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CFOZone Experts
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Tag >> turnover
The job picture looks like it is starting to brighten ever so slightly. This could be bad news for companies that drive their employees very hard. Bloomberg reports Wednesday that the number of job openings in the US rose in July by 178,000 to 3.04 million. This follows last week's report that companies added 67,000 jobs in August, above consensus forecasts, following a 107,000 increase in July.
Last year, 13 percent of chief financial officers changed jobs. Although this was down from 18 percent the prior year, Deloitte's CFO Programs predicts CFO turnover will rise again this year. The ramifications of turnover are huge. Tom Bonney, founder and managing director of CMF Associates, which offers temporary CEO, COO and controllership services, estimates that when a CFO leaves, efficiency in the finance department is automatically cut in half and exposure to risk increases. When a new CFO joins the company, the ramp up period is longer than other key executive roles, due to the CFO's broad array of responsibilities.
I have the privilege of assembling our weekly CFO Moves column, so the finding of a new survey that the vast majority of finance chiefs haven't identified their successor doesn't really surprise me. I've seen a lot of press releases stating, "The company is considering both internal and external candidates to fill the position." Still, the percentage of companies with no CFO succession plan is pretty staggering. The aforementioned poll of 1,400 CFOs by Robert Half Management Resources found that 83 percent have not identified a successor for their position.
Two separate surveys released on Wednesday proved one thing: Workers were TERRIFIED of losing their jobs last year. In fact, they were so scared that the rate of employee absences in 2009 was the lowest recorded since 1985, the year legal and business publisher BNA began its quarterly survey of employers. The median absence rate in 2009 averaged 0.7 percent, falling beneath the 2008 low of 0.9 percent of scheduled worker days per month. Absence rates have declined consistently since 2005, when they averaged 1.5 percent of scheduled worker days. The survey of 267 human resource and employee relations executives also showed that absences tended to be lower in smaller than in larger organizations.
Observers of the workplace have been predicting that, as soon as employment picks up, employees are going to run for the exit sign. Now, a new study seems to underscore that forecast. But, the real question is, just how imminent is that impending stampede?
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