Crime and violence reasons why SA losing executives to Australia

The average executive turnover in South Africa for the period August 1 2007 to July 31 2008 increased to 13,5 percent compared to 10,5 percent in the same period last year, Human Capital at Deloitte said on Tuesday following its annual survey.

"This statistic extrapolates to South Africa losing up to 50 percent of its executives every four to five years," Deloitte spokesperson Willem Verwey said.

Australia had replaced the UK as the most popular destination for executives leaving South Africa, he added.

Reasons for attrition at the top levels of companies included early retirement (22 percent), emigration (15 percent), lack of career advancement (11 percent) and retrenchment (11 percent).

A full 60 percent of the relatively high number of executives emigrating gave their reason as being crime and violence, with better employment opportunities being cited by 35 percent of respondents and company transfers 30 percent.

Manufacturing and finance were the two sectors which reported the highest percentage of executives emigrating over the last three years.