Has The Adage “Employees Leave Their Managers And Not Their Employers” Ever Held True?

It is a commonly held belief that line managers represent the main reason for employees leaving or wanting to leave their employer. This assumption, supported by the findings of several research studies, is underpinned by the idea that the person with whom employees mostly build, develop and maintain relationships within an organization is their direct manager, who is indeed in a position to strongly influence employee engagement and eagerness to go the extra mile and exercise discretionary effort.

This concept was firstly, aptly summarized by Buckingham and Coffman (2005) in the aphorism “Employees leave their managers and not their employers” and later reinforced by MacLeod and Clarke (2009), who suggested that “people join organisations, but they leave managers.”

Mismanagement, bias, lack of consideration and respect, the inability to inspire and empower individuals, effectively communicate them the business vision and provide clear direction are just some of the ingredients of the recipe for management failure. Inasmuch as the idea behind the dictum “Employees leave their managers and not their employers” is clear and worth being backed up, management is not the fruit of inheritance, nor is it bestowed for acts of great athleticism. Managers are appointed by their employers, who should offer management positions only to the individuals who have showed to really have the characteristics and exhibited the behaviour required to effectually fill this crucially significant role. Employers should hence take full responsibility for their management actions and behaviour. Depicting employers as the victims of their managers as if these have nothing to do with their identification and nomination, and therefore with what they do, would definitely represent a massive blunder.

More often than not, organizations appoint as managers individuals who possess superior technical skills and a considerable level of expertise in their field. Despite it is widely acknowledged that it cannot be established a causal relationship between technical expertise and management capability, to wit: an outstanding professional does not necessarily also is a good manager, employers seem to continue ignoring this circumstance. It can be thus argued that a knowing doing gap persists.

At the outset, individuals are lured by an employer brand, corporate culture, reputation and value proposition, but whether not supported by consistent appropriate management, the fascinating effects produced by these corporate features are soon drastically destined to vanish into thin air, overshadowed by the employee experience. Under such circumstances individuals would believe that the employer walks the walk, but doesn’t talk the talk.

When proposing the appointment of new managers, executives are clearly acting in good faith, but they might have not gained a thorough view and understanding of their nominees’ traits, capabilities and behaviour, especially under different circumstances and in a different environment. Most likely, they just appreciate these individuals for their technical knowledge and expertise, do not taking heed of the disastrous consequences the wrong appointment of a manager produces. All too often, employers, that is to say HR professionals, are then forced to hastily put in place a series of initiatives so as to put newly appointed managers in a position to carry out their new role. HR support in these cases is paramount, but its involvement in the process should invariably precede not follow the appointment of a new manager

The introduction of practices clearly establishing and outlining the path employees must follow to be appointed as managers and how this route interrelates and combines with the organization’s succession plan would clearly help to dramatically minimize at worst and avert at best the risk of appointing the wrong individual for the role of manager. At times, it may rather be a problem of appointing the right person at the wrong moment, that is to say the individual who has the potential to fill a management position, but who is not ready for that yet.

To keep pace with the incessant process of change nowadays affecting every organization, the need for talented individuals to take more responsibility may arise anytime and, worse still, suddenly. Whether individuals having the right traits and potential are not ready to take additional responsibility, the negative consequences will certainly make an impact on their direct reports, but also on themselves. Appoint managers and then try to put them in a position to properly and effectively play their role is not clearly a methodology likely to pay off. It is essentially a matter of timely planning; rather than a reactive a proactive approach should be hence definitely favoured.

The positive effects yielded by appropriately developed succession planning are indeed twofold – firstly, it enables employers to detect and classify the key and strategic roles existing in the organization, and secondly, it urges employers to timely identify potential successors. The identification of people who are deemed fit to fill strategic and management roles should be followed by a period of preparation, hopefully experiential learning, enabling these, the moment arrived, to be ready to take over management responsibility.

It clearly emerges that succession planning of its own does not suffice, it should be indeed conducted in combination with talent management and employee development practices. The identification of the potential successors in fact will not secure businesses the talent these require whether, once identified, individuals are not assessed, trained, prepared and tested on the roles these will be called to perform in the immediate, not-too-distant or distant future. The development path prepared for each individual will clearly be different according to the role each employee is due to fill, but organizations should never overlook the need for individuals to be prepared and able to carry out different roles and not necessarily a specific, identified role. The ever-quickening pace change occurs may indeed require sudden, unforeseen changes of programme. Talented individuals should hence be invariably ready to perform well and yield positive results under any circumstances including, of course, first time circumstances.

