Ask and deliver

Quite a few companies are learning, possibly the hard way, that attrition tends to spike when layoffs are high. The conventional wisdom is that an uncertain market will see people burrowing in wherever they happen to be, worried that to make a move is too risky. But I’ve observed (and the data attests) that plenty of people have the opposite reaction: in a fucked-up market, making a move can paradoxically seem less risky and more likely to pay off. If you’re a leader trying to retain your best people, there’s good advice in here about specific strategies; but really it all comes down to one thing: ask your people what they need, and then deliver on it.