Why So Many Managers Are Leaving Right Now...
Why so many managers are leaving right now (and it's not just about salary)
For a long time, whenever someone left a management role, the assumption was usually the same: "They've gone for more money."
And yes, salary still matters, of course it does, but across Construction, Facilities Management and Industrial sectors right now, we're seeing something different happen.
Managers aren't just leaving because they've been offered another £5,000 elsewhere. They're leaving because they're exhausted, stretched too thin and increasingly questioning whether the role they're doing today is one they actually want to keep doing long term. They're spinning ten plates at once whilst somehow being expected to keep standards high, teams motivated, clients happy, compliance perfect and operations moving at full speed.
And after years of relentless pressure, many are starting to ask themselves a very simple question: "Is this actually sustainable anymore?"
The role itself has changed
One of the biggest factors often overlooked in this conversation is that the role of a manager today bears little resemblance to the role many people started their careers doing.
Historically, management was largely about productivity, efficiency and output. Managers were there to organise teams, allocate work, solve operational problems and make sure targets were achieved. Whilst those responsibilities haven't disappeared, they've been joined by an entirely new set of expectations.
Today's managers are expected to understand employment legislation, navigate increasingly complex compliance requirements, support mental health and wellbeing, retain talent, coach future leaders, manage change, embrace new technologies and create cultures where people can thrive.
The modern manager is often part operational leader, part mentor, part coach, part counsellor and part problem-solver. The expectation has grown enormously and the support available to deliver it hasn't always kept pace.
Some managers have adapted brilliantly. They've embraced the people side of leadership and developed the communication, coaching and emotional intelligence skills that modern management increasingly demands, others have found the transition much harder - and that's not a criticism, the role itself has simply changed faster than many organisations, and indeed many managers, have been able to adapt to.
The pressure has quietly been building
In a lot of businesses, managers have become the shock absorbers for everything. When somebody goes off sick - they absorb the pressure. When budgets get tighter - they absorb the pressure. When compliance requirements increase - they absorb the pressure. And when a client is unhappy, a project falls behind, a contract becomes challenging or staffing levels become stretched - that's right, they absorb the pressure.
Particularly across Construction, FM and Industrial sectors, where operations don't simply stop when things become difficult, managers often become the people holding everything together. They're covering vacancies, managing shortages, handling complaints, dealing with customers, supporting their teams and trying to hit performance targets at the same time. Many are arriving earlier, leaving later and spending more time firefighting than actually managing.
Eventually, even the best people reach a point where something has to give. Not because they're incapable, not because they don't care, but because there's only so much pressure one person can absorb before they begin to question whether it's worth it.
It's not always about burnout
One of the biggest misconceptions in recruitment is that people only move jobs when they're unhappy - that's rarely the full story. Many of the managers we speak to are successful, respected and genuinely good at what they do - some are exceptional! They're not necessarily running away from something, they're simply taking a step back and reassessing what they want their working lives to look like.
A few years ago, salary and job title may have been enough to secure somebody. Today, managers are looking much deeper than that. They're asking questions about leadership, culture, support, flexibility and sustainability.
They want to understand what happens when workloads become unrealistic. They want to know whether flexibility genuinely exists or whether it's simply mentioned during interviews. They want to know if they're trusted to do their jobs, whether support is available when things get tough and whether they'll be expected to be permanently available. And even in sectors where remote working isn't realistic, flexibility still matters.
For many operational leaders, flexibility isn't about working from home. It's about realistic rotas, sensible travel expectations, proper holiday cover, trust, autonomy and occasionally being able to switch off without feeling guilty. People still want to work hard, but what they're increasingly unwilling to do is sacrifice every aspect of their personal lives in order to do it.
What managers are really looking for
Despite what some headlines might suggest, most managers aren't looking for less responsibility, they're simply looking for realistic responsibility. They want to be able to lead effectively without constantly feeling as though they're running uphill. They want leadership teams that communicate clearly and workloads that are achievable. They want support when problems arise rather than criticism after the fact and they want progression opportunities that genuinely exist and cultures where people are valued rather than simply utilised.
Most importantly, they want to feel that the effort they're putting in is sustainable, because whilst ambitious people will always work hard, even ambitious people have limits.
The hidden cost of losing good managers
When experienced managers leave, the impact is usually far greater than businesses realise. Of course there's a recruitment cost, but that's often the smallest part of the problem.
What businesses really lose is knowledge, stability, trust and relationships. They lose the person who knows which client needs extra attention, the person who spots problems before they become crises, the person who keeps teams motivated during difficult periods and the person everyone naturally turns to when something goes wrong.
Those things don't sit neatly on a handover document, they walk out of the door with the individual. And when managers leave repeatedly, another issue starts to emerge - reputational damage.
Construction, FM and Industrial sectors are far smaller than many people think. Managers talk, candidates talk, recruiters talk.
When businesses develop a reputation for unrealistic expectations, poor support or high turnover, word spreads surprisingly quickly. We've seen situations where candidates have withdrawn from opportunities after speaking to people already working within a business. We've seen businesses struggle to attract quality managers despite offering competitive salaries. And we've even made the decision not to work with certain employers because we simply didn't believe the environment would allow candidates to succeed.
That might sound harsh, but our reputation matters too. If we know a business has a consistent pattern of losing good people, failing to support managers or creating an unhealthy culture, placing candidates into that environment isn't a long-term solution for anyone.
The irony is that many businesses focus heavily on the cost of supporting managers, whilst giving far less thought to the cost of losing them - yet the cost of replacing a manager, rebuilding team stability, repairing client relationships or recovering from reputational damage can be significantly higher than the investment required to retain good people in the first place.
The best candidates are becoming more selective
Another noticeable shift is that managers are now interviewing employers just as much as employers are interviewing them. They're asking why the previous person left, they're asking about retention, they're want to know what support exists and what the culture is really like when things become difficult - and they're looking closely at whether the answers feel genuine.
If they don't, many simply walk away, not because they're difficult and not because they're demanding, but because they have options.
So what can businesses do?
Most people aren't looking for perfection. They understand that every business faces challenges and every role comes with pressure. But what they do expect is honesty, support and realistic expectations.
The organisations attracting and retaining the strongest management talent right now tend to be the ones that understand the realities of modern leadership. They invest in people, they communicate properly, they trust managers to manage and they recognise performance, provide support and avoid creating cultures where constant firefighting is viewed as normal.
Most importantly, they understand that burnout isn't a badge of honour. Because whilst salary will always get somebody's attention, it's culture, support and sustainability that ultimately determines whether they stay.
At Thorn Baker, we know that across Construction, Facilities Management and Industrial sectors, the pressure on managers has probably never been higher. And at the same time, the role itself has never been more demanding.
The reality is that good managers rarely leave on impulse, usually, it's the result of months, sometimes years, of pressure quietly building in the background. And in today's market, once talented people decide they're ready to move, they rarely stay available for long.
Our specialist teams speak to managers across all three sectors every day, giving us a genuine insight into what people are looking for from employers right now and, perhaps more importantly, why many are choosing to leave. If you'd like support attracting or retaining strong leadership talent across Construction, Industrial or Facilities Management, we'd be happy to have a no commitment conversation.