HR is growingly focusing on the idea of employee experience, but it is glaringly obvious that any employer efforts and bids to provide its staff an excellent employee experience is doomed to miserably fail whether not supported by the organization management. The underpinning component and funding pillar of employee experience practices in a business should be hence definitely represented by the quality of its management, which can clearly make or break individual engagement, motivation and sense of belonging.

Findings of a recent research study conducted by ADP UK, The Workforce View in Europe 2018 (ADP, 2018), reveal that bad management also produces disastrous effects upon employee productivity. In particular, the study found that only 23% of respondents believe that their work environment enables them to be productive “all the time”, 46% claimed this happens “most of the time”, 22% “some of the time” and 10% “rarely” or “never”; bad management (19%) was indeed cited as the main reason for employees failing to reach maximum productivity (followed by inefficient systems and processes – 18% and slow and inefficient technology – 15%).

Bad management can indeed be regarded not only as a direct, but also as an indirect cause for employees wanting to leave their organization. ADP’s study also suggested that 30% of employees feel so stressed in their workplace insofar as considering to seek a new job. Despite stress levels at work may be influenced by many variables, it cannot be denied that many of these variables, like workload, job design, task delegation, etc., actually depend on managers.

Individuals having problems with their managers will leave the organization by reason of their manager’s incapability to manage and lead, but it can be hardly contended that under such circumstances the employer could not be blamed.

HR can and should play a significant role in helping employers identify suitable individuals for leadership positions. As contended by Furnham (2018), in their talent acquisition process, employers should take heed not only of the traits, skills, competencies and behaviour regarded as necessary to fill a given role – selecting, but also of the undesirable traits and features, that is, of those qualities which candidates should not have or not have beyond a certain degree – screening or selecting-out. During the talent acquisition process, HR should thus also investigate and look for evidence of the traits and types of behaviour considered unacceptable by the employer and regard these as select-out factors.

The insights offered by Furnham (2018) into the talent acquisition process are indeed valuable and also relevant to the process used to identify future leaders within an organization. The prime objective is averting that talented individuals, who may have the competencies and ability to lead others, will not at some point “derail.” There are many components of a manager personality which may account for his/her derailment, but some factors can prove to be more significant than others. The most accurate predictors of an individual attitude to effectually fill a management role and avert failure are the individual:

• Disposition to develop and maintain good, long-term relationships with different types of people;
• Self-awareness;
• Ability to adapt and learn (Furnham, 2018).

Identifying the right individual for the right position and prepare this to effectually perform in the new role, represents a daunting task for any employer. Making choices carefully and plan in advance enable organizations to offer potential future leaders the opportunity to gain the capability and experience necessary to attain the desired standard before being appointed, enabling in turn the identified individuals to feel confident and self-assured in their new role. The adoption of this approach will benefit the organization in terms of employer brand, employee engagement and motivation, and ultimately productivity.

The adage “employees leave their managers and not their employers” might also prove to still hold true, but this has to be regarded as the tip of the iceberg and not as the root cause of the problem, whose responsibility to address invariably rests with employers.

Longo, R., (2017), Has The Adage “Employees Leave Their Managers And Not Their Employers” Ever Held True?; Milan: HR Professionals, [online].

Jumping For The Jellybeans - Frederick Herzberg

Frederick Herzberg explain the two-factor theory and job enrichment movement objectives in his own words (BBC documentary, 1973).

From Recruitment to Succession Planning: A Constructive Approach to Human Capital Development

The primary concern of recruiters is that of attracting and selecting the right person for the appropriate position, that is to say seeking, finding and hiring the so-called perfect match or best fit for each role. To successfully attain their objectives recruiters need, first and foremost, to pinpoint what the real organizational need is and hence meet the employer, or rather, as it usually occurs in practice, the hiring manager expectations.

 

 

 

Recruiters and hiring managers habitually formulate job posts on the basis of the unit current needs and of the requirements necessary to properly perform the vacant role, but in some others instances these aim at recruiting individuals who, in addition to properly fill the current vacancy, have the qualities and the potential to perform more demanding and complex activities in the future.

