Career progression is very important to workers, and a lack of advancement opportunity is the number one reason why people quit their jobs. If your best and brightest are leaving, you might consider changing the way you do things.

A survey by CareerAddict.com found that career progression is more important than pay, with a very high number of respondents (82.39%) saying that a lack of progression would influence their decision to leave a job. Nearly 1,000 people participated in the survey, which looked into reasons for employee turnover in an attempt to help companies improve retention.

Not enough progression is the top reason why people quit their jobs

Survey respondents were asked to rank factors that would affect their decision to quit a job. Lack of opportunities for advancement was the number one factor.

The majority of participants (nearly 67%) were either Millennials or Gen Z, which, combined, accounts for more than half the workforce. But the opportunity for career progression was a priority for the majority, regardless of age.

Only 18% of participants saying they regret leaving their previous job.

But let’s not forget about money

Career progression isn’t the only motivating factor, of course. Good old money will also provide incentive to stay in a job or seek out a new one. Low pay and not getting a raise were the second and third most important factors in the survey. Among those who had already quit a job, 35% said they would consider returning if they were offered a higher position or better salary.

In another article posted on CNBC, unrelated to the CareerAddict survey, Paul McDonald, senior executive director at Robert Half, was quoted as saying that there are a number of factors leading individuals to seek new employment opportunities and number one among these is “compensation.”

And Brian Kropp, vice president at research firm Gartner, told CNBC, “The best way for an employee to get ahead is to actually quit their job and go to another company for compensation reasons.”

He also said, “Companies are willing to pay about 15% more for new employees, but they’re only willing to give their current employees about a 2% or 3% annual raise. So, to get ahead financially, what a lot of employees have realized is that in today’s tight labor market, the best thing to do is to go to another company to get more money rather than trying to get more money by staying at your current company.”

Many companies are probably losing their best and brightest due to these short sighted and ill conceived policies.

If you want to keep your employees from quitting, consider promoting them and giving them raises.