Top People Are Prime Targets for Other Companies

More than one in two employers are convinced that other companies are actively seeking to hire away their top people, according to survey of over 1,400 CEOs and human resource professionals from more than 700 companies across the globe.

The study explored the role played by senior management in a broad range of leadership development areas including management succession and the nurturing of the next generation of corporate leaders. According to the study’s findings, 56% of organizations report that other employers seek to recruit their best people. Only 4% strongly disagree.

Other companies actively try to recruit our leaders.

Strongly disagree 4%
Disagree 11%
Agree 43%
Strongly agree 13%
No opinion 29%

As aggressive competition becomes increasingly adept at replicating products, services, operating models and marketing strategies and worldwide demand for certain skills sets rises, senior and operational leaders are realizing that talent is the last remaining source of competitive advantage. So, it is no surprise that there’s a global war being waged for talent. No organization today is immune from the stresses of effective retention or competitive recruitment. CEOs and HR staffs are right to feel enormously vulnerable and many are stressed seeking ways to hold onto their rising leadership.

Even though most organizations report that other companies have targeted their top performers, survey respondents are not necessarily positive about their own leadership pipeline. Nearly half the respondents (47%) expressed doubts about the strength of their middle-level pipeline, and only 27% said their company has a sufficient number of qualified internal candidates that are ready to assume senior manager/executive positions.

At the same time, those organizations that have strong leadership programs are more likely to feel as though they have qualified candidates at both levels. Programs that were rated highly generally had a combination of key elements: assessment and feedback, coaching and mentoring, formal classroom training as well as action learning.