Over Half Of Small And Medium-Sized Businesses In The It Sector Admit To Having No Succession Plan

• 52% of UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the IT sector admit to having no clear plan in place to ensure their business does not suffer when a key employee leaves;
• However, over a fifth (22%) of SMEs in the IT sector believe the biggest threat to their business is the departure of a senior executive and a further fifth (21%) would face difficulties if a whole team left.

The Aldermore Future Attitudes report has found that that over half (52%) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the IT sector have no clear plan in place to ensure that their businesses do not suffer when key staff leave.

This is despite the survey of over a thousand senior business decision-makers at UK SMEs revealing that over a fifth (22%) of small and medium-sized IT businesses believing the biggest threat to their business is the departure of a senior executive. Moreover, a further fifth (21%) are worried about a whole team leaving.

Of the half (48%) of SMEs in the IT sector that have a succession plan in place, just under half (46%) of these say this includes ensuring employees view their long-term future at the company and providing training to widen employees’ capabilities beyond their current roles. Over a third (36%) of those SMEs in the IT sector with a succession plan already have individuals in mind to take on the pivotal and specialist roles in the business if other employees leave or step down.

 Carl D’Ammassa, Group Managing Director, Business Finance at Aldermore, said:

“It is concerning to find that more than half of SMEs in the IT sector do not have any succession plans in place despite being conscious of the adverse consequences that may result should crucial employees leave the business.

“When faced with the day-to-day demands of running their company, business owners can easily push succession planning down their list of priorities. However, good employees are hard to find so for SMEs