In the UK only 37% of employees reported high levels of intent to stay with the business they work for, according to research conducted by the CEB. 

This compares to 50% of employees in Belgium and The Netherlands, 47% in Germany and 45.9% in the US. It was also revealed that bad managers are now threatening to break into the traditional top three reasons why employees leave. 

These are: dissatisfaction with compensation; future career opportunities; and work–life balance. Interestingly, around a third of employees (33%) would switch jobs today if they knew they were going to get another manager. 

Brian Kropp, executive director of CEB, said: “Keeping hold of the best people is a challenge for companies worldwide as growth returns and confidence recovers. The adage that people ‘join companies and quit managers’ remains true but for very different reasons today. 

“As every manager supervises more people and spends less time with each individual employee, every minute of that time takes on greater importance. A single bad interaction that would have been insignificant in the context of a long-term healthy managerial relationship day in day out becomes a real threat when it is one of the very few things your manager has ever said to you.”

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