Halfway through the 1st month of 2010 and a theme emerging in the blogosphere and social media as it relates to Human Capital Management, is that the mass exodus of talent is imminent. Various studies cite from 50 to 85% of employed workers are unhappy in their current positions and/or their employers. Their reasons vary from the tried and true “overworked/underpaid” to lack of recognition and positive reinforcement.

In fact, at lunch the other day with the Director of Recruiting for a software company, I learned that his team has seen a 40% increase in requisition load directly attributed to voluntary attrition in the last 3 months. When I asked what trends were dominant in the exit interviews, the overwhelming response he received was that the grass was greener elsewhere. Employees were asked to take on entire functions in addition to their original duties to maintain production schedules while merit increases and promotions were frozen, along with a reduction in their benefits. Morale is low. Frustration is high.

Their plight is certainly not unique. Others deal with the same and more. In many cases, employees have been asked to take voluntary unpaid leave, waive commissions, and to sacrifice accrued PTO in addition to pay cuts.

To be fair, some of this is pent-up attrition. Opportunities have been rare until recently and top talent has had more competition per position to contend with. This explains some of the exodus but not jaw-dropping numbers like 85%. So what other variable can produce an impact like this?

I’ll dig back into the “tried and true” bag and pull out this oldie but goodie: People don’t leave jobs; they leave managers and poor leadership. I believe that this is still the predominant reason for a company’s top employees to jump. These are the people who embody and internalize your Mission, Vision and Values and exceed performance expectations (and are thus identified as your top talent). They live your employment brand and project that to your customers and clients. And they have lost their faith, not in the company, but in their leadership.

It stands to reason then, that you can attribute a large portion of the attrition to management or, more precisely, the lack thereof. I will take that one step further, and add Change. As in Change Management. This is where the leadership is failing their charges. If executed properly and reinforced on a regular basis using industry best practices, good change management execution will not only reduce your overall attrition, but also generate additional buy-in and may even recruit some believers.

There are a variety of reasons that contribute to poor leadership and bad change management. The main one is lack of know how and focus on the action, not the impact of change. In other words it occurs out of omission or inexperience on the part of management, not by design. So what can be done about?

1. Reinforce your Mission, Vision and Values on a regular and consistent basis. Now more than ever you need to recruit. Not outside of your organization, but inside of it. Constantly look for ways to remind your top talent why they selected you in the first place

2. Engage your top talent. Include them in both your deliberations and decisions that are being made. Ask them for their candid input. In short, tap them for their ideas about how approach and solve issues. They are both the most expensive and the most valuable asset you have.

3. Get help with Change Management before its too late. You can’t turn a battleship in a bathtub all by yourself. There are many good Workforce Management firms who have a specialty in this area.

Be sure to leave your comments, good, bad or indifferent. I shared my thoughts. Now you share yours!