The Great Resignation wasn’t confined to the United States.
While US data showed record numbers of people quitting their jobs in 2021 and 2022, the UK experienced its own surge in labour market churn.
The difference was in how it showed up.
In Britain, the dominant trend wasn’t people exiting work altogether. It was people moving directly from one job to another. Data showed job-to-job moves reaching record levels during that period, largely driven by resignations.
For employers, the effect was immediate. Vacancy levels rose sharply. Recruitment timelines lengthened. Wage pressure intensified as companies competed for the same talent pool. Many organisations found themselves permanently hiring, with little time to stabilise teams.
Now, in 2026, discussion of a “second wave” isn’t about repeating 2021.
The context has shifted, with hybrid work embedded and AI changing role design and career paths. Employees are more alert to risk and more deliberate about mobility.
What feels familiar, however, is the underlying behaviour. When workers believe better options exist, they move.
The question for UK employers is this: Are they going to adjust their retention strategy after the first surge or assume the market will just settle this time?
Analysing the Workforce Landscape in 2026
If 2021 was about shock, 2026 is about adjustment. Employers are operating in a more complicated environment than they were five years ago.
An older workforce
The UK workforce is ageing. That part isn’t new. What did change during the pandemic was how many older workers stepped away earlier than expected. Some have come back. Others haven’t.
ONS tracking of over-50s since 2022 shows just how uneven that return has been.
For employers, that means experience is harder to replace than it used to be. Retaining mid-career and late-career staff now requires more thought regarding flexibility, retraining, different pathways, not just a pay rise.
Leaders reviewing how they engage an ageing and multigenerational workforce can explore practical guidance on collaborating across age groups without stereotyping.
At the same time, migration reshaped the talent pool. Net migration reached record levels in 2022 and stayed high into 2023.
That brought skills into some sectors while creating new pressures in others. Add shifting visa rules into the mix, and workforce planning in 2026 looks less straightforward than it did pre-pandemic.
AI is now part of the day job
Generative AI is in the workflow. Developers using tools like GitHub Copilot have reported faster task completion and higher satisfaction in controlled studies. Similar patterns are showing up across marketing, operations, and admin roles.
That creates opportunity. It also creates tension. If work can be done faster, what counts as “good performance”? If tasks are automated, how do roles evolve? Employees generally want to use these tools. What they don’t want is to be left to figure them out alone or replaced altogether.
Costs, security, and changing rights
The economic backdrop still matters. Inflation peaked in 2022, but households are still dealing with higher bills and higher borrowing costs than they were used to, as you can see below.
That keeps salary, progression, and stability front and centre in career decisions.
Employment law has also moved. The right to request flexible working from day one has strengthened expectations around hybrid and alternative arrangements. Carer’s Leave, introduced in 2024, expanded formal support for people with caring responsibilities.
Put all of this together, and “good work” in 2026 means something slightly different. It’s not just about pay. It’s about predictability, flexibility, development, and clarity. Employers who treat those as optional extras are likely to feel the strain first.
Key Reasons for Employee Turnover in 2026
The basics haven’t changed. If pay, fairness, and leadership feel off, people look elsewhere. But the mix of drivers has shifted.
Work-life balance is expected now. ONS data shows hybrid working settled in as a norm for many knowledge workers by 2022, and it remains a core expectation for 2026. When companies pull back on flexibility without clear reasons, exits rise.
Mental health and sustainable workload get more attention now. The business case for wellbeing investment is well-established. Deloitte has estimated a positive return on mental health programmes in the UK market. Employees expect visible support, not just an Employee Assistance Programme tucked away on the intranet.
Job security has a new twist.
Ryan Beattie, Director of Business Development at UK SARMs, operates in a fast-moving consumer market where hesitation costs loyalty.
Beattie says, “In B2C, people leave the moment confidence drops. That applies internally, too. If your team feels unsure about where their role is heading, especially with AI in the mix, they’ll start looking around. We’ve learned that clarity reduces churn. When people understand how their role evolves and what support they’ll get, they don’t panic. Uncertainty drives exits more than workload ever does.”
People aren’t only worried about layoffs. They want to know if their roles are future-proof as AI and automation mature. They want a plan for their next skills chapter, and they’ll move to find it.
Purpose and DE&I matter for belonging. McKinsey has repeatedly linked diverse and inclusive cultures with stronger performance, and employees increasingly pick employers that live their values.
Ryan Walton, Program Ambassador of The Anonymous Project, sees a clear connection between belonging and retention. Walton says, “People stay where they feel heard. They stay where they feel safe to speak honestly about their experiences. When leaders create space for open conversation, trust grows. And trust keeps people from quietly planning their exit.”
Companies still focusing solely on salary and basic benefits are missing the bigger picture.
Strategies for Talent Retention: Insights and Best Practices
Great retention strategies don’t try to bribe people to stay. They design work people want to do, with the conditions that make it sustainable.
- Make flexibility the default. Treat hybrid as a design question, not a perk. Wherever roles allow, give real autonomy on location and hours, and publish team-level principles so expectations stay clear. The UK’s day-one right to request flexibility raises the bar, and it also gives structure for fair, transparent decisions.
- Build skills-first careers. Map critical capabilities, not just job titles. Offer short, stackable learning that ties to visible opportunities and pay. LinkedIn’s research has long shown that employees stay longer when they can move internally. Investing in internal mobility beats bidding wars for external hires.
- Refresh total rewards for 2026. Go beyond base pay: cost-of-living support, on-demand pay access, quality pensions, and targeted benefits for carers and neurodivergent employees. Pilot compressed hours or a four-day work week in suitable teams. The UK pilot saw strong results on wellbeing and retention, with most firms continuing after the trial.
