#retention

Approx. 97,000 employees today

• 27% from high of 133,000 in 2023

That’s a feat to pull off.

Upside: Increased near-term profitability

Downside: Overburdened staff, undervalued staff, poor morale, retention risks, partial staff paralyzed by fear. Low-to-mid levels stripped of authority.
Not sustainable long term

So please don't go (to Ameriprise), don't go
Don't go away
Please don't go, don't go
I'm begging you to stay (at your job)

People keep leaving with knowledge that took them years to build. A new hire can learn the basics, but they can't suddenly know all the little things an experienced employee picked up over decades. Management seems to think everything can be documented and handed over. I'd like to be a fly on that wall when they realize how untrue that is.

Retiree here. Sitting in hospital bed near Zurich, looking out window and landed on idea of “universality of kindness and compassion in manner that does not require translator” regardless of situation for face to face interactions. Idea came about due to broken hip I sustained on 9 11 and the unending compassion I have received. Think about where retention and customer sat could go if all of Claims was ready to bring to life daily. They do good job, how is it made great?What prevents this from happening? Claims staff have opportunity
To be angels to customers in keen time of need. Ps. Not seeking sympathy as I will be fine. Seeking intelligent chat on needed actions.

Source: C. Simpson

Plenty of leaders point to an open door, a caring one-on-one, and a policy that says people can come to them with anything.

But none of that tells you what happens when someone is genuinely struggling.

What someone experiences when things go wrong tells you more about your support
than anything you say when things are going fine.

A lot of leaders never find this out until it is too late.

So here is what that looks like, so you can spot it in your own team before it costs you someone good:

1️⃣ You say your door is always open.

→ But people only come to you with good news.
→ You have built a culture where problems get hidden until they are too big to fix easily.

2️⃣ You say people can come to you with anything.

→ But the last person who did got told to figure it out themselves.
→ You have taught your team that asking for help costs more than it is worth.

3️⃣ You say work-life balance matters.

→ But you answer emails at 1 am and reply fastest to whoever works the latest.
→ You have shown your team that visibility matters more than boundaries.

The gap between what you say and what your team experiences day to day
is the truest measure of how supported they feel.

Close that gap, and everything changes.

Because a lot of retention problems come down to people feeling alone in the workload, instead of the workload itself.

To genuinely support your team, provide:

✅ Someone who notices before they have to ask.
✅ Permission to say "I'm behind" without it costing them.
✅ Coverage when life happens, instead of just when it is convenient.
✅ A leader who has their back before they need to ask for it.
✅ Feedback that helps them grow and challenge their thinking.
✅ Time protected, as well as time offered.

Get that right, and people stop looking for the exit and start staying on purpose.

At this point, I don't think retaining the good people is even on the priority list. Someone leaves and instead of replacing them, their work just gets dumped on whoever is still here. Then the deadlines get shorter and the pressure gets turned up another notch. There's always that unspoken feeling of "do it or else," and I'm getting really tired of it. Maybe getting laid off wouldn't be so bad.

I currently work in retention, and our job is mostly on the phone conducting outreach to members, my VSP apparently is not 9/4/2026, and instead it’a in 2027. I didn’t think my job was that important that they needed me to stay until next year? Who/what determines your VSP date? I am curious because I genuinely suspect my sup and director had a say in this.

So now we have a hiring freeze again as well as possible layoffs? Another push to come back 4 days a week (yeah it’s been policy for a while but now being tracked like elementary school students)? How can we possibly expect to retain talent and become a better company when morale is at an all time low?

Piper Aircraft has successfully avoided layoffs for ten years, a significant turnaround from its past. The company now focuses on retaining its 1,500 employees. It offers incentives to ensure staff loyalty. This marks a period of stability for the Florida-based manufacturer. The firm is the largest employer in Indian River County.

Vero Beach, Florida

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/money/business/2026/09/04/florida-airplane-builder-piper-aircraft-investing-in-vero-beach-plant/91473865007/

Is it worth staying through year end for the bonus this year? I'm seeing mixed views on expected payout vs target. Do you get a payout if you are on payroll as of 12/31, so leaving in January would be OK?

As we focus on retaining top talent, is the bank considering reinstating the discretionary 1% 401(k) match that teammates have received in the past?

