1 in 2 Managers will Leave in the Next 12 Months

A recent study by TalentLMS and Dr. Ashley Prisant from Harvard University found that 1 in 2 managers will leave their company in the next year.

We all know that our top employees are an invaluable asset to a business and losing them can have a big impact on it’s running and success. With a 50% chance of this top talent leaving in the next year, understanding why they might want to go, how to take care of them, and keep them from leaving, is vital.

“We conducted this research because we wanted to examine how companies can keep their top performers in the long run, and prevent them from leaving. We also wanted to look into whether new managers are getting managerial training, which should prepare them for the new, challenging role. Turns out, employers aren’t delivering, as 1 in 4 managers never received any management training at all.” – Ana Casic, Media Relations at TalentLMS

The study found that alongside 1 in 2 managers thinking of leaving their current company in the next 12 months:

7 in 10 feel undervalued and underpaid
43% feel isolated at work
61% only stay because they work well with the people on their teams

They also found that the more experienced the manager, the more likely they are to leave. When asking ‘Are you thinking of leaving your current company in the next year?’, 52% of ‘Experienced’ managers said yes, in contrast to only 37% of ‘New’ managers.

Why are they leaving?

So, we need to understand why these valuable members of our staff would want to leave in the first place. Alongside being underpaid, the top factors that drove away managers were:

Unhealthy work environments
Insufficient training and career development opportunities
Not being part of decision making processes

Why would they want to stay?

They study asked these managers why they would want to stay at their current company, besides better compensation. The top reasons they gave were:

The teams they manage & people they work with (61%)
The power to make decisions (49%)
A good work-life balance (44%)
Being acknowledged for their contributions (37%)
Training opportunities (36%)
Getting on well with their manager (29%)
The senior leadership team (22%)
A fast-growing company (16%)

What can you do about it?

Fortunately for us, many of these factors can be improved on in your own business now that you know about them.

We’ve put together some of the main things you can focus on to ensure you are retaining this top talent:

Make sure your managers have a go-to-person they can rely on, such as their manager, or another senior member of staff. This will help them to feel taken care of at work, and will give them someone to talk any issues or ideas through with.
Foster a healthy working environment with a fair work-life balance
Ensure your managers are being included in the relevant decision making process so they feel listened to and appreciated
Provide training and development opportunities with the business, such as project management courses