The decision is usually months old by the time it reaches you, and by then it is almost never reversible. Everything that led to it was visible — to someone who was looking at the right things.
By the time someone is leaving, they have a new job, no reason to be difficult, and every reason to say something neutral. So the file records “better opportunity” and the actual cause never gets written down.
In the companies we work with, the causes repeat. A manager who never gives feedback until something goes wrong. A role that quietly grew into a different job than the one the person accepted. A promise about progression that nobody meant to break but nobody kept either.
None of those are salary problems, which is why the counter-offer so rarely works, and why the person who accepts one usually leaves anyway within the year.
Not everyone is equally replaceable, and pretending otherwise spreads the effort until it does nothing. We identify the people whose exit would actually hurt, and what specifically they hold.
I-Profile says what a person needs in order to stay engaged, and it is not the same for two people. One needs autonomy and will leave if managed closely. Another needs structure and will leave if left alone.
Most retention money gets spent on things that do not address the cause. The cause is usually one relationship and one conversation that has not happened. We make that conversation happen properly.
Some of the people a company works hardest to keep are the people it should have let go two years ago. Long service is not the same as contribution, and a team notices when the two get confused.
Part of this work is telling you plainly when someone is in the wrong seat and cannot be moved into a right one. That conversation is uncomfortable and we will still have it — because the cost of avoiding it is paid by everyone who is doing their job properly.
Come with that name in mind. In ninety minutes we will tell you how exposed you actually are.
