During this “Mass Resignation,” when employees are leaving their jobs in record numbers, who is taking over when it’s the manager who leaves? Is that “next person up” prepared and trained to supervise? Every sports team has that depth chart, which shows who will be in that position in the event of an injury or another reason that the starter can’t play. Shouldn’t all organizations have that? When I was new to running a chain of stores, a (brilliant) boss told me that one of my responsibilities was to anticipate each manager quitting that day and to have a plan should that happen. Who’s been trained? Who will relocate? Who’s currently a turnover risk?
According to a survey done by Randstad, the employment services firm, 52% of employees said that their companies did not have enough qualified managers, and almost that many believed that their organizations would be facing a shortage of qualified managers soon. And what would make those employees consider becoming managers? Cited were opportunities to be empowered, to influence and to mentor others; in other words, a basic management development program.