Happy employees: what really keeps people in a company

Satisfied, but not committed

At first glance, the figures don't add up. 84 per cent of employees in Germany are satisfied with their job, according to a survey conducted by forsa on behalf of XING in the winter of 2025/2026. At the same time, Gallup's Engagement Index shows that only ten per cent feel a strong emotional bond with their employer. 77 per cent do their work properly, but without any inner involvement, and 13 per cent have quietly given up. Satisfaction and commitment are evidently two different things.

My argument: satisfaction keeps nobody. Someone is satisfied when there is nothing to complain about. Someone is committed when they are glad to come in each morning, because the people there are right. A company only becomes successful once the people in it work well together. That matters more to me than any metric, because the metrics only follow from it. Last year's surveys support this view far more clearly than the debate about pay would suggest.

Why pay alone doesn't hold

Ask why people resign and you get the same answer everywhere. At the staffing firm Randstad, 40 per cent of respondents name inadequate pay as a reason for leaving; in the XING survey it is 41 per cent. Pay comes first, ahead of a lack of promotion prospects, high stress levels and dissatisfaction with one's manager. Anyone who feels underpaid leaves, and the bowl of fruit in the kitchen won't change that.

The question of why people stay produces a different picture. Those who tell XING they want to stay for the long term name job security first (64 per cent) and interesting work second (62 per cent). Pay and a sense of solidarity among colleagues follow, level with each other at 57 per cent each. Among the under-30s, solidarity even comes out on top at 67 per cent. The job study by the auditing firm EY shows the same pattern for motivation: 57 per cent name a good working atmosphere, 55 per cent a good relationship with colleagues, 37 per cent a high salary and 12 per cent performance bonuses.

Pay is therefore a ticket to entry. If it isn't right, the conversation is over. If it is right, the conversation is only beginning. Gallup supplies the matching figure: around six in ten employees consider their pay appropriate, yet only one in ten is emotionally committed. As the reasons for staying show, the gap in between cannot be closed by pay rises alone.

Managers play a decisive part

What fills that gap has been described by Gallup in the same terms for years: commitment grows out of the leadership employees experience day to day, and out of the working environment that leadership shapes. Good managers make clear what they expect, support development, ask for opinions and listen, show appreciation and give regular feedback. It sounds obvious, and the figures show how rarely it works. Only 23 per cent trust their senior management to master future challenges, and only 18 per cent feel inspired by it about the future.

Leadership also appears among the reasons for resigning, just behind pay. 34 per cent of those at XING who are thinking of moving on are dissatisfied with their manager. At Randstad, 27 per cent name a negative working environment and 25 per cent a poor relationship with management. And 62 per cent of those looking for a new employer expect good leadership from them, almost as often as a higher salary at 63 per cent.

I have built and run two companies, and my understanding of leadership is simple: genuine appreciation, openness to new approaches and an atmosphere in which work is a pleasure. That is how trust is built, and performance grows out of trust. Change only works with people, not against them. Anyone introducing something new has to listen, explain and build acceptance. That applies to a new piece of software just as much as to any other decision.

What employee retention costs and delivers

For managing directors and HR leaders this comes with a price tag. Gallup puts the productivity losses caused by quiet quitting in Germany in 2025 at between 119 and 142 billion euros. In the individual business it shows up in days of absence: employees with a strong emotional bond are absent for around 5.7 days a year, those who have quietly given up for 9.7 days.

The difference in intention to leave is even starker. Of the emotionally committed employees, only three per cent are actively looking for a new position; of those with no bond, 39 per cent are. 80 per cent of the committed expect still to be with the company in a year's time; across all employees the figure is 56 per cent. At Randstad, 24 per cent of respondents were planning a move in the first half of 2026, and 17 per cent had changed employer in the preceding six months. Every one of these resignations costs recruitment and onboarding, and the person takes knowledge out of the building that never appeared in any metric.

The case against my argument

Two objections deserve to be taken seriously. The first comes from the German Economic Institute. In 2025 it analysed the long-term data of the Socio-Economic Panel and found no trend towards an unmotivated workforce: around 48 per cent of employees reported high job satisfaction in 2022 and 49 per cent moderate satisfaction, and staff turnover in 2023 was below its pre-pandemic level. Gallup's low commitment figures also depend on the measurement method with its twelve fixed questions. Define commitment strictly and you will find few committed people.

The second objection lies in the surveys themselves. The most important reason for staying in 2026 is job security, and 58 per cent would prefer a secure but less exciting job. In uncertain times, then, people also stay with a boss they don't like. But that loyalty is to the secure chair, and it ends as soon as the labour market turns. The longer comparison shows as much: in 2018, 78 per cent of employees still expected to be with the same employer the following year; today it is 56 per cent.