People Leave Companies Not Managers
You’ve heard it before, "People leave managers not their companies.” It’s a simple adage that consultants love to use. It is also a load of bull. It may have been true at one point, it may be true at some point in the future, but it doesn't ring true now.
Modern Survey has been conducting panel surveys of the United States workforce for five years to learn how engaged workers are and what drives that engagement. Using data from the last three measurements (Summer 2010, Winter 2011 and Summer 2011), Modern Survey set out to find the items most strongly related to an employee's intent to stay with their organization.
The findings from these past three measurements unveiled “belief in senior leadership” and “belief in the future of the organization” to be the most strongly related to desire to stay. Manager effectiveness doesn't even come close. In fact, the relationship between belief in the future of the organization and intent to stay is nearly twice as strong as the effectiveness of employees' direct managers and intent to stay. We also know that people who indicate they intend to leave on the surveys we conduct are two and a half times more likely to voluntarily quit than those who do not.
Worker Disengagement – A Growing
Threat to Economic Recovery?
What may have been true in the boom years of 2005 and 2006 has to be scrutinized today. There is no doubt that employee needs and expectations around job security continue to evolve. A recession that left the United States with 10% unemployment and tens of thousands of people under-skilled or under-trained to compete for jobs in 2012 has scarred many people. Those scars have manifested into insecurities that have changed the psychological state of the workforce. Additionally, companies with stockpiles of cash in their coffers, but with CEOs unwilling to spend it on hiring new employees or investing in current ones are not inspiring employee confidence.
People want to know where their organization is going, they want to feel comfortable about that future, and they want to hear about it from their senior leadership. The days of employee retention being the sole responsibility of the direct manager are over. CEOs need to step up to the dais, tell us where we are going, and confidently lead us there.
Tags: CEO, Employee Engagement, Management, Senior Leadership, U.S. Workforce
Posted by Don MacPherson on December 27, 2011
Hey Don,
Surely this finding – and assertion – runs counter to long-held beliefs about the priority of the supervisor-direct report relationship. I suggest it also counters previous survey assessments where regression analysis and other tests of overall employee survey results also pointed to the prominence of this relationship. My mentor Warner Burke would surely be challenged on this finding. Could lead to some interesting and provocative publication, perhaps.
P.S Glad you enjoyed the aquarium.
Jeff,
You are right. It does run counter to what was previously true about the importance of the direct leader being responsible for motivating, engaging, and retaining employees. The above findings are married to the three years of economic uncertainty we have experienced in the United States.
The leader will once again trump the organization in terms of retaining employees. It may take several years before that happens and a much higher degree of consumer, employee, and executive confidence will be needed first.
Thanks for your comment.
Don
Don, your survey asks why employees stay with a company, not why they are thinking of leaving or have already left. I don’t think the data justifies your conclusion that people no longer leave because of bad bosses. You never asked!
These results make good sense to me. Middle managers and front line supervisors are disillusioned with companies too and they are the ones who have most of the employees reporting to them. The front line and mid-level leaders feel powerless to address the job security, future direction and financial reward issues of their people. There is only so much coaching and feedback and encouragement they can do if there is little opportunity for advancement in pay, title or responsibilities for their people.