 

 

Individuals on the other hand do no longer aim at finding just a job, but rather at being hired by organizations which can offer them a meaningful role, a pleasant workplace, flexible working arrangements, a competitive salary, valuable benefits and opportunities for growth. More often than not, recruiters’ task, especially whether not supported by a strong employer branding, may hence prove to be particularly daunting to perform. Employers, albeit with some difficulties, can virtually fulfil all of these expectations, but can hardly ensure to all of their employees what they care for the most, to wit: genuine, practical and valuable career prospects.

 

 

 

In many instances, after the initial excitement generated by the new position vanishes into thin air and individuals realize that their current employer cannot offer them any further opportunities for growth, people make the drastic decision to leave their employer. “I’m looking for a new challenge” is a phrase recruiters are very acquainted with. In some cases it hides a different true, but in the vast majority of the circumstances people do leave their employer in that they genuinely aim at working in a different, more varied and challenging environment.

 

 

 

Offering genuine opportunities for growth to all of its employees clearly represents a virtually impossible task for any employer; yet, all too often individuals overestimate their abilities and potential so that these easily establish unrealistic expectations, which employers can hardly fulfil. This clearly represents a conundrum for many employers, but the adoption of a forward-looking and in many respects creative approach to human capital management can indeed help employers to meet the increasingly challenging expectations of both talented and less talented individuals.

 

 

 

Inasmuch as employers need talented individuals, that is to say people who possess, typically but not necessarily inborn, remarkable capabilities, which enable these to effectually perform complex tasks and take high degrees of responsibility; employers need less talented but capable and reliable individuals who perform less complex activities not entailing any particularly considerable degree of responsibility, but which are equally important for the organization to attain its performance objectives. It clearly emerges that employers need the genuine contribution of all their employees; investing and retaining them, albeit at two different levels, is thus crucially important.

 

 

 

In order for employers to attain this particularly significant and ambitious objective, these should adopt a constructive approach to human capital development aiming at meeting, albeit in a different fashion, the expectations of all of their employees.

 

Table 1

 

The final objective of this model is that to invariably ensure employers to properly fill the key positions necessary to help them to identify the appropriate organizational direction, whereas being able to bank on the right individuals for pursuing it. The underpinning assumption is that for an employer to attain competitive edge over its competitors this needs to obtain the genuine contribution of all of its employees and ensure and secure to all of them a compelling, interesting and varied job.

 

 

 

In some instances, the abilities and skills of an individual might not immediately emerge so that taking care of all of the employees may enable organizations to identify talents anytime. Conversely, individuals who seem to have some innate abilities may later prove not to have the skills and qualities to fill roles entailing higher level of responsibility. Employers must hence be extremely prudent and careful when preparing their employees’ career path. An employee of the shop floor would perform much better whether his/her employer should suddenly propose this a different role or career prospects, whereas it is highly likely that an individual already classified as a talent would completely lose his/her interest in the organizational success whether an employer should not keep the career undertaking previously given.

 

 

 

Career planning

Once an employer has identified, or has recruited, the individuals who possess the organization’s most sough-after qualities, the first activity the relevant HR specialists should perform, in order to mould and nurture these qualities, is that to discuss and plan with these individuals their plan of development. Since organizations are nowadays subject to an incessant process of change, career planning should be left rather “open.” The plan agreed by employers with the identified individuals must clearly meet their expectations but should not be preferably necessarily aimed at covering a specific, pre-identified role or position. The adoption of such an approach enables employers to develop individuals who, rather than being prepared to only fill a specific role, have gained the skills, abilities and experience to fill a set or range of different roles.

 

Career planning should invariably meet individuals’ aspirations, be compatible with their traits and potentials, but should also definitely ensure employers to duly fill the roles, not exclusively concerned with leadership and executive positions, these consider as most strategic and demanding to be properly filled.

 

 

 

This activity might clearly also be seen as a pre-stage of succession planning; it can in fact constantly offer employers fresh insights into the individual potential.

 

 

 

Vertical and horizontal internal mobility

Internal mobility enables employers to attain some particularly significant objectives, to wit: enable individuals to gain and broaden their experience, develop their skills and enhance their capability.

