HR leaders are worried about keeping their top talent as workers spiral into disconnect and burnout—Here’s how to make them stay

Nearly all business leaders say that attracting talent is their number one priority in 2024, but a majority are also concerned about losing the great workers that they already have.  

Around 81% of business executives say they’re concerned about losing top performers who are unengaged, according to a 2024 survey from Guild, a career opportunity company. 

There are two reasons why high-achieving employees are feeling that way, according to Bijal Shah, interim CEO of Guild. As companies cut costs, overworked and underserved employees can start to feel disconnected from the company’s mission or fail to see possibilities for their own internal career growth. Without a connection to their workplace or any hope of upward mobility, top performers are more likely to leave their positions. 

Bosses are also consolidating work among fewer employees, which may be contributing to their sense of disconnect. “It’s creating an environment where we’re taking our top performers, and actually putting more responsibility on them,” says Shah. While that could be a good thing for an employee’s growth in the long term, she says, “in the near term, it can cause burnout.”

Business leaders often look to HR for guidance and help solving employee dissatisfaction. The survey notes that 93% of business leaders are eager for HR to bring innovative solutions to the table, often expecting CHROs to shoulder a wide range of people-related challenges. But Shah says tasking HR alone to fix this disconnect—without addressing the work structures set by employers—isn’t enough to keep workers satisfied.

“You need a really strong partnership between the business leader and the talent leader,” she says. Keeping good workers starts with having good leaders—and both CEOs and HR need to come together in formulating a plan. 

For companies to retain their best employees, Shah recommends a two-pronged approach: HR should provide learning opportunities for workers, while business leaders should look to understand and interact with people on a human level. Designing internal mobility paths for workers ensures they get the training they need to grow, and shows that the company is invested in their futures. And bosses should prioritize branching out and engaging with their employees face to face.

“Leaders have forgotten that small touch, and that ability to connect one-to-one or in a group setting with those frontline workers,” Shah says. She adds it’s critical that business leaders acknowledge the importance of their employees in driving company strategy—alongside HR’s duty to train workers in forward-projecting skills. 

“Helping people see that you’re not only invested in them for that next job, but you’re invested in them for the long haul of their career, I think is a very awesome signal to employees.”

Emma Burleigh
emma.burleigh@fortune.com

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