avoidable turnover, meaning that the organization could have done something to keep the
employee, perhaps by offering more money, more frequent promotions, or a better work
situation. Family factors and health, in contrast, usually reflect unavoidable turnover that
doesn’t necessarily signal a lack of commitment on the part of employees.
Regardless of their reasons, some employees choose to quit after engaging in a very
thorough, careful, and reasoned analysis. Typically some sort of “shock,” whether it be a
critical job change or a negative work experience, jars employees enough that it triggers the
thought of quitting in them. 79 Once the idea of quitting has occurred to them, employees
begin searching for other places to work, compare those alternatives to their current job,
and—if the comparisons seem favorable—quit. 80 This process may take days, weeks, or
even months as employees grapple with the decision. In other cases, though, a shock may
result in an impulsive, knee-jerk decision to quit, with little or no thought given to alternative
jobs (or how those jobs compare to the current one). 81 Of course, sometimes a shock
never occurs. Instead, an employee decides to quit as a result of a slow but steady decrease
in happiness until a “straw breaks the camel’s back” and prompts voluntary turnover.
Figure 3-4 shows 10 different behaviors that employees can perform to psychologically
or physically escape from a negative work environment. A key question remains though:
“How do all those behaviors relate to one another?” Consider the following testimonials
from uncommitted (and admittedly fictional) employees:
“I can’t stand my job, so I do what I can to get by. Sometimes I’m absent, sometimes I
socialize, sometimes I come in late. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it; I just do whatever
seems practical at the time.”
“I can’t handle being around my boss. I hate to miss work, so I do what’s needed to avoid
being absent. I figure if I socialize a bit and spend some time surfing the Web, I don’t need to
ever be absent. But if I couldn’t do those things, I’d definitely have to stay home . . . a lot.”
“I just don’t have any respect for my employer anymore. In the beginning, I’d daydream a
bit during work or socialize with my colleagues. As time went on, I began coming in late
or taking a long lunch. Lately I’ve been staying home altogether, and I’m starting to think
I should just quit my job and go somewhere else.”
Each of these statements sounds like something that an uncommitted employee might
say. However, each statement makes a different prediction about the relationship between
the withdrawal behaviors in Figure 3-4 . The first statement summarizes the independent
forms model of withdrawal, which argues that the various withdrawal behaviors are uncorrelated
with one another, occur for different reasons, and fulfill different needs on the part
of employees. 82 From this perspective, knowing that an employee cyberloafs tells you nothing
about whether that employee is likely to be absent. The second statement summarizes
the compensatory forms model of withdrawal, which argues that the various withdrawal
behaviors negatively correlate with one another—that doing one means you’re less likely
to do another. 83 The idea is that any form of withdrawal can compensate for, or neutralize,
a sense of dissatisfaction, which makes the other forms unnecessary. From this perspective,
knowing that an employee cyberloafs tells you that the same employee probably isn’t going
to be absent. The third statement summarizes the progression model of withdrawal, which
argues that the various withdrawal behaviors are positively correlated: The tendency to daydream
or socialize leads to the tendency to come in late or take long breaks, which leads to
the tendency to be absent or quit. 84 From this perspective, knowing that an employee cyberloafs
tells you that the same employee is probably going to be absent in the near future.
Which of the three models seems most logical to you? Although all three make some
sense, the progression model has received the most scientific support. 85 Studies tend to show
that the withdrawal behaviors in Figure 3-4 are positively correlated with one another. 86