The Stay Factor: What Employees Will Expect Next Year

The Stay Factor Election Stress Comes to Work

What Employees Will Expect Next Year

“I’m not going anywhere. Where would I go?”

If you have heard a version of that lately, it is not loyalty talking. It is the job market.

Turnover has been quiet this year, and not because everyone is suddenly happy. Gallup’s latest U.S. worker data found only 28% of workers think it is a good time to find a quality job, down from 70% in mid-2022. Yet 51% are watching for or actively seeking a new one. People are staying put. Not all of them want to.

Stuck and staying look identical on a headcount report. In 2027 if the market loosens, a competitor posts the right job, or the manager everybody likes moves on, the readiness question is not “Will they stay?” It is “have we given them a reason to?”

That reason is the stay factor. In plain terms, it is the everyday things that make someone choose your organization again on a Monday morning. Not the perks. Not the pizza. A manager who checks in, pay that feels fair, a workload that is doable, a path forward, and a thank-you that is specific and on time.

Signs your people are stuck, not staying

• Nobody is asking about the next role or what 2027 looks like for them.
• The one-on-one has turned into a status update.
• "Fine" is the answer to everything.
• Your best people are quietly doing the work of two, and nobody has said it out loud.
• The pushback is gone. Silence is not always agreement. Sometimes it's someone who already left in their head.

Why this matters now

Gallup found 42% of employees who quit said their manager or organization could have prevented it. Nearly half said nobody talked with them about their satisfaction, performance, or future in the three months before they left. SHRM’s 2026 State of the Workplace report found 72% of HR professionals and executives say workers now expect more from employers. Expectations went up. The conversations did not keep up. That is fixable, and far cheaper than a replacement hire.

What employees will expect in 2027

None of this requires a new budget line.

• Trust. Say what you know, say what you do not know yet, and follow through. If 2027 brings changes in budget, structure, or technology, tell people before the rumor mill does.

• Growth. It does not have to be a promotion. Gallup’s 2026 U.S. data shows only 32% of employees had a chance to learn and grow at work in the past year. Cross-training, a stretch project, or a certification counts. Ask each person, “What do you want to be better at by this time next year?”
• Fairness. Pay, promotions, schedules, who gets the flexible arrangement. People notice, and they compare. Be able to explain the why before someone asks.
• Recognition. Gallup and Workhuman found only 22% of employees say they get the right amount of recognition, and well-recognized employees are 45% less likely to have left two years later. Specific, timely, and from someone whose opinion they value.
• Workload reality. SHRM’s 2026 research lists pay and burnout as workers’ top two concerns. If the 2027 plan adds work without adding people, name what comes off the list. Erin’s drop list in this issue applies to your team too.
• Flexibility. The formal kind where the job allows it, and the everyday kind, the doctor’s appointment, the school program, a shifted start time without an interrogation. Flexibility is trust in practice.
• Manager support. SHRM’s Global Employee Monitor (May 2026) found nearly 93% of workers who are satisfied with their manager lean toward staying. Managers cannot deliver that without time, training, and permission to have real conversations. Give them all three.

Before your 2027 plan is final, consider asking every person on your team one question: “What would make next year a good year for you here?” Then write down what they say. That list is your retention plan.

If you would like help turning that list into something practical, this is the work I love, stay interviews, engagement surveys, manager coaching, and a recognition rhythm that does not depend on the annual review. Reach out anytime, and let’s make sure the people you are counting on in 2027 are staying on purpose.

-Elizabeth