'Do more with less' not sustainable

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 23 (UPI) -- The top concern of executives in the United States and worldwide is retaining talent because the recession has burned out employees, researchers say.

Lead study author Joshua Freedman, the chief operating officer of Six Seconds -- The Emotional Intelligence Network, said a study of 775 business leaders and employees worldwide said the top concern across all sectors and countries was findings and retaining talent -- more than double any other concern, followed by micromanagement and keeping employees motivated.

"It's powerful to read hundreds of responses from real leaders identifying what's holding their organizations back, and the report has many of their actual responses," Freedman said in a statement.

"Over and over, they say that their organizations are failing to attract, retain and nurture talent and they blame a lack of leadership."

Almost all respondents acknowledge that feelings are a significant part of their workplace issues, but only a handful take emotional intelligence seriously. Emotional intelligence -- being smart with feelings -- was rated a 4.5/5 on importance for solving workplace challenges, businesses earned a 2.6/5 on implementation -- a 74 percent gap.

"The 'do more with less' recession experience is not sustainable, and people are feeling that," Freedman said. "There's a growing perception of a shortage of talent -- but only a few companies are taking this really seriously, and they're going to be the winners."

The report is at http://www.6seconds.org/2012/02/22/talent-leadership-alignment-top-business-issues-for-2012/