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Issue 55
Hoarders: Talent Edition
Chris Hagood
September 18, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
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Table of Contents
Opening Salvo
Talent hoarding happens when managers keep strong performers in place instead of supporting their growth. On the surface, it can look like stability. In practice, it blocks opportunity, slows innovation, and pushes people to leave.
I have seen this across industries. High performers are boxed in because their managers worry about losing productivity or credibility if they move on. The intention may be protection, yet the outcome is disengagement and attrition.
Talent hoarding is not retention. It is control. And it creates hidden costs that compound over time.
Practical Personas (with a tinge of hyperbole)
The Protector: Keeps top performers close and resists promotions or transfers. The employee feels stalled, and their loyalty weakens.
The Bottleneck: Centralizes tasks and knowledge, creating dependence on one person. The team becomes fragile, and others lose chances to learn.
The Builder: Develops talent, supports internal mobility, and shares credit. Their teams remain strong even when individuals grow into new roles.
Ask Yourself:
Which employees are overdue for growth opportunities?
Are managers recognized for developing talent, or only for retention metrics?
How often do employees leave because they cannot grow inside the organization?
Holding onto talent creates cracks in capability and culture. The longer it continues, the wider those cracks become.
Did You See This?
HR Retention Is a Business Continuity Issue
Forty-eight percent of U.S. HR professionals say they have considered leaving the field in the next 12 months, according to Lattice’s 2026 State of People Strategy Report. Respondents point to the emotional toll of managing problems, feeling undervalued or unheard, and work-life balance challenges. Tekion’s chief people officer captures the risk clearly, losing HR talent slows the entire business.
The survey shows 41 percent of HR practitioners globally have considered a career change. Nearly a third of those who thought about leaving found reasons to stay, including helping employees grow, having organization-wide influence, and being seen as trusted advisors. Engagement remains relatively high, with more than three in four somewhat or fully engaged, and notable regional differences, about 85 percent in Europe versus 72 percent in the U.S.
Workplace context matters. Likelihood to recommend HR as a profession is stronger among blue- and gray-collar environments, about 77 percent and 75 percent, compared with 56 percent among white-collar settings. Most HR respondents expect head count to remain flat or grow, and nine in ten anticipate budgets that hold steady or increase. Focus areas include performance management, employee engagement, and integrating advanced technologies such as agentic AI. Related research from The Conference Board reports high confidence among U.S. HR leaders in managing ongoing change and national volatility.
Translate the signal into retention and capability moves:
Reduce emotional load with system fixes. Clarify intake for employee issues, add triage roles, and rotate on-call responsibilities to spread difficult work.
Make value visible. Tie HR deliverables to revenue, risk, and productivity metrics in quarterly reviews, then recognize outcomes publicly.
Protect time for deep work. Set meeting limits, standardize response windows, and automate routine tasks so practitioners can focus on performance, engagement, and tech integration.
Invest where HR says it needs it. Budget for manager enablement, workflow tools, and AI literacy with clear guardrails, aligned to priorities in the report.
Run stay interviews. Ask top HR performers what keeps them here, what would make the work more sustainable, and act on the themes with deadlines.
If HR is expected to steady the organization through constant change, steady the people who do that work first.
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Talent Management 101 (TM101)
Talent Hoarding: How It Stifles Growth & Innovation
Talent hoarding occurs when leaders restrict mobility or development to keep talent in place. This behavior can be intentional or cultural, and it damages both retention and performance.
Why It Happens:
Managers fear losing productivity if strong performers move on
Organizations reward retention over development
Leaders lack incentives to share talent across teams
Risks of Talent Hoarding:
Stagnation as employees repeat tasks they already mastered
Rising disengagement and turnover among high performers
Weakened succession planning and leadership pipelines
Innovation loss when ideas remain siloed within teams
What to Change and How:
Reward leaders for talent development and mobility
Track progression metrics alongside retention
Build transparent pathways for cross-team growth
Normalize internal moves as organizational wins, not losses
Talent grows when it is developed, not when it is trapped.
The Plug
This newsletter is brought to you by AstutEdge, a consultancy dedicated to developing and deploying a people-first talent management culture. We solve both obvious and hidden challenges by optimizing performance, engagement, and development across the entire HR, People, and Talent spectrum.
How We Help:
Optimize Team Performance: Implementing tailored strategies that improve efficiency, engagement, and collaboration.
Develop Leadership: Nurture leaders who inspire and drive organizational success through targeted development.
Enhance Employee Experience: Boosting morale and retention with data-driven engagement programs.
Improve Organizational Culture: Providing insights and solutions to create a positive, high-performing work environment.
Increase Business Growth: Aligning talent management practices with business goals to drive innovation and growth.
Strengthen Collaboration: Facilitating team cohesion through CliftonStrengths-based coaching and development.
This plug is shameless and should be shared widely. If your organization or a partner organization could benefit from talent management support, we’d love to help!
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