You know the feeling. An email lands in your inbox with the subject line: "My two-week notice." It is not from the employee struggling to meet their KPIs or the one who has been openly discussing retirement. It is from your team lead, your top engineer, or your most reliable project manager.
This could be the person you were counting on for next year’s strategy. This could be a culture driver, a high performer, and now, they are leaving. This is what regrettable attrition looks like.
For HR leaders, the goal isn't to stop all turnover. The goal is to identify and prevent the loss of the people you most want to keep and whose departures seem preventable.
To do this, organizations must move beyond simply analyzing exit interviews and start recognizing the warning signs while people are still there. By understanding the link between mental health, employee burnout, and engagement, HR leaders can build a system that detects these signals early enough to intervene.
What is regrettable attrition?
Not all turnover is created equal. Regrettable attrition (or regretted attrition) refers to the avoidable loss of high performers, individuals in critical roles, or employees with institutional knowledge that is difficult to replace. These are the exits that hurt the business.
This stands in stark contrast to healthy or expected turnover. Healthy turnover might include the departure of an employee who was a poor fit for the role, creating space for someone who can perform at a higher level. It also encompasses planned life transitions, such as retirements or relocations that the organization anticipated.
While the financial cost of replacing an employee is often cited—ranging from one-half to two times an annual salary—the operational impact is often more damaging. Regrettable attrition can:
- Break continuity
- Stall projects
- Sever client relationships
- Damage team morale
- Force remaining team members to absorb extra work, which increases their own risk of burnout
Protecting your organization against this slide is not just about headcount. It is about stabilizing the foundation of your business performance.
Moving beyond lagging indicators
For decades, the exit interview has been the primary tool for understanding attrition. HR teams diligently code the reasons for departure—compensation, career growth, management—and report them to leadership.
The problem is that exit data is a lagging indicator. By the time you capture it, the talent has already left. You are analyzing the past rather than influencing the present.
A strategic HR function builds a "leading indicator system." This means looking for signals across the employee lifecycle that suggest an employee is disengaging or struggling. These signals appear in onboarding friction, performance review nuances, and benefit utilization patterns long before a resignation letter is drafted.
4 hidden pathways to regrettable exits
Employees rarely quit on a whim. The path to a regrettable exit is usually a slow, silent slide. Here are four common pathways that lead to regrettable attrition and how a mental health strategy can intercept them:
Burnout to disengagement to job search
Burnout is not just about being tired. It is a state of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It creates a sense of cynicism and distance from one's job.
- The pathway. It begins with unmanageable workloads or a lack of recovery time. The employee tries to power through but eventually hits a wall. Motivation drops. Productivity slows. Finally, the employee disconnects psychologically. Once disengagement sets in, the exit is the next logical step.
- How to reduce the risk. An innovative mental health solution, such as an enhanced EAP, can intercept this. Not every stressed employee needs clinical therapy. Some need coaching to manage time better. Others need self-guided exercises to decompress. By providing fast access to the right level of care, you help employees build resilience before they reach the breaking point.
- Actionable ideas. Review teams with consistently high hours and redistribute tasks. Encourage leaders to model taking PTO and disconnecting after hours. Use AI to reduce or replace tactical and repeatable tasks so you have more time to focus on employee experience.
Manager friction and the performance spiral
The relationship between an employee and their direct manager is one of the biggest drivers of engagement, but can also influence attrition. Consider that managers have an impact on an employee’s mental health as much as spouses do, according to one study.
- The pathway. This often starts with unclear expectations or a lack of feedback. An employee feels unsure of their standing. The manager, perhaps burned out themselves, avoids difficult conversations. A surprise negative performance review damages trust. The employee feels slighted and starts looking for a culture where they feel valued.
- How to reduce the risk. Manager enablement is critical. Managers need to know how to recognize distress and how to respond with empathy rather than judgment. When a manager can say, "I notice you seem stressed, and I want to support you," instead of "Your output is down," they build loyalty.
