition Right, 2024-09-18.
- 65%. Employees who get high-quality recognition are 65% less likely to be looking or watching for another job. Source: Gallup and Workhuman (Rachael Yi), Employee Retention Depends on Getting Recognition Right, 2024-09-18.
- 15%. Only 15% of employees say their manager helped them build a career plan in the past six months, down five points from 2024. Source: LinkedIn Learning, 2025 Workplace Learning Report: The rise of career champions, 2025 (platform data as of Sept 2024).
- 88%. 88% of organizations are concerned about employee retention, and providing learning opportunities is their top retention strategy. Source: LinkedIn Learning, 2025 Workplace Learning Report, 2025.
- 32%. Only 32% of U.S. employees say they had opportunities to learn and grow at work in the past year. Source: Gallup, Indicator: Employee Engagement, As of May 2026.
Recognition and growth are two of the strongest retention levers there are. Train them well enough that they could leave, and treat them well enough that they do not want to. See Train Them and They Stay.
Healthcare and nursing
Healthcare workforce statistics
- 17.6% RN turnover (up from 16.4%); 18.5% hospital. Hospital RN turnover rose to 17.6% in 2025 from 16.4% in 2024; overall hospital staff turnover was 18.5%. Source: NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, March 2026 (CY2025 data).
- 102%. Over the past five years the average hospital turned over 102% of its RN workforce. Source: NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, March 2026.
- 8.6% vacancy; 2.5+ months to recruit. The national RN vacancy rate is 8.6%, and it takes over 2.5 months to recruit an experienced RN. Source: NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, March 2026.
- 22.7%. Nearly one in four newly hired RNs (22.7%) left within their first year. Source: NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, March 2026.
- 1 in 5 early-career nurses. One in five early-career nurses are leaving their organizations, and RN turnover remains around 17%. Source: Press Ganey, Nursing engagement improves while early-career nurse departures persist at alarming rates, 2026-05-12.
- 58% / 64% / 61%. 58% of nurses feel burned out most days, 64% say compassion fatigue is affecting their health, and 61% plan some kind of career change within a year (including switching jobs, departments or schedules). Source: AMN Healthcare, 2025 Survey of Registered Nurses, 2025-05-01.
- 80,162. U.S. nursing schools turned away 80,162 qualified applications in 2024. Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), Schools of Nursing Enrollment Increases Across Most Program Levels, 2025-06-17.
- 1.53x. Nurses on teams with low teamwork scores are 1.53 times more likely to leave. Source: Press Ganey, What Keeps Healthcare Workers Engaged? New Report Points to Trust and Teamwork, 2025-04-23.
Healthcare is facing more patients, more complex care and a workforce under strain at the same time. Retention is a patient-care strategy. See Nurse Retention Strategies and my culture keynote, You Are Capable of a Better Culture.
Much turnover is preventable, and the cost is high, especially in healthcare. The strongest levers in this research are conversations before people leave, recognition that lands, real growth paths and managers who notice.
Frequently asked questions
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