Employee turnover is not merely an issue for the Human Resources department. From the perspective of business operations management, every employee departure can generate a series of consequences: workflow disruption, loss of organizational knowledge, increased pressure on remaining employees, additional recruitment and training costs, and a direct impact on the quality of customer service.

When an employee submits a resignation, a common question arises: Are they leaving because of the company’s mechanisms and policies, or because of their direct manager?

The answer rarely lies entirely on one side. Employees may leave because of compensation, job content, personal circumstances, or a more attractive opportunity in the labor market. However, their daily experience with their direct manager can accelerate that decision - or enable the issue to be identified and addressed in a timely manner.

Employee turnover is often the result of multiple accumulated factors. However, the causes of turnover can be classified into three major groups, as follows:

1. Causes Related to Personal Circumstances and the External Environment

This group includes family circumstances, age, caregiving responsibilities, personal career orientation, and better employment opportunities in the market. These are factors that organizations may find difficult to control completely. An employee may need to relocate, change industries, or accept an offer that is more closely aligned with their long-term goals.

However, “difficult to control” does not mean that the organization is entirely powerless. Managers can still help employees recognize the value of remaining with the organization through learning opportunities, challenging assignments, a positive working environment, and a clearly defined development pathway.

2. Causes Related to Organizational Systems and Policies

This group includes: compensation, bonuses, and benefits; promotion opportunities; job design; organizational structure; workload; performance evaluation and recognition processes; and the perceived fairness of how benefits and opportunities are allocated. These factors need to be addressed at the organizational level. A department manager is unlikely to have the authority to determine the entire compensation policy or restructure the organization independently.

However, direct managers play a highly important role in translating organizational policies into actual employee experiences. Under the same policy, a manager who explains decisions effectively can create understanding, while a manager who lacks transparency may create a sense of unfairness. With the same level of compensation, employees who are recognized, given opportunities to learn, and able to see a future within the organization will have a very different experience from those who are repeatedly overlooked or approached only when mistakes occur.

3. Causes Related to Employees’ Experiences with Their Manager and Team

This is the group over which managers have the greatest direct influence. It includes: the relationship between managers and employees; unclear roles, objectives, and responsibilities; workload overload or work-related conflict; insufficient feedback and recognition; lack of empowerment; limited visibility of development opportunities; conflict or weak cohesion within the team; and perceptions of unfairness in performance evaluation and the allocation of opportunities.

Employees do not experience an organization only through policies, regulations, or messages from senior leadership. They experience the organization every day through the way their manager assigns work, listens, provides feedback, resolves conflict, and treats each team member.

Which Causes May Originate from Managers?

1. Stress Caused by Role Ambiguity

Employees are more likely to experience stress when they do not know exactly what they are responsible for, which priorities are most important, or who has the final decision-making authority.

This situation commonly arises when managers: assign tasks without clear objectives or standards; change priorities continuously; create overlapping responsibilities; impose requirements without granting sufficient authority; or fail to resolve conflicts of responsibility between individuals or departments.

When ambiguity persists, employees become exhausted not only by the volume of work, but also by the constant need to guess what they are expected to do.

2. Job Content That Provides Limited Development Opportunities

A capable employee who is repeatedly assigned routine work, given few challenges, or provided with little autonomy will gradually lose motivation.

Organizations cannot always promote employees immediately. However, managers can create development opportunities by: assigning new responsibilities; rotating roles within the team; involving employees in cross-functional projects; empowering them to take full ownership of a task; assigning them to mentor new employees; and allowing them to experiment with appropriate working methods.

3. Insufficient Feedback and Recognition

Many employees are invited to speak with their manager only when they make a mistake. When they perform well, they receive very little feedback because good performance is treated as something that should be expected.

Prolonged silence leaves employees uncertain about: what they are doing well; what they should continue doing; which areas require improvement; whether they are making progress; and whether their contributions are being recognized.

Effective feedback does not necessarily require a lengthy meeting. A specific, timely comment linked to observable behavior can create a significant impact.

4. A Low-Trust Relationship with the Manager

Employees are unlikely to remain committed over the long term when they perceive that their manager: shows favoritism; exercises excessive control; fails to keep promises; avoids responsibility; takes credit for success while assigning blame to employees; fails to protect the team when problems arise; or refuses to listen to differing perspectives.