- Invest in manager capability. Most quitting is about the team experience. Train managers to run hybrid well, hold fair performance conversations, coach for growth, and spot burnout.
- Keep DE&I practical and everyday. Clear representation goals, transparent salary bands where possible, fair promotion processes, and community groups with real sponsorship.
Andrew Bates, COO of Bates Electric, leads a company where the work can’t be remote, and flexibility has practical limits.
Bates says, “In construction and electrical work, flexibility looks different. You can’t wire a building from home. So retention comes down to leadership on-site. If supervisors communicate clearly, rotate crews fairly, and back their teams when jobs run long, people stay. If they don’t, no benefits package fixes that. Most resignations in our world trace back to a manager, not a policy.”
Measure what matters and show progress.
Enhancing Employee Engagement and Well-being
Engagement can sound vague. In practice, it comes down to what managers do week to week.
Talk before people decide to leave
Don’t wait for an exit interview. By then, the decision has already been made. Short, regular “stay conversations” with people in hard-to-hire or high-pressure roles surface issues early. What’s frustrating them? What would make the job better? What would tempt them away?
Notice effort, not just results
Recognition doesn’t need to be elaborate. Specific, timely praise from managers or peers reinforces progress and builds momentum. Gallup’s research has long linked recognition to higher engagement, stronger performance, and better retention.
A quick “that client call was handled well” carries more weight than a generic annual award.
Recognition can also be made tangible. Some organisations create physical markers of achievement. Simple touches like certificates presented in custom frames reinforce that progress matters and is worth displaying. When effort is visible, it becomes part of the culture rather than a one-off mention.
Make development visible
If growth only exists in theory, people look elsewhere. Personal learning budgets, protected time for courses, and cross-team project rotations show that development is real.
Internal mobility matters too. Not everyone wants a promotion straight up the ladder. Some want broader experience. Giving them ways to build varied skills inside the organisation reduces the need to build that portfolio somewhere else.
Build well-being into the way work runs
Well-being can’t sit as a poster on the wall. It shows up in workload planning, meeting culture, and how seriously time off is treated.
Adrian Iorga, Founder and President of Stairhopper Movers, runs a physically demanding service business where burnout can set in quickly.
Iorga notes, “In moving, fatigue is real. If we overload crews, performance drops and injuries rise. We learned early that retention isn’t about motivational speeches. It’s about scheduling jobs realistically, rotating heavy routes, and making sure people actually take time off. When leaders protect recovery time, teams notice. When they don’t, people leave within months.”
The Stevenson/Farmer review laid out a practical foundation for workplace mental health in the UK, and the core message still applies: prevention beats crisis response. That means manageable workloads, access to counselling, mental health days where needed, and environments where raising concerns doesn’t carry risk.
Often, small signals matter most. When senior leaders take their full annual leave and genuinely disconnect, teams notice. When they don’t, teams don’t either.
People copy behaviour. They rarely copy policy.
Leveraging Technology to Engage and Retain
Technology won’t fix culture on its own. But used properly, it can give employers earlier visibility and free up time for better management.
Spot risk before it turns into a resignation
Most resignations don’t come out of nowhere. There are usually signals such as quieter participation, lower engagement scores, missed training, and shifts in workload.
People analytics can help surface patterns across those signals. The point isn’t surveillance. It’s early support. If someone’s involvement drops or their development stalls, that’s a prompt for a conversation, not a warning letter.
Used carefully, data helps managers act sooner instead of reacting when it’s too late.
Set clear boundaries
Monitoring without clarity damages trust quickly. If you’re collecting data, explain what’s being tracked and why. In the UK, that means consulting employee representatives where appropriate, running data protection impact assessments when required, and following ICO guidance on workplace monitoring.
Transparency matters more than the tool itself. People are more likely to accept data use when it’s tied to support rather than discipline.
Use AI to remove friction, not replace judgment
Monitoring without clarity damages trust quickly. If you’re collecting data, explain what’s being tracked and why.
In the UK, that means consulting employee representatives where appropriate, running data protection impact assessments when required, and following ICO guidance on workplace monitoring.
One practical step is investing in systems that are built around visibility. A structured contract management software is designed with clear audit trails, defined access permissions, and shared accountability. That same architecture of clarity should guide how organisations use people data. When processes are transparent and traceable, trust is held. When they aren’t, suspicion grows.
Transparency matters more than the tool itself. People are more likely to accept data use when it’s tied to support rather than discipline.
Test ideas in the open
Some of the most useful changes haven’t come from big system rollouts, but from practical pilots. Some companies have tested internal skills marketplaces to match employees with short-term projects more quickly.
Not every pilot works. The value comes from being open about results and adjusting based on what actually improves engagement, rather than what sounds progressive on paper.
Wrapping Up
If there is a Great Resignation redux, it won’t look identical to 2021. It’ll show up where employers cling to old playbooks such as rigid schedules, vague career paths, and paper-thin wellbeing offers.
The alternative is straightforward: match roles with human needs, invest in future skills, and keep your ear close to the ground. That’s how you build the kind of organisation people choose to stay with.
The companies that adjusted early last time were more resilient. Do that again, with today’s realities in mind, and you won’t have to fear a redux. You’ll be ready for it.
If you’re looking for practical frameworks rather than theory, Engage for Success offers UK-focused resources, case studies, and toolkits on building engagement cultures that last.
It’s a useful starting point for leaders who want evidence-backed action rather than generic advice.
Author: David Abraham – Program Manager, Human Rights and Criminal Justice, CELSIR
Photo credit: StockCake
