Monday, June 21, 2010

One-Quarter of High-Potential Employees Plan to Leave Within the Year

One-Quarter of High-Potential Employees Plan to Leave Within the Year


WorldatWork Newsline

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One-Quarter of High-Potential Employees Plan to Leave Within the Year

June 8, 2010 — The business world’s rising stars are increasingly disengaged and actively seeking new employment opportunities, according to a recent employee engagement study.

The study, from the Corporate Executive Board, found that 25% of employer-identified, high-potential employees plan to leave their current companies within the year, as compared to only 10% in 2006. The study, conducted by CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council, also revealed that 21% of employees today identify themselves as highly disengaged. This group has increased nearly three-fold since 2007. Based on its findings, CEB believes that businesses must place greater emphasis and urgency around leadership succession planning to ensure future success and preserve the bottom line.

“Organizations are at a real risk of losing their most talented employees as disengagement levels increase, the economy recovers and the labor market warms up,” said Conrad Schmidt, executive director and chief research officer of CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council. “It is paramount that companies act now, not only to re-engage and retain high potential employees, but to re-evaluate and shore up their succession plans and preserve leadership development within their organizations.”

CEB’s ongoing employee engagement research, which included a recent survey of 20,000 high-potential employees in more than 100 organizations worldwide, also found that nearly 40% of internal job moves made by people identified as high-potential employees end in failure. These compelling findings suggest an urgent need for companies to retool their talent management programs to ensure the successful development and retention of high-potential employees during the economic recovery.

CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council identified six tips companies can use to identify, re-engage and more effectively manage high potential employees:

  1. Stimulate. Emerging leaders need stimulating work, recognition and the chance to grow. If not, they can quickly become disengaged.
  2. Test. Explicitly test candidates for ability, engagement and aspiration to make sure they’re able to handle the tougher roles as their careers progress.
  3. Manage. Having line managers oversee high-potential employees only limits their access to opportunities and encourages hoarding of talent. Instead, manage these high-potential employees at the corporate level.
  4. Challenge. High-potential employees need to be in positions where new capabilities can — or must — be acquired.
  5. Recognize. High-potential employees will be more engaged if they are recognized through pay, so offer them differentiated compensation and recognition.
  6. Engage. Incorporate high-potential employees into strategic planning. Share future strategies with them and emphasize their role in making them come to fruition.

About the Survey
The high-potential employee survey was part of a larger CEB survey that surveyed 50,000 employees on how they viewed their employers, how they were managed and how they reacted to changes in the economy. High-potential employees were identified among a list of invited organizational participants by their respective employers.

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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.

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