Bad management: how to avoid talent drain?

Bad management: a powerful driver of resignation

Bad management is no longer a simple subject of well-being at work. It has become a real challenge for talent retention.

While companies are still struggling to recruit certain profiles, a recent study by LiveCareer reveals that toxic managerial practices continue to push many employees towards the exit.

We often say it, and the figures end up confirming it: it’s not the companies that people leave, it’s their managers. 19% of employees have already resigned because of a superior. And 41% have seriously thought about it.

By combining the two, we arrive at 60% of people surveyed who left or almost left their job because of a toxic manager. C’est considérable.

What is also striking is the fatalism that sets in: 76% of employees believe that bad managers are now everywhereas an essential fact of business life.

And the behaviors pointed out do not boil down to a simple lack of talent to manage a team. These are much more concrete things, much more burdensome on a daily basis:

• More than a third of employees say they have experienced favoritism
• 30% have seen their manager take ownership of their successes
• A quarter ended up with objectives that changed along the way
• And almost one in five have suffered un micro-management étouffant

The effects on the teams are real and lasting. Half of respondents directly link toxic management to an increase in conflicts.

For four out of ten people, this is also what pushes people towards the exit. And behind it, it’s performance that falls, mental health that crumbles, burn-out that accumulates.

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How to end toxic leadership and retain talent?

The real subject is perhaps not so much the existence of these managers as what happens to them (or rather what does not happen to them).Â

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D’après l’étude LiveCareer, 48% of bad managers are promoted or retained in office despite everything. Only 6% really improve after support.

Result: a feeling of impunity that sets in. And 66% of employees think that a company will turn a blind eye to a manager’s excesses as long as he achieves his objectives. It’s brutal, but it’s what people observe from the inside.

Some ideas are emerging, not revolutionary on paper, but often neglected in practice.

First of all, evaluate managers on how they achieve their resultsnot just on the results themselves. A manager who performs by exhausting his teams or by causing mass departures is not really efficient.

Ensuite, create the conditions for people to speak without risking finding yourself overhanging.

Today, 54% of employees consider it risky to report a managerial problem to HR. Without a truly secure and confidential alert channel, malfunctions remain in the shadows until people leave.

Finally, rethink what we really expect from managerial training. Employees demand transparency, recognition, fairness. And yet, favoritism, appropriation of merit and lack of accountability are still among the most cited grievances.

Retaining talent in 2026 isn’t just about salary or benefits. As long as companies continue to cover up for their toxic managers in the name of numbers, resignations, disengagement and tensions will only repeat themselves.

The real question is no longer how to attract people. It’s how to make them want to stay.

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