From Discontent to Development: Crafting Sustainable Careers Through Voluntary Turnover Among Academic Professionals in Higher Education

Career shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are disruptive events that prompt individuals to reconsider their careers. While sheltering at home, many employees reflected on their work lives and questioned their status quo, prompting an increase in voluntary turnover. The sustainable career framework, which balances one’s goals and work aspirations with their home environment while integrating adults’ changing needs, provides a useful lens for studying these shifts. This study, situated in higher education, explores the factors driving academic professionals’ career development and their alignment with the sustainable career framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten self-identified current or former US-based academic professionals who voluntarily left their positions between 2020 and 2022. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes shaping career choices: work-life integration, work environment and culture, well-being, employee discontent and organizational misalignment. These findings highlight the interplay between the micro-level dimensions of health, happiness, and productivity and the macro-level factors of person, context, and time, illustrating the multi-layered nature of career development.