The Loyalty Illusion: Happy to Stay, Ready to Leave?

The reality of the current job market is…underwhelming. Job seekers are caught in a demoralizing cycle of AI recruitment tools screening AI-polished applications, while countless resumes disappear into the digital abyss. What can be an abysmal exercise for employees seeking their next big challenge, is showing up in organizations as high levels of retention.

Given the challenges of today’s market, there's a question worth asking: Are your employees staying because they want to, or because they feel like there’s no other choice?

We wanted to find out.

At first glance, the numbers look reassuring. In our latest research, 82% of employees said they're likely to still be with their current employer 12 months from now. But we wanted to dig a little deeper. When we asked that 82% whether they'd still choose to stay if the job market were ideal, with plenty of opportunities available, one in four of them couldn't confidently say yes.

We call this the loyalty illusion: employees who expect to stay but aren't necessarily committed to the organization itself. It affects one in five employees surveyed, and it's easy to overlook. They're still showing up, meeting expectations, and contributing. But there's a difference between retaining employees and earning their loyalty.

Retention tells you who's staying. Loyalty tells you who's choosing to stay. And our research reveals some important clues about where that gap begins.

The Honeymoon Fades, and Doubt Moves In

In their first year, 27% of employees express doubt about staying with their organization. For those with one to five years of tenure, that number jumps to 40%.

That's a pretty significant shift. So, what's happening between the first year and the fifth?

Think about how much changes during that time. Year one is all about discovery: new people, new problems, new responsibilities, and plenty to learn. But by year three, the learning curve has started to flatten. Employees know the work. They've proven they can do it. And the bigger questions begin to surface.

What's next for me here? Am I still growing? Is there a path forward, or am I just getting really good at doing the same things?

These are often some of your most valuable employees: experienced enough to understand the business and capable enough to work independently. But competence doesn't automatically translate into commitment. When employees can't picture what's next for them, they may start picturing it somewhere else.

People Stay for People

Here's some encouraging news: employees report having meaningful reasons to stay, and many of them are right in front of us.

The top reason employees gave for staying was enjoying their work (58%), followed by their team (43%). Only 10% pointed to uncertainty in the job market.

In other words, fear isn't what keeps most employees in place. Their day-to-day experience matters when it comes to engagement and retention.

That's important because teams are something leaders can actually influence. Colleagues provide belonging, support, and a shared sense of purpose. Those relationships create a strong foundation for building loyalty and addressing the loyalty illusion. Building better colleague relationships is possible through personality assessments and learning experiences that boost interpersonal skills and understanding.

But even the best team can only do so much. Employees can genuinely enjoy the people they work with and still question their future. Strong relationships matter, but people also need to believe there's somewhere to go and room to grow.

You Can't Fix What No One Will Say Out Loud

Believing in your future with an organization starts with being able to talk about it. And, according to our research, not everyone feels comfortable doing that.

Only 62% of employees say they can express career concerns without worrying those concerns will be held against them. The difference in reported doubt is striking: 67% among employees who don't feel safe speaking up, compared with just 24% among those who do.

Consider someone who's three years into a role. They're performing well, meeting expectations, and doing everything their manager asks. But they're also wondering about more responsibility, a different challenge, or what advancement might look like.

If they don't feel comfortable raising those questions, their manager may see a successful employee while that employee quietly wonders what else is out there.

This is why career concerns should be treated as conversation starters, not warning signs. An employee who expresses uncertainty about their future isn't necessarily preparing to leave. They may be giving you an opportunity to build a future worth staying for.

Unused Strengths Leave Room for Doubt

Another important part of that conversation? Whether employees actually get to use what they're good at.

Our research found that 71% of employees who say their role doesn't use their strengths express doubt about staying. Among those who feel their role does use their strengths, that number drops to 28%.

That's a 43-percentage-point difference, and it's one leaders shouldn't overlook.

When people get to use their strengths, work can feel more engaging, meaningful, and rewarding. When those strengths go unnoticed or unused, even highly capable employees can begin to feel like something is missing.

This is especially worth considering for employees in that one-to-five-year window. Managers may already know what these employees do well. But do they know what energizes them? How they prefer to approach problems? Which responsibilities would challenge them in the right ways?

Tools, like personality assessments backed by science, help bring those answers into focus. They give employees and managers a shared language for understanding strengths, preferences, collaboration styles, and opportunities for development. More importantly, they can help turn what might otherwise be a vague conversation about career satisfaction into something actionable.

How to Turn Staying into Choosing

The loyalty illusion doesn't necessarily mean a retention crisis is around the corner. But it does tell us something important: retention numbers alone don't explain why employees are staying, or whether they'll choose to stay when other opportunities become available.

So where should leaders start?

Check in early and often. Don't wait for an annual performance review to talk about career goals. Make these conversations a regular habit, particularly during the first five years of employment, when doubt is most pronounced. And, just as importantly, follow through. Few things erode trust faster than a conversation about someone's future that leads nowhere.

Invest in the team experience. With 43% of employees naming their team as a top reason to stay, relationships deserve a place in your retention strategy. Create opportunities for collaboration, build trust, and reinforce a shared sense of purpose. The people employees work alongside can make a meaningful difference in whether they want to stay.

Create a shared language for honest conversations. Help teams better understand how colleagues communicate, make decisions, and prefer to work. When people feel understood, speaking up becomes easier. Encourage managers to ask what employees want to learn, what motivates them, and where they see their careers going.

Make strengths visible and actionable. Use development tools to help employees and managers understand how people work best and where they have room to grow. Give managers the insight they need to make more intentional decisions about responsibilities, development opportunities, and role fit.

Retention Is What Happens. Loyalty Is What You Earn.

The loyalty illusion isn't about making it harder for employees to leave. It's about giving them a reason to choose to stay, even when the job market inevitability changes.

Retention numbers will tell you who's still there. Honest conversations, strong teams, and opportunities to use and develop individual strengths will tell you who's genuinely invested in being there.

The organizations that understand this difference won't just get better at spotting potential turnover. They'll build workplaces where employees recognize their value, see a future for themselves, and have a reason to keep choosing the organization, even when other opportunities come along.

Wiley’s suite of professional solutions provides a structure and common language to help empower entire organizations with the skills needed to get to the next level. From building better teams with The Five Behaviors^®, and improving understanding to create engaged, collaborative, and adaptive cultures with Everything DiSC^® on Catalyst™, helping you make confident hiring decisions with PXT Select^®, or unlocking the power of leadership at every level with The Leadership Challenge^®, Wiley has innovative solutions that help make the workplace a better place.

Wiley Workplace Intelligence conducts in-depth research on key workplace issues by gathering insights from individual contributors, managers, and leaders. Wiley Workplace Intelligence then analyzes these findings to provide actionable solutions that are shared in our blog.