A total of 340,000 people moved jobs this year and many of them changed employer because they could not get on with fellow workers, according to new research from the Small Firms Association (SFA).

In a separate report, recruitment firm Alternatives said good candidates for senior marketing positions have turned down job offers because of the location of companies.

The SFA said the voluntary turnover rate - the number of full-time voluntary "separations", excluding retirement, divided by full-time employees - was 17 per cent this year.

Citing findings from 1,000 exit interviews on why workers left their jobs, SFA director Patricia Callan said "people leave people, not jobs" in many instances.

"Over 290,000 people voted with their feet last year because of a failure to get on with fellow employees and the style of management," Ms Callan said.

The results of the exit interviews suggests that 102,000 changed jobs because they were "unhappy with people", and 85,000 left because they felt their contribution was not recognised.

A further 68,000 left due to lack of advancement, 47,600 left because of their salary, 17,000 were bored in their work and 20,400 left for other reasons.

"Companies which respond to employee retention solely by increasing wages are only buying time not loyalty. Companies which compete for scarce talent only on a cash basis are vulnerable to the next offer that the employee receives," said Ms Callan.

A specialist recruiter of marketing practitioners, Alternatives predicts strong demand for such professionals next year in the telecoms, financial services and fast-moving consumer goods sectors.

Indicating that well-qualified job candidates are increasingly unwilling to undertake long commutes to work, the company said that the location of jobs was an initial screening factor in role choices for the first time this year.

It said there was continued but controlled salary inflation in the marketing profession in 2007. The market was essentially candidate-driven.