- Actionable ideas. When a manager notices a team member struggling, observe any changes, ask non-judgmental questions, and remind them of the mental health resources available to them.
Unplanned mental health leaves as "retention smoke"
Unplanned leaves of absence (LOA) are often a final distress flare. When high performers suddenly need time off for mental health reasons, it indicates the environment has become unsustainable for them.
- The pathway. HR may see this pattern: An employee struggles, perhaps goes on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), and shortly after files for short-term disability or FMLA for mental health. To the organization, this looks like a compliance process. To the employee, it is a crisis.
- How to reduce the risk. Treat unplanned leaves as "retention smoke" - a sign of fire somewhere in the organization. A mental health solution with a Care Navigator can help an employee on leave get the treatment they need faster, leading to a smoother, more successful return to work. Even better, early access to care can prevent the leave entirely.
- Actionable ideas. Look for hotspots in specific departments or under specific managers. Ensure employees know they can access mental health support confidentially, without manager approval.
Financial strain and life instability
Employees bring their whole lives to work. Financial stress is a massive driver of anxiety and can force employees to seek roles with even marginally higher pay, even if they like their current job.
- The pathway. Inflation, debt, or family caregiving costs create chronic low-level panic. This cognitive load makes it hard to focus at work. The employee feels unstable and seeks a "safety raft" - often a new job with a signing bonus or a salary bump.
- How to reduce the risk. While you cannot always solve an employee's personal financial crisis, you can offer stabilization. Access to financial coaching, work-life services (like child care or elder care support), and mental health support helps lower the temperature. When an employee feels the company cares about their human needs, retention rises.
- Actionable ideas: Remind employees of financial wellness benefits and EAP resources. Ensure managers understand that performance dips might be related to life factors, not ability.
A simple measurement approach
You do not need to measure everything to make an impact. The goal is to select a few key HR metrics that tell the story of your workforce's health.
Leading indicators (the early warning system)
Operational strain indicators (the stress test)
Retention and continuity outcomes
From explanation to prevention
Burnout is one of the biggest drivers of regrettable attrition, and it doesn’t happen overnight. It builds up over time, fueled by unnoticed signals like rising stress, declining engagement, or unaddressed workload concerns.
Take a close look at your mental health support. Is it something employees actively trust and use, or just a passive resource collecting dust? By offering accessible, proactive, and timely care, you can address burnout before it drives your people to leave - and keep your team thriving.
FAQ
What is the difference between regrettable attrition and non-regrettable attrition?
Regrettable attrition is the loss of high-performing employees, those in critical roles, or those with vital institutional knowledge that the company wanted to retain. Non-regrettable attrition includes the departure of low performers, those who were a poor cultural fit, or planned exits like retirement.
Why are exit interviews considered lagging indicators?
Exit interviews occur after the employee has already decided to leave. The data collected explains the past but comes too late to prevent the departure. Leading indicators, such as engagement scores or absenteeism, offer data that allows for intervention before an employee quits.
How does burnout impact employee turnover?
Burnout is a major driver of turnover. Research indicates that employees experiencing burnout are significantly more likely to actively search for new jobs. Burnout leads to disengagement, reduced productivity, and eventually, the decision to leave the organization to recover.
What is the role of managers in preventing regrettable attrition?
Managers are the first line of defense. They impact employee engagement more than any other factor. By conducting regular check-ins, providing clear feedback, and recognizing signs of distress, managers can connect employees to support and resolve issues before they lead to resignation.
How can mental health benefits improve retention?
Comprehensive mental health benefits signal that the company values the employee as a person. More importantly, fast access to care (coaching, therapy) helps employees manage stress and burnout effectively, preventing the "silent slide" toward disengagement and exit.
What are some examples of leading indicators for attrition?
Common leading indicators include a sudden drop in productivity, a change in attitude or withdrawal from team activities, a lack of vacation usage (or sudden sporadic absences), and low scores on pulse surveys regarding stress or workload.
