83 per cent of businesses plan to replace their leader over the next five years
Camberley: 31 May 2012 – A significant 83 per cent of business leaders expect to be replaced within just five years, according to a poll of 503 CEOs commissioned by SkillSoft, a global e-learning company.
With high levels of authority and an even bigger pay cheque, it’s easy to think of the chief executive officer position as a job for life. But it would appear that the role is becoming increasingly fragile. Maintaining the position as CEO is becoming tougher as businesses are constantly seeking fresh talent with innovative and strategic minds to drive the business forward.
The same research indicated that the top spot was even more temporary in the largest of companies. A third of CEOs with more than 1,499 employees, anticipated leaving the business within just two years. Whether larger companies are more demanding of top talent and feel it necessary to review their employees’ progress more regularly, or that employees feel more pressure within a larger business, is yet to be decided.
On the contrary, only 5 per cent of organisations with more than 1,499 employees said they had no plans for replacing their leaders. And nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of companies with between 500 and 749 employees claimed not to have replacement plans.
Kevin Young, managing director of SkillSoft EMEA, commented: “CEOs need to up their game if they want to keep their roles in such a competitive market. Businesses are becoming more ruthless, especially after the recession, so business leaders need to ensure they are cutting edge and can outshine competing candidates. This is exactly why not only valuable experience, but training and development is absolutely crucial for leaders to maintain, update and learn new skills.”
SkillSoft specialises in on-demand training and e-learning solutions for global enterprises, government and education agencies, and small to medium-sized businesses. The company’s services and products can help improve both the long-term training and short-term knowledge transfer needs of companies of all sizes.
For more information on SkillSoft please visit www.skillsoft.com
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Note to editors
*All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from OpinionMatters plc. Total sample size was 503 CEOs / MDs in companies with 250+ employees.
About SkillSoft
SkillSoft EMEA, headquartered in Surrey, is a division of SkillSoft PLC (Nasdaq: SKIL), a leading SaaS provider of on-demand e-learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium-sized businesses. SkillSoft enables business organisations to maximise business performance through a combination of comprehensive e- learning content, online information resources, flexible learning technologies and support services.
Content offerings include business, IT, desktop, compliance and consumer/SMB courseware collections, as well as complementary content assets such as Leadership Development Channel video products, KnowledgeCenter(TM) portals, virtual instructor-led training services and online mentoring services. SkillSoft’s Books24x7(R) product offering includes access to more than 20,000 digitised IT and business books, as well as book summaries and executive reports. Technology offerings include the SkillPort(R) learning management system, Search-and-Learn(R), SkillSoft(R) Dialogue(TM) and virtual classroom.
SkillSoft media contacts:
Denis Davies / Donna Bennett / Charity Winfield / Andrew Lloyd-Williams
Berkeley PR
Tel: +44 0118 090 0909
skillsoft@berkeleypr.co.uk