Stress in the C-Suite
The pandemic turned the C-suite into a pressure-cooker environment. Tasked with crisis response in 2020, leaders have since faced a plenitude of difficult decisions and held more responsibility than ever, including for employee well-being.
In their current roles, 96% of executives feel responsible for employee well-being, and 83% expect to become even more responsible in the next year or two.7
And their own well-being? For many, it was put on hold. Nearly nine in 10 executives say they need to work on it, even if it comes at the expense of career progression.7 In fact, C-suite executives are so overwhelmed that almost 70% of them are considering resigning from their current jobs.7 This is foreboding news for organizations.
Meanwhile, the employment market is competitive, and executive search is booming. By Q4 of 2020, executive search firms saw revenues return to pre-pandemic levels.8 In 2021, they had their most profitable year in the past three decades with revenue growth at 42% year over year.8 In other words, leaders who are experiencing high levels of stress have both the motive and the opportunity to change jobs.
Almost
of C-suite executives have considered resigning from their current jobs
For talent professionals, this poses numerous unique and pressing challenges:
- How can we help leaders improve their well-being?
- How do we ensure healthy executive team dynamics?
- How will we retain leaders who may be considering a job change?
- How should we replace leaders who have already left?
- Is it even possible to effectively facilitate an executive team lift-out or combine teams as part of the M&A process while managing these other issues?
- How might we protect employees and the business from the effects of high levels of stress among leaders?