Compensation may be the reason stated in a resignation letter, but the loss of trust is often a process that began much earlier.

5. Conflict and a Negative Team Environment

Managers cannot require every team member to like one another. However, they are responsible for establishing principles of collaboration, addressing disrespectful behavior, and preventing unresolved conflict from gradually undermining the team. An environment characterized by unhealthy competition, blame, or tolerance of negative behavior may cause highly capable employees to leave first.

Five Actions Managers Can Implement Immediately

1. Conduct “Stay Interviews” Instead of Speaking with Employees Only When They Resign

Many organizations ask employees about their reasons for leaving only after a resignation has been submitted. At that stage, there is often limited opportunity to influence the decision.

Managers should proactively hold periodic conversations with employees. The purpose of these discussions is not to retain employees at all costs, but to identify problems early enough for them to be addressed.

2. Clarify Objectives, Roles, and Authority

When assigning work, managers need to clarify: the expected outcomes; completion deadlines; quality standards; level of priority; the scope within which employees may make independent decisions; and the circumstances in which they need to report or seek approval.

Clarity helps reduce stress, limit conflict, and create conditions in which employees can act more proactively.

3. Review Workload and the Allocation of Responsibilities

Overload does not arise only from having too much work. It may also result from: too many urgent tasks occurring simultaneously; continuously changing assignments; inefficient coordination processes; certain employees having to carry the workload of others; or employees being held accountable without being given sufficient resources.

Managers need to review regularly which activities should continue, which can be reassigned, simplified, or discontinued.

4. Provide Feedback and Recognition Regularly

Feedback should be provided close to the time when the behavior occurs, focus on a specific situation, and clearly identify the actions that should be continued or adjusted.

Recognition should not be reserved only for final results. Managers can also recognize: progress; willingness to support colleagues; proactive behavior; fulfillment of commitments; efforts to resolve difficult problems; and behaviors that are aligned with the organization’s values.

5. Develop Career Direction Together with Employees

Not every employee requires an immediate promotion or a new job title. However, employees need to understand the direction in which they are developing.

Managers should work with employees to identify: their current capabilities; areas requiring improvement; priority skills; assignments or projects that can support development; and the criteria required before they can be entrusted with greater responsibilities.

When employees can see an achievable future within the organization, they have stronger reasons to continue their journey with it.

So, Do Employees Leave Because of the Company or Their Manager?

A more accurate answer is: employees may leave for many different reasons, but direct managers are often the people who either intensify those reasons or help address them in a timely manner.

The company establishes policies, structures, and operating systems. Managers translate those elements into employees’ daily experiences. Therefore, organizations should not monitor only the overall turnover rate. They should also analyze turnover by department, business unit, direct manager, key talent group, and length of service. When a department repeatedly loses high-performing employees, the issue may no longer be limited to recruitment. It may be a signal that the organization needs to review the management capabilities and operational quality of that unit. To retain employees, do not wait until the exit interview to ask what made them want to leave.

“90-Second Practical Management” – Supporting Managers Through Real-World Challenges

The topic “Do Employees Leave Because of the Company or Their Manager?” is further explored in Video 5 of the “90-Second Practical Management” series, founded and led by Lead-UP Academy.

In this series, Expert Phạm Tô Hoài – Founder of Lead-UP Academy directly analyzes common situations in business management and proposes concise, practical actions that can be applied immediately in the workplace.

Working alongside the expert is the Lead-UP Academy Media Team, which is responsible for producing and disseminating the content. Each video is designed not only to communicate a management message, but also to raise important questions for leaders and managers:

• Is the manager creating motivation, or unintentionally causing employees to lose motivation?

• Have unusual signs in employee behavior been identified early enough?

• Is the organization retaining employees through policies, or through their actual working experience?

• Has the management team been adequately equipped with the capabilities required to develop and retain talent?

Through the “90-Second Practical Management” series, Lead-UP Academy seeks to work alongside organizations in examining issues that may appear minor in daily operations, but can have a major impact on performance, engagement, and the organization’s capacity for sustainable development.

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