In many discussions with senior leadership teams, when employee turnover becomes a topic of concern, the most common reflex is to review salaries, revisit policies, or adjust benefits. However, when we analyze cases in which employees leave after six months to one or two years, one factor consistently emerges as the most decisive: the direct manager.

In practice, most employees do not leave the organization first. They leave their direct manager. This is precisely why middle managers play a decisive role in employee retention.

Middle Managers Are the Employee’s Daily Point of Contact

Senior leadership defines strategy, vision, and culture, but the person employees interact with every day is their middle manager. How tasks are assigned, feedback is given, recognition is expressed, mistakes are handled, and decisions are made by direct managers ultimately defines the employee’s actual work experience.

Even the strongest HR strategy can be completely undermined if middle managers:

• Assign tasks without clarity
• Frequently change directions
• Provide subjective or unfair feedback
• Show little concern for employee development

Conversely, a capable direct manager can help employees endure high pressure, navigate difficult periods, and remain committed to the organization.

Common Capability Gaps Among Middle Managers

In many organizations, middle managers are promoted because of their technical expertise rather than their readiness to lead people. As a result, they often lack or underperform in several critical capabilities:

• Coaching and mentoring employees
• Communicating and providing developmental feedback
• Delegating authority with clear accountability
• Managing performance rather than merely controlling tasks

Without these capabilities, middle managers tend to fall into one of two extremes: either taking on too much work themselves or exercising excessive control. Both quickly lead to employee fatigue and declining motivation.

Middle Managers Shape the Employee Work Experience

Employees stay not only because of the job itself, but because they feel valued, respected, and able to grow. Middle managers determine:

• Whether employees feel heard
• Whether mistakes are treated as learning opportunities or as faults deserving punishment
• Whether effort is recognized in a timely manner or taken for granted

When negative work experiences persist, even high-potential employees with strong initial commitment will eventually choose to leave.

Why the “70%” Figure Is Not an Exaggeration

Across numerous international studies and through practical consulting experience, a substantial proportion of employee turnover can be directly linked to middle management. This does not imply that all issues are caused by middle managers, but rather reflects their position as the critical link between strategy and execution, and between senior leadership and employees.

When this link is weak, even well-designed policies struggle to translate into daily operations. Conversely, when middle managers are capable, they can effectively “translate” strategy into concrete actions, enabling employees to understand, perform, and remain engaged.

Employee Retention Begins with Developing Middle Managers

Organizations seeking to address turnover cannot focus solely on recruitment or compensation. They must invest deliberately in:

• Developing coaching and mentoring capabilities among managers
• Standardizing roles and expectations for middle management
• Evaluating managers not only by results, but by their ability to develop their teams

When middle managers are equipped with the right capabilities, they become organizational stabilizers—supporting employee growth, ensuring operational continuity, and reducing dependency on senior leadership.

Retention Is Not an HR Task—It Is a Management Capability

Employee retention is neither a short-term program nor solely the responsibility of the HR department. It is fundamentally a people management capability, with middle managers playing a central role.

If organizations genuinely aim to build a sustainable leadership pipeline, the critical question is not “Why are employees leaving?” but rather “Are our middle managers ready to lead and develop people?”

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