As employees continue to search for new opportunities, they’re leaving big holes for employers to fill, especially as some of their more veteran workers head for the exits.
Almost half of resignations are at the manager and director level, according to new research from HR platform HiBob and freelance talent platform Fiverr. Fifty-six percent of respondents said that in the last six months, the people leaving their companies are between ages 36 and 45, while 37% said that people leaving are between ages 26 and 35.
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“Employees are leaving for better pay, better flexibility, better opportunities and better culture,” says Ronni Zehavi, CEO of HiBob. “Leaders have more to win because the market is really seeking management talent. There’s a higher chance for them to find exactly what they want compared to other employees because they've got the experience.”
Zehavi recently connected with Employee Benefit News to discuss manager exits, how it impacts companies and what employers need to do to keep their veteran workers in the company.
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What is driving senior employees out the door?
It starts with flexibility. If an organization tells their people to work five days a week from an office, as it was two years ago, they will struggle to retain and to attract new talent. It's all about hybrid. In our company we have taken this to the next level — we allow people to work from anywhere for two months, as long as you can be productive.
Managers are people too; they really care about flexibility as much as entry level employees. For managers with children, the impact of the pandemic is even more significant because they really have higher challenges than other employees. At the beginning of our research, we assumed flexibility would only be an issue for younger employees, but we’ve seen in our reporting that people in their mid-thirties have left or are planning to leave over this.
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What kind of effect can a manager leaving have on an organization?
There’s the cost of attrition: you need to find a replacement, and you need to train the new hire. There’s a direct impact on productivity, and there’s also damage to morale when senior people leave the company. It's a huge headache for organizations, and companies not heavily invested in understanding how to retain their people will find themselves really losing the opportunity to grow their business.
Other than offering flexibility, what can employers do to keep their senior employees within the organization?
More than before, it's important to provide the opportunity to grow and to make investments in your people. Make sure employees are developing their skills and learning more about what they are doing and developing their careers. This topic needs to be at the top of the list for the C-suite.
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If this is not being discussed at minimum once a week, and is only touched on once a year, then your chances of retaining talent, to grow your business and to support the business growth, will be very challenging.