 

 

 

Since vertical mobility entails an increased level of responsibility and individuals undertaking more complex activities, which according to the local legislation may require a grade and pay increase, employers should be careful in the adoption of this unquestionably valuable approach. Repeated short-term assignments, during which individuals are coached and supervised by senior managers, should in general protect employers against legal action.

 

 

 

Internal mobility must be planned to pursue a specific and functional objective, that is, enable individuals to expand their experience and gain the skills necessary for these to perform the activities and fill the roles required and identified by the employer. For leadership and executive positions, for instance, having experience of how the different units and functions of the organizations are managed and operated may prove to be extremely beneficial. What matters the most is that every phase and stage of each individual career path serves the identified scope so that each individual can establish a clear line-of-sight between his/her activities and the final objective of his/her career path.

 

 

 

International Mobility

The old stereotype of people resisting traveling and moving abroad, with some rare exceptions, can be nowadays considered completely overcome. People are now very keen and eager to move abroad and experience new lifestyles and different cultures. International mobility would be hence absolutely welcomed by employees and in many respects it is also very likely that individuals decide to join a specific organization hoping that his may offer them such type of opportunity.

 

In terms of personal and professional development, international mobility unquestionably represents a priceless asset for individuals and for employers, too. The introduction of international mobility practises can in fact contribute to effectually enhance the employer branding, that is, its capability to attract talents from the exogenous environment and heighten the effectiveness of its retention programmes. The findings of a recent study conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) and L’Oréal UK and Ireland (Uppala and Jayasuriya, 2015) revealed that global career not only positively influences retention practices, but also individual productivity.

 

 

 

The benefits of global career are indeed far-reaching also for employers. Many organizations are undergoing global restructuring plans; yet, the loss of some customers or the occurrence of other possible contingencies at large can account for employers do no longer requiring particular types of talent in some of their branches. The early introduction of international mobility programmes, by giving employers the opportunity to pinpoint how people would practically behave and feel in a different country and under different circumstances, can enable these to eventually make rapid, efficient and informed decisions.

 

 

 

The objective of international mobility programmes is basically the same as that of internal mobility, to wit: enable individuals to gain and broaden their experience under new and utterly different circumstances. The country, branch, organization, department or unit will be clearly identified according to the employer needs, but these must invariably serve the pre-identified purpose.

 

 

 

Succession planning

Career planning, internal mobility and international mobility can all be considered as pieces of the same jigsaw. To fit their position on the final picture, nonetheless, each piece must contribute a specific, but necessary, functional and valuable ability, skill and experience so that the overall picture can fully meet the initial, or deliberately later altered, employer and employee expectations.

 

 

 

Succession planning is habitually concerned with the identification of individuals who have the potential to fill executive-directors, executive non-directors and senior management positions, but employers should also accurately map their organization’s roles and identify those which whether not timely and properly filled may make a negative impact on organizational performance. The next stage is that to develop the most appropriate plan of action to prepare individuals to effectively fill the roles considered as strategic by employers.

 

Taking heed of the positions these individuals will be called to fill, a particular importance has to be given to soft-skills. It is in fact highly unlikely that the individuals identified may not be technically competent and prepared. Yet, by means of the plan of action identified and executed by employers, technical competencies will be constantly and in many respects naturally nurtured. These are indeed easier to gain, whereas soft-skills, increasingly considered of paramount importance by employers and at the same time increasingly hard to find, require much more efforts and are thus more difficult to gain, albeit being fundamental for the individuals destined to fill leadership positions. As maintained by Younger et al (2007), the main objective is to elicit individual “growth from within.”

 

 

 

Whether succession planning is concerned with technical roles which do not imply any people management activity, its focus might be mostly narrowed to concentrate on the development of technical expertise. Nonetheless, it is hardly imaginable that these individuals might work in isolation so that their soft-skills should be in any case properly developed and nurtured.

 

 

 

Different employers clearly have different needs, but at this moment in time it can be contended that leadership qualities, change management abilities and project management expertise, just to name a few examples, should invariably be at the centre of these programmes. It is up to employers to identify the ideal ability-mix according to the different roles, their content and the organization present and expected future requirements.

 

 

 

Talent management

The overall process should be clearly underpinned by sound and effective talent management practices. Implementing talent relationship management, aiming at creating a great place to work, and talent engagement programmes is definitely crucially important (Armstrong, 2009). The efforts required to build and strengthen the existing relationships are well-worth and preferable to rebuild these relationships from scratch whether and when individuals should leave the organization (Sears, 2003).

