Corporate Performance at Risk as Today’s Rising Talent Prepares to Jump Ship

The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) (NASDAQ: EXBD), a leading research and advisory services company, today announced that the business world’s rising stars are increasingly disengaged and actively seeking new employment opportunities. The findings are the result of a recent employee engagement study revealing that 25 percent of employer-identified, high-potential employees plan to leave their current companies within the year, as compared to only 10 percent in 2006. The study, conducted by CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council, also revealed that 21 percent of employees today identify themselves as “highly disengaged.” This group has increased nearly three-fold since 2007. Based on its findings, CEB believes that businesses must place greater emphasis and urgency around leadership succession planning to ensure future success and preserve the bottom line.

“Organizations are at a real risk of losing their most talented employees as disengagement levels increase, the economy recovers, and the labor market warms up,” said Conrad Schmidt, executive director and chief research officer of CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council. “It is paramount that companies act now, not only to re-engage and retain high potential employees, but to re-evaluate and shore up their succession plans and preserve leadership development within their organizations.”

CEB’s ongoing employee engagement research, which included a recent survey of 20,000 high-potential employees in more than 100 organizations worldwide, also reveals that nearly 40 percent of internal job moves made by people identified as high-potential employees end in failure. These compelling findings suggest an urgent need for companies to retool their talent management programs to ensure the successful development and retention of high-potential employees during the economic recovery.

CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council identified six tips companies can use to identify, re-engage, and more effectively manage high potential employees:

• Stimulate. Emerging leaders need stimulating work, recognition, and the chance to grow. If not, they can quickly become disengaged.
• Test. Explicitly test candidates for ability, engagement, and aspiration to make sure they’re able to handle the tougher roles as their careers progress.
• Manage. Having line managers oversee high-potential employees only limits their access to opportunities and encourages hoarding of talent. Instead, manage these high-potential employees at the corporate level.
• Challenge. High-potential employees need to be in positions where new capabilities can - or must - be acquired.
• Recognize. High-potential employees will be more engaged if they are recognized through pay, so offer them differentiated compensation and recognition.
• Engage. Incorporate high-potential employees into strategic planning. Share future strategies with them and emphasize their role in making them come to fruition.

The high-potential employee survey was part of a larger CEB survey that surveyed 50,000 employees on how they viewed their employers, how they were managed, and how they reacted to changes in the economy. High-potential employees were identified among a list of invited organizational participants by their respective employers.

For more information about CEB’s high-potential employee research, visit www.executiveboard.com/humancapital.

About The Corporate Executive Board

The Corporate Executive Board Company drives faster, more effective decision-making among the world's leading executives and business professionals. As the premier, network-based knowledge resource, it provides them with the authoritative and timely guidance needed to excel in their roles, take decisive action and improve company performance. Powered by a member network that spans over 50 countries and represents more than 85% of Fortune 500, The Corporate Executive Board offers the unique research insights along with an integrated suite of members-only tools and resources that enable the world's most successful organizations to deliver superior business outcomes. For more information, visit www.exbd.com.