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Employee Dissatisfaction and Intentions to Quit: New Evidence and Policy Recommendations

  • Kelsey J. O’Connor ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Cesare A. F. Riillo ORCID logo and Giulia Slater ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: May 22, 2025
The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy
From the journal The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy Volume 25 Issue 3

Abstract

The workplace experienced a profound shift during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which many individuals reassessed their careers and considered leaving their jobs. However, this shift does not appear to have affected Europe, especially Luxembourg, as it did the United States. We show the share of employees actively seeking a new job actually declined in Luxembourg during the pandemic (2019–22). We argue this is likely due to relatively stable job satisfaction in the country, as well as the fact that job satisfaction is the strongest predictor of employees’ intentions to quit in Luxembourg. In particular, employees who were dissatisfied with their jobs were 22 percentage points more likely quit in 2023. We conclude with a broader discussion on the benefits of workplace well-being (including job satisfaction) and how to enhance it. Essentially, improving job quality should reduce employee resignations and lead to better workplace outcomes.

Keywords: quit; resignation; job satisfaction; workplace well-being; productivity; great resignation
JEL Classification: J28; J24; M50; J63
Corresponding author: Kelsey J. O’Connor, Senior Researcher, STATEC Research (National Statistical Office of Luxembourg), 12 Boulevard Du Jazz, 4370 Esch-Belval Sanem, Luxembourg; Research Fellow, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Esch-Belval Sanem, Luxembourg; and GLO Fellow, Global Labor Organization (GLO), Esch-Belval Sanem, Luxembourg, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

The author(s) gratefully acknowledge the support of STATEC, the National Statistical Office of Luxembourg. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of STATEC and funding partners. This work contains statistical data from STATEC. The use of STATEC’s statistical data in this work does not imply endorsement by STATEC regarding the interpretation or analysis of the data. This work utilizes research datasets that may not exactly reproduce National Statistics aggregates. The authors would like to thank Chiara Peroni and Anne Hartung for the helpful comments. The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Appendix
Table 1:

Sample summary statistics.

Variable Share Variable Share
Job finding difficulties
Intend to quit 0.13 Strongly disagree 0.14
Disagree 0.20
Satisfied 0.77 Neither 0.22
Age categories Agree 0.31
25–34 0.31 Strongly agree 0.13
35–44 0.34
45–54 0.25 Income categories
56–64 0.10 €0 to €20,000 0.04
€20,001 to €40,000 0.10
Female 0.43 €40,001 to €60,000 0.18
Household size €60,001 to €80,000 0.15
1 0.15 €80,001 to €100,000 0.17
2 0.24 More than €100,000 0.36
3–4 0.48
More than 4 0.13 Good health
Strongly disagree 0.01
Immigrant 0.64 Disagree 0.03
Education Neither 0.08
Primary 0.04 Agree 0.32
Secondary 0.37 Strongly agree 0.56
Bachelor 0.23
Master 0.36 Occupation a
Business 0.58
Part-time worker 0.15 Government 0.40
Not for profit 0.12

  1. Note: 964 observations. Sample of 25–64 year old employed workers from Luxembourg summer 2023. aCategories are not mutually exclusive. Source: Authors’ calculations using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2023.

Table 2:

Regressions of intention-to-quit on job dissatisfaction and various controls.

(1) (2) (3)
Intention to quit Intention to quit Intention to quit
Dissatisfied 0.218*** (0.045) 0.005 (0.051)
Dissatisfied × age 25–34 0.327*** (0.093) 0.331*** (0.083)
Dissatisfied × age 35–44 0.270*** (0.095) 0.275*** (0.083)
Dissatisfied × age 45–54 0.058 (0.072) 0.063 (0.060)
Dissatisfied × age 55–64 0.005 (0.051)
Age 25–34 0.107*** (0.036) 0.040 (0.033) 0.040 (0.033)
35–44 0.094*** (0.034) 0.044 (0.033) 0.044 (0.033)
45–54 0.052 (0.032) 0.047 (0.033) 0.047 (0.033)
Female −0.072** (0.028) −0.063** (0.028) −0.063** (0.028)
Immigrant −0.043* (0.025) −0.046* (0.025) −0.046* (0.025)
HH size (2) −0.018 (0.046) −0.011 (0.046) −0.011 (0.046)
HH size (3–4) −0.033 (0.035) −0.030 (0.035) −0.030 (0.035)
HH size (4+) 0.031 (0.052) 0.039 (0.049) 0.039 (0.049)
Educ. primary 0.079 (0.110) 0.068 (0.114) 0.068 (0.114)
Educ. bachelor 0.053* (0.031) 0.052* (0.030) 0.052* (0.030)
Educ. master+ 0.084*** (0.031) 0.080*** (0.029) 0.080*** (0.029)
Part time worker 0.011 (0.040) 0.009 (0.041) 0.009 (0.041)
Private sector −0.011 (0.040) −0.021 (0.039) −0.021 (0.039)
Public sector −0.038 (0.038) −0.043 (0.037) −0.043 (0.037)
Not for profit 0.006 (0.032) 0.004 (0.033) 0.004 (0.033)
€0 to €20,000 0.037 (0.083) 0.027 (0.083) 0.027 (0.083)
€20,001 to €40,000 0.045 (0.067) 0.061 (0.066) 0.061 (0.066)
€60,001 to €80,000 −0.052 (0.048) −0.046 (0.048) −0.046 (0.048)
€80,001 to €100,000 −0.035 (0.050) −0.032 (0.049) −0.032 (0.049)
More than €100,000 −0.111** (0.045) −0.108** (0.044) −0.108** (0.044)
Good hlth. st. disagree 0.012 (0.186) 0.024 (0.164) 0.024 (0.164)
Good hlth. disagree −0.021 (0.089) 0.004 (0.089) 0.004 (0.089)
Good hlth. agree 0.046 (0.054) 0.048 (0.055) 0.048 (0.055)
Good hlth. st. agree 0.070 (0.054) 0.069 (0.055) 0.069 (0.055)
Find job st. disagree 0.056 (0.042) 0.054 (0.040) 0.054 (0.040)
Find job disagree 0.062 (0.038) 0.058 (0.037) 0.058 (0.037)
Find job agree 0.090*** (0.035) 0.093*** (0.035) 0.093*** (0.035)
Find job st. agree 0.168*** (0.049) 0.177*** (0.049) 0.177*** (0.049)
Constant −0.029 (0.090) 0.010 (0.087) 0.010 (0.087)
# Of observations 964 964 964
Adj. R squared 0.132 0.153 0.153

