Why do employees leave? What motivates good employees to stay?

John Hausknecht, assistant professor in human resource studies at the ILR School, and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at Harrah's Entertainment tried to find out by surveying 2,500 hospitality hourly, salaried and managerial employees after they left their jobs.

Among their findings, which have implications for human resources professionals:

The findings, said Hausknecht, "offer new ideas about retaining the people who bring the most to your organization."

Employers can begin developing a strategy to retain high performers, Hausknecht said, by:

The 2007 report, "Why High and Low Performers Leave and What They Find Elsewhere: Job Performance Effects on Employment Transitions," can be read at http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrswp/466/.