Salary doesn't save you anymore: why do employees leave even with a high income
Russian employers are increasingly facing a paradox: employees leave even with competitive salaries and an attractive social package. Universal corporate values and a single set of benefits are no longer working. It turned out that the expectations of employees vary greatly depending on the profession, length of service and region. Izvestia found out what really keeps people at work and why the salary race no longer solves the problem of staff turnover.
Salary is no longer everything: what keeps employees away
Analysts at the Sidorin Lab research center analyzed public employee reviews of employers for the summer of 2025. The sample included all federal districts of Russia and key professional areas, from IT and sales to manufacturing and healthcare. The conclusion turned out to be unequivocal: a single set of corporate values and a standard social package no longer guarantee loyalty.
The study showed that the key factors of retention are the team and the quality of management. Employees are more likely to demonstrate commitment to the company if they work in a strong team and with a clear management system.
At the same time, the material factor is gradually ceasing to be the only determining factor, especially in the Central Federal District and the megacities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Here, wages are perceived as a basic condition — they must match the market, but by themselves they no longer provide loyalty.
However, income remains the main source of discontent. The negative mentions most often include issues of transparency of bonus accrual, indexing and predictability of payments.
"Employees need an honest and understandable system of grading, bonuses and payroll. When a person understands: If I completed the plan, I got a bonus, it creates a sense of stability and reduces tension. And the lack of transparency of bonuses or delayed payments is perceived much more painfully than even a high workload," comments Sofia Lukarzhevskaya, a leading analyst at Sidorin Lab.
Every profession has its own triggers.
The analysis showed that the "pain points" vary markedly depending on the profession. The shortage of staff remains a key problem in the medical field. When the workload is distributed to a smaller number of specialists, it is the size of the team that becomes the main criterion for evaluating an employer. According to the study, the topic of staff shortages is heard in medical reviews 1.66 times more often than the market average.
In production, the focus is shifting to living conditions. Workers and technicians pay attention to the organization of lunch breaks, the condition of the changing rooms and the availability of equipped recreation areas. Ignoring these factors can lead to increased turnover even with competitive salaries.
In sales and retail, the bonus mechanism remains crucial. Any failures or an opaque interest calculation scheme are quickly reflected in the negative assessments of the employer.
In IT and analytics, priorities are different: the content of tasks and the quality of processes are more important to specialists than the work schedule. They are ready to work intensively on interesting projects with clear rules. Chaotic priorities, constant edits, and a lack of structure are becoming frustrating. In the absence of a clear career path, the risk of an employee leaving increases after one or two years.
Loyalty with experience: how expectations change
The study also recorded a change in attitude towards the employer depending on the length of service. In the first year, employees most often critically evaluate onboarding, the process of immersion and adaptation into the company's work, and the organization of work processes.
The period from one to two years becomes the peak of positive assessments. However, in the absence of clear development prospects, the level of loyalty is gradually decreasing. After 3-5 years, such employees fall into the zone of increased risk of leaving. With 5-10 years on the horizon, influencing decisions, professional recognition, and participation in significant projects are coming to the fore.
Moscow and the regions: different economic realities
The geography of expectations turned out to be no less important than professional affiliation. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, the focus is on non-material factors: work-life balance, bureaucracy, quality of processes, and career growth. The employment format — office, remote work or hybrid - is discussed here much more often. The salary level is perceived as a necessary base, but not as the main motivator.
In the Volga, Siberian, and Southern Federal Districts, the topic of income is much more acute. The predictability of payments and the amount of wages remain key criteria for evaluating an employer.
In the Northwestern and Ural districts, a significant role is played by a social package — VMI, telemedicine, and psychological support programs. In the Far Eastern, Southern and North Caucasian districts, the format of work is discussed less frequently than in the capital.
The Burnout Card: who talks about stress more often
A separate block of research is devoted to emotional stress. HR specialists and call center staff often mention the need for psychological support. In the first case, this is due to constant work in conditions of conflict and high emotional involvement, in the second — to the monotony and intensive pace of processing requests.
Unification goes away, customization comes
Alexandra Naumova, Director of HR Recruitment at Ventra HR Holding, notes that unified motivation methods have worked inefficiently before.
"Today, employers are moving away from the practice of uniform social packages and evaluating local motivational factors depending on the specifics of the position and region. Instead of one sentence for everyone, they create a set of conditions that takes into account geography and position," the expert explains.
According to her, the wage race has practically stopped, with the exception of certain areas. Employee training and development come to the fore. Investing in the growth of employee competencies is becoming a strategy for increasing efficiency and retention.
Companies that understand the differences between regions and professional groups gain an advantage in the competition for talent. And those who continue to rely on the idea of a "single corporate family" run the risk of constant staff turnover.
The Sidorin Lab study confirms that universal HR solutions are working worse and worse. Differences between professions, length of service, and regions create divergent expectations. In conditions of a shortage of personnel, a company's competitiveness depends on fine—tuning motivational tools to a specific audience, whether it's interesting projects for IT specialists, comfortable living conditions for workers, or a transparent remuneration system for sales staff. The labor market is becoming a mosaic where you can keep a person not with loud slogans, but with an accurate understanding of their real needs.
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