Losing a great employee is a clear detriment to the operational efficiency of any cybersecurity organization. The detrimental effects are innumerable - morale drops, employees deal with balancing extra workloads, and the list could go on.
What's more, the whole recruitment and onboarding process is tedious and costly, which is only exacerbated by the growing skills gap in cyber security. In the case of cyber security, teams of CISO are made up of hard-to-find talents who are being contacted almost daily about new career opportunities.
However, it would be wrong to focus on how to navigate a retention plan before clearly understanding why good employees leave. Untangling the main reasons why employees find other opportunities is the first step in ensuring that your organization is prepared to keep top performers satisfied and successful. Below are some of the most common reasons for employee turnover within an organization.
Employee Turnover - Causes
Talent acquisition and retention is the most cited 'driver' for diversity initiatives in IT and cybersecurity, identified by 32% of respondents. This suggests that companies are looking to increase the recruitment pool for these positions in light of the skills shortage in cyber security. Another finding underscores this dynamic: 26% of respondents report that more than a fifth of their company's total current job vacancies are for IT and/or cybersecurity-related positions.
- Boredom. The number of disengaged and mentally unstimulated employees is surprisingly on the rise. 53% of employees across the workforce do the bare minimum in their jobs - which could seriously damage your organization if these employees are in charge of cyber security efforts.
- Bad management. Often, when employees resign, some kind of administrative inefficiency may be at play. Employees who feel ignored, undervalued and as if they don't have an open line of communication with their managers are more likely to seek employment elsewhere. What's more, managers who ignore their employees can diminish company culture and team morale.
- No opportunity for growth. Top performers will leave when they feel that their personal career goals and advancements have not been achieved or, worse, are impossible to achieve in a particular company. It's wise to understand that not all individual contributors will want to move into management, so a variety of career paths should be discussed and made available.
There are a number of mistakes that can be made that cause fantastic employees to leave, but taking an empathetic and introspective view of what can be done in the company and with employees is the first step to ensuring that your best talent is happy for the long term. Take a look at our CISO Hiring Guide for Onboarding, Engaging and Retaining High-Value Security Professionals to learn more about retaining top cybersecurity talent.
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