  1. Note: Ordinary least squares (linear probability) regression of intention to quit on job dissatisfaction and controls. Column 1 is based on the specification: Int_to_quit i  = α + βjob_dissat i  +  X i δ + ɛ i , where Int_to_quit i is a binary variable signifying individual i intends to resign, as specified in the text. X i is the vector of controls. The column 3 specification is augmented to allow the job dissatisfaction relation to vary by age group, as follows: Int_to_quit i = α + job_dissat i × AGE i β ∗ + X i δ + ɛ i . In this way, the vector β* reflects the relation of job dissatisfaction compared to job satisfaction for each age group. The main effect of age is included in X i . Column 2 presents the more traditional interaction specification that is harder to interpret. The results have the same meaning as expected. Sample of 25–64 year old employed workers from Luxembourg summer 2023. Robust standard errors in parentheses; * p < 0.10, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01. Source: Authors’ calculations using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2023.

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Received: 2024-08-26
Accepted: 2025-04-24
Published Online: 2025-05-22

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Research Articles
  3. Fair Choices During COVID-19: Firms’ Altruism and Inequality Aversion in Managing a Large Short-Time Work Scheme
  4. Inequality in Health Status During the COVID-19 in the UK: Does the Impact of the Second Lockdown Policy Matter?
  5. The Political Timing of Tax Policy: Evidence from U.S. States
  6. Is it a Matter of Skills? High School Choices and the Gender Gap in STEM
  7. Patent Licensing and Litigation
  8. Class Size, Student Disruption, and Academic Achievement
  9. Political Orientation and Policy Compliance: Evidence from COVID-19 Mobility Patterns in Korea
  10. Social Efficiency of Free Entry in a Vertically Related Industry with Cost and Technology Asymmetry
  11. Carbon Tax with Individuals’ Heterogeneous Environmental Concerns
  12. Equitable Redistribution and Inefficiency under Credit Rationing
  13. Letters
  14. Psychological Well-Being of Only Children: Evidence from the One-Child Policy
  15. Peer Effects in Child Work Decisions: Evidence from PROGRESA Cash Transfer Program
  16. Right Time to Focus? Time of Day and Cognitive Performance
  17. Employee Dissatisfaction and Intentions to Quit: New Evidence and Policy Recommendations
  18. On the Stability of Common Ownership Arrangements
https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2024-0293
Keywords for this article
quit; resignation; job satisfaction; workplace well-being; productivity; great resignation

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Research Articles
  3. Fair Choices During COVID-19: Firms’ Altruism and Inequality Aversion in Managing a Large Short-Time Work Scheme
  4. Inequality in Health Status During the COVID-19 in the UK: Does the Impact of the Second Lockdown Policy Matter?
  5. The Political Timing of Tax Policy: Evidence from U.S. States
  6. Is it a Matter of Skills? High School Choices and the Gender Gap in STEM
  7. Patent Licensing and Litigation
  8. Class Size, Student Disruption, and Academic Achievement
  9. Political Orientation and Policy Compliance: Evidence from COVID-19 Mobility Patterns in Korea
  10. Social Efficiency of Free Entry in a Vertically Related Industry with Cost and Technology Asymmetry
  11. Carbon Tax with Individuals’ Heterogeneous Environmental Concerns
  12. Equitable Redistribution and Inefficiency under Credit Rationing
  13. Letters
  14. Psychological Well-Being of Only Children: Evidence from the One-Child Policy
  15. Peer Effects in Child Work Decisions: Evidence from PROGRESA Cash Transfer Program
  16. Right Time to Focus? Time of Day and Cognitive Performance
  17. Employee Dissatisfaction and Intentions to Quit: New Evidence and Policy Recommendations
  18. On the Stability of Common Ownership Arrangements
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