“Employees/People don’t leave their job/company/organization, they leave their boss” is a popular saying to explain why people leave their jobs. A bad boss is a more important factor to an employee than the job or the organization.
 
The saying has been cited in print at least 2002. The book First, Break All the Rules (1999), by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, probably originated or popularized the saying in the form “people leave managers, not companies.”
 
   
Google Books
First, Break All the Rules:
What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
By Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1999
Pg. 33:
What does this tell us? It tells us that people leave managers, not companies.
 
3 May 1999, Washington (DC) Times, “Accessible manager integral to a successful company”:
“People leave managers, not companies.”
 
24 June 2002, Westchester County Business Journal (NY), “Improving workplace communication”:
There is an overused, yet true saying that people do not leave their jobs, they leave their bosses.
 
Jacksonville Business Journal (FL)
The Leading Edge
Get employees to stay by knowing why they leave
Jacksonville Business Journal by Harold S. Resnick, Columnist
Date: Monday, June 7, 2004, 12:00am EDT - Last Modified: Thursday, June 3, 2004, 10:45am EDT
(...)
Most employees don’t leave their companies; they leave their bosses. And the reason usually has to do with employees feeling that they are not treated with basic respect. They do not believe their bosses listen to them or ask for their input. They do not think they are given the freedom to do their jobs—they feel “micro-managed.” These are the primary reasons why people flee a work environment, and when turnover remains consistently high in a department, you often have a problem supervisor.
 
Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (2004)
The Management Moment
The Coach in You
Janet Porter and Edward Baker
Pg. 473:
As the saying goes, employees don’t leave their job, they leave their boss.
 
Google Books
Organizational Stress
By Jane Cranwell-Ward and Alyssa Abbey
New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan
2005
Pg. 55:
MANAGEMENT STYLE
“People don’t leave a company, they leave their boss.” This is a well-known truism.
 
Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (2006)
The Management Moment
Column Editor: Edward L. Baker
The Behavioral Event Interview: Avoiding Interviewing Pitfalls When Hiring
Claudia S. P. Fernandez
Pg. 592:
As Janet Porter has written in this column previously, “employees don’t leave their job, they leave their boss.”
     
The Lindenberger Group
What Corporate America Can Learn From Physicians: It’s All In How You Treat People
By M. Penny Levin, Ph.D. and Judith Lindenberger, MBA
Published in OD/Leadership News, ASTD, May 2006
(...)
Poor corporate bedside manner also affects employee retention. It is said that people don’t leave their jobs; they leave their bosses. According to a 2002 Watson Wyatt study, “Strategic Rewards Charting the Course Forward: Maximizing the Value of Reward Programs,” two of the five main reasons top performers leave a company are dissatisfaction with management and conflicts with supervisors.
 
Fropki.com
6 good reasons for a Job Switch
by Piyusha » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:54 am
(...)
‘I hate my boss’
The popular cliche, “People don’t leave their organisations; they leave their boss”, holds true. You are just a part of a large community who feels the same way.
 
New York (NY) Times
Two of five bosses don’t keep their word, survey says - Business - International Herald Tribune
Published: Tuesday, January 2, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Nearly two of five bosses in U.S. workplaces do not keep their word and more than a fourth bad-mouth those they supervise to co- workers, a university study shows.
 
The situation creates problems for companies as well, leading to poor morale, lower production and higher turnover, according to the report by Florida State University.
 
“They say that employees don’t leave their job or company, they leave their boss,” said Wayne Hochwarter, an associate professor of management in the College of Business at Florida State University, who joined with two doctoral students at the school to survey more than 700 people working in a variety of jobs about how their bosses treat them.
 
Google Books
Managing Politics and Conflict in Projects
By Brian Irwin
Vienna, VA: Management Concepts
2008
Pg. 137:
It’s been said that employees don’t leave their organization — they leave their boss.
 
Google Books
Management Rules:
50 new rules for managers
By Jo Owen
Chichester: Capstone
2011
Pg. 223:
Most people do not leave their firm; they leave their boss. This is a mistake. The corporate carousel keeps on turning and no boss is for ever: you or the boss is likely to move within 18 months.
 
Canadian HR Reporter
May 8, 2012
What employees really want to hear
Lack of communication cited as top management mistake
By Claudine Kapel
There’s an old adage that employees don’t leave a company – they leave their boss.
 
Of course, there are many factors that influence whether employees choose to stay with an organization or seek opportunities elsewhere.
 
But how relationships unfold day-to-day, particularly between managers and their direct reports, can dramatically impact how employees view their organization – as well as influence their intent to stay.
 
The Economic Times (India Times)
9 May, 2012, 06.48PM IST,
Team work skills essential to succeed at work: Survey
(...)
As the saying goes, “people leave managers not companies”, the TimesJobs.com study also reflects the similar viewpoint. The nature and quality of an employee’s relationships with colleagues and superiors is crucial to one’s success at job.