Section
Talent & Retention
Why managers and high potentials leave, what it costs, and which interventions have evidence behind them.
The number
of managers were engaged at work in 2025, down from 31 percent in 2022
Gallup · Read the piece- Talent & Retention
What losing an employee costs depends on the role
The half-to-two-times-salary figure is published without a derivation. The two meta-analyses of turnover and firm performance disagree by a factor of five.
- Talent & Retention
Is anyone staying anywhere any more?
Median US job tenure is 3.9 years, the lowest since 2002. The age breakdown shows most of the decline is composition rather than a collapse in loyalty.
- Talent & Retention
Leadership training works best for junior leaders
Development has its strongest measured effect on behaviour at the junior end, and that is the level where budgets are thinnest and the role has changed most.
- Talent & Retention
The first year is where retention is won
Pooling 117 studies, the correlation between tenure and quitting is minus 0.27. People who leave go early, which is the one thing onboarding can act on.
- Talent & Retention
Managers are disengaging faster than the people they manage
Gallup put manager engagement at 22 percent in 2025, down five points in a year and nine since 2022. Overall engagement moved one point over the same year.
- Talent & Retention
How managers shape who stays
Managers account for much of the difference in engagement between business units. The popular slogan stretches that into a claim about resignations.
