Employee Retention and Turnover

The ‘Great Resignation’ Isn’t Over—It’s Just Evolving in the Philippines

If you think the global wave of resignations has passed, think again. In the Philippines, nearly two out of every three employees are planning to leave their jobs within the year. While the job market may look stable on the surface, this quiet quitting movement signals a deeper shift in employee values and expectations. From Metro Manila to regional hubs like Cebu and Davao, companies are now facing an urgent question: How do we keep our people from walking away?

Today's employees are no longer staying just for a paycheck. They're demanding better healthcare, career development, work-life balance, and financial literacy programs. According to Aon’s recent study, Filipino workers expect benefits that match their lived realities. Unfortunately, many companies still rely on outdated compensation structures and fail to track why their people are leaving until it’s too late. In an era where retention can make or break a business, leaders must shift from reactive hiring to proactive people management—using analytics, modern incentives, and employee-first policies to stay competitive and relevant.

Who Can Use These Topics?

This research is ideal for students and professionals pursuing the following courses or strands:

College Programs:

• BS in Psychology

• BS in Business Administration major in Human Resource Management

• BS in Management or Strategic Management

• BS in Public Administration (HR and workforce governance)

• BA in Sociology (with a focus on labor or organizational studies)

Senior High School Strands:

• Accountancy, Business, and Management (ABM)

• Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS)

• General Academic Strand (GAS)

Why This Topic Needs Research

While employee retention and turnover have been widely discussed, major gaps persist in understanding how different organizational, psychological, and societal factors influence these outcomes—especially in a Philippine context.

• Little known about background-based retention patterns: Van der Baan et al. (2025) emphasized the need to differentiate between graduate and experienced newcomers, as retention strategies may need to be tailored depending on pre-entry preparation and workplace orientation experiences.

• Limited sectoral and motivational analysis: Suryani et al. (2024) confirmed the influence of workplace factors like compensation and career development, but recommended further study across industries and the inclusion of job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation as mediators of turnover behavior.

• Unexplored role of culture and leadership styles: Wijayanthi et al. (2024) highlighted that organizational culture and leadership style likely mediate the effects of retention strategies—but empirical validation is still lacking, especially in sectors outside of manufacturing or IT.

• Turnover reasons by tenure or employee tier: Samašonok (2024) pointed out that many studies generalize retention efforts, ignoring how length of service and job level impact the reasons employees leave. More nuanced research is needed on tailored retention and flexible policy frameworks.

• Need for deeper exploration in educational institutions: Datu-Ramos and Bautista (2025) found that faculty retention is strongly influenced by engagement and support, yet no extensive studies examine how these factors interact with institutional culture across different academic environments.

• Under-researched impact of ESG on retention: Malinis and Tan (2025) revealed a link between environmental and social governance (ESG) practices and retention in Cebu’s IT-BPM sector. However, more studies are needed to test this relationship over time and across varied industries.

• Industry-specific models are lacking: Perez and Lacap (2024) found that supervisory support and leadership impact blue-collar worker retention through engagement. Still, their framework needs to be tested in other business environments to verify generalizability and uncover additional mediators.

Feasibility & Challenges by Target Group

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References

Datu-Ramos, Y. E. B., & Bautista, S. C. (2025). Job Engagement, Retention Intentions, and Work Performance Among Faculty in Medical Schools in the Philippines.

Malinis, A., & Tan, T. A. (2025). The Impact of Perceived Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) on Employee Retention in the IT-BPM Sector in Cebu City. Journal of Comprehensive Business Administration Research.

Perez, N. E. D., & Lacap, J. P. G. Effects of Supervisory Support and Transactional Leadership on Employee Retention: The Mediating Effect of Employee Engagement.

Samašonok, K. (2024). Employee turnover: causes and retention strategies. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 11(3), 134-148.

Suryani, Y., Akbar, I., & Ibrahim, M. A. N. (2024). The influence of work environment, compensation, career development, and employee retention on turnover intention (survey on plastic division employees CV. Surya Nedika Isabella). International Journal Administration, Business & Organization, 5(2), 97-109.

van der Baan, N. A., Meinke, G., Virolainen, M. H., Beausaert, S., & Gast, I. (2025). Retention of newcomers and factors influencing turnover intentions and behaviour: a review of the literature. Education+ Training.

Wijayanthi, I. A. T., Subagio, M., Suhendra, A., Hartini, H., & Darmawan, A. A. (2024). Employee Retention Implementation Prevents Employee Turnover. Siber Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary, 2(2), 288-301.

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