 

 

 

Career planning, performance management and learning and development are all essential part of the process, but organizations should also avert overlooking to adequately reward and recognize people. Employers should hence constantly monitor the relevant labour market rates and trends in order to offer their talents competitive pay rates and valuable flexible and voluntary benefits programmes.

 

Talent management does not represent a daunting feat only for employees, but for employers too, it in fact requires “high quality management and leadership from the top and from senior managers and the HR function” (Armstrong, 2009).

 

 

 

As discussed earlier, employers also need to bank on skilled and engaged individuals to ensure the regular unfolding of their business operations and secure the constant attainment of the required level of organizational performance.

 

 

 

Recruitment and selection is clearly important also in this case; not only have individuals to fit the organization’s culture, but these also need to possess the technical skills or the potential required by the employer and exhibit and maintain the desired standard of behaviour.

 

 

 

Horizontal internal mobility

As a general rule, whether individuals have not showed to have the capabilities and abilities required to fill leadership roles, employers should preferably offer these employees lateral mobility opportunities. Management decisions should invariably be impartial and completely free from every form of bias; yet, whether individuals should manifest with the passing of time to have developed the abilities required by the employer, these should be enabled to have access to the career programmes implemented within the organization.

 

 

 

Horizontal mobility enables employees to broad their experience and expand their abilities, without any need to fil more complex roles or positions carrying higher degrees of responsibility. Nonetheless, these opportunities habitually account for individuals to derive intrinsic benefits from their job and being hence more engaged and motivated. Employers on the other hand by means of these programmes can further promote their employer branding and, more importantly, multi-tasking and the flexible organization model.

 

 

Lateral movements need to be promoted and hence perceived by individuals as a form of recognition; as such, these opportunities should be offered only to those individuals who have showed genuine commitment and effectively contributed to organizational success.

 

 

 

Whether an organization, by reason of its size, is unable to offer such opportunities to its employees, this may try to negotiate a specific agreement with its suppliers, contractors and business partners, eventually offering to reciprocate the “favour.” A breath of fresh air now and then would prove to be beneficial also for the employees to whom these opportunities cannot be offered.

 

 

 

International assignments

Visiting foreigner countries on assignment represents a great experience for employees; it is highly likely that they will discuss their experience with each of their friends and post photos and comments on social media. Employees will thus inadvertently become employer’s advocates, effectively contributing to the employer branding. Individuals do prefer gaining knowledge of organizations’ culture and workplaces from employees, rather than from employers.

 

 

 

Organizations should clearly make all the necessary arrangements to ensure that during their assignment employees feel comfortable and at ease, the effects produced by their experience may otherwise prove to be particularly detrimental for the employers’ reputation.

 

 

 

The main scope of international assignments is not clearly that to offer employees a paid holiday abroad so that their experience should in any case serve the employer purpose, to wit: contribute to develop and expand individual capabilities and enhance the employer’s retention practices.

 

 

 

Participation in orientation and internal training programmes

Managers and HR daily perform countless activities, insofar as finding at times it difficult to cope with all of them. How many of these activities may be actually performed with the help of employees? Involving these, for instance, in the development and implementation of the orientation programmes offered to new recruits and in the provision of technical training can prove to be a win-win move for employers and employees.

 

 

 

HR and managers need to be creative in this sense; the workplace offers indeed several opportunities to involve individuals in a number of corporate activities to which every individual can give a valuable contribution.

 

 

 

Whereas the plan aiming at developing particularly talented individuals should be underpinned and at the same time contribute to enhance an organization talent management practices, the activities offered to the rest of the employee population should considerably help organizations to enhance their employer branding and retention practices. To gain competitive edge, employers need first and foremost a skilled and inimitable human capital so that the resources invested in these forms of programmes would definitely prove to produce a sorely appreciable return; resources invested in further strengthening the effectiveness of the most significant organizational resource.

 

 

 

To properly and consistently plan for the future and ensure employers to duly have the abilities required to develop and execute their strategy, HR and hiring managers should ideally invariably take heed of all of these aspects when planning to recruit new individuals and develop these.

 

 

Longo, R., (2015), From Recruitment to Succession Planning: A Constructive Approach to Human Capital Development; Milan: HR Professionals, [online].