hh.kz survey: salary isn't the top reason employees stay in Kazakhstan

According to hh.kz research, rising pay remains significant but is far from the only reason employees in Kazakhstan change jobs. In practice, people increasingly choose an employer based on team atmosphere, the relationship with their manager, career growth opportunities, corporate culture, and work-life balance — these intangible factors often turn out to be the deciding ones when someone leaves.

The practical takeaway for business owners: raising salaries isn't the only, or even the fastest, way to cut turnover. Part of the dissatisfaction comes from routine overload — when an employee is buried in repetitive tasks instead of meaningful work, both atmosphere and the sense of growth suffer. In our work with Kazakhstani companies, we at 1Cifer see that taking routine tasks off people's plates — reminders, chasing task statuses, preparing summaries for the manager — through AI agents frees up time for exactly what employees say matters most: substantive work and interaction with managers, rather than endless paperwork. It's worth reviewing which processes in the company could be lightened first, so retention stops depending solely on the payroll budget.