Let’s be honest, most people aren’t staying because they’re happy here. They’re staying because the job market hasn’t given them a good enough reason to jump ship yet and they still need income to survive.

But also be honest about what that means. That’s not retention. That’s a fu--ing ticking time b0mb.

The second the job market really opens back up, all those people who have been quietly putting up with 5x RTO BS, sh---y morale, constant cuts and pointless bullsh-t are going to start walking…. And AT&T is going to be completely unprepared for it.

In the next 3-5 years, you’re going to have massive numbers of people retire, get surplussed or leave voluntarily. A ton of institutional and systems knowledge is going to walk out the door at the same time. Who’s replacing them?

You can’t gut and abuse the workforce for years and then magically find experienced people when you suddenly need them. And you sure as he-l can’t replace decades of knowledge with some new hire and a fu--ing training deck.

AT&T needs to stop obsessing over who it can cut and who sits where, and start figuring out who it absolutely cannot afford to lose.

Especially the non-pension employees. They aren’t tied here forever. When the market improves, they can leave, and they absolutely will.

The “leadership” team seems to think people will tolerate anything because they have nowhere else to go. They think they have a hostage situation created by a bad job market.

When that changes, we’re going to see just how many people were actually choosing to stay.

Tick-Tock, John…

There’s a point where “culture” stops being what a company says on LinkedIn and becomes what people actually experience when they work there.
You can post all the polished messages you want about people-first leadership, growth, transparency, and culture—but saying those things doesn’t make them true. Culture is reflected in who gets listened to, who gets protected, who gets developed, who gets held accountable, and ultimately, who chooses to stay.
If leadership continues asking the same small circle of people whether everything is okay—and those people are the ones benefiting from the current system—of course the answer is going to be yes. But that is an incredibly narrow way to measure the health of an organization, especially one that desperately needs to right the ship.
At some point, leadership has to get uncomfortable enough to actually listen. Not just to the loudest voices, the favorites, the “yes” people, or the people sitting closest to power. Talk to the people who left. Talk to the people who stopped speaking up. Look at retention. Look at engagement. Look at production beyond the surface-level numbers. Look at what happened to the travelers and relationships that were handed off to people celebrated as “top performers.” Did those relationships grow? Did those travelers stay? Were those desks actually nurtured—or were they simply inherited?
And if the same people have been sitting in leadership seats for three years while the same problems continue to surface, it is fair to ask whether the problem is no longer the circumstances—it’s the people in the seats.
Leadership should not be a talking head. It should not be gossip, cliques, politics, favoritism, or protecting the people you personally like. Leadership means fighting for your people, advocating when it is uncomfortable, holding everyone to the same standard, and having the courage to admit when something isn’t working.
Stop fluffing certain desks while demanding everyone else prove themselves over and over again. Stop celebrating numbers without examining how they were achieved or what happens after the handoff. Stop confusing loyalty to a leadership circle with loyalty to the company.
Three years is enough time to make meaningful change.
At some point, continuing to do the same things, empowering the same people, protecting the same behaviors, and expecting a different outcome becomes exactly what we all know it is: insanity.
What makes this particularly sad is that this company once talked so passionately about being different. About putting people first. About creating something better than the corporate environments so many people had experienced elsewhere.
Somewhere along the way, it started becoming the very thing it said it would never become.
Profits matter. Performance matters. Growth matters. But people have to matter too.
And when good people continue walking out the door, leadership shouldn’t be asking how to improve the messaging around culture.
They should be asking what happened to it.

The free tier's biggest feature, the malware and phishing blocking, is invisible. Customers never see it work. No alert, no moment, nothing to point to. What they can see is the paid tier, and that's one camera and one sensor for $15 a month, more than Ring charges for full professional monitoring on an unlimited system. It only runs on our gateway, so the customers most likely to leave us are excluded from the thing meant to keep them.And we're not a company people rate highly right now. Cable ISPs sit at the bottom of the satisfaction rankings, well behind fiber and 5G. Free doesn't fix that. It just adds something invisible to a bill people already think is too high.
I think it's a fine retention product. I don't think it's a new category, and I think we should be honest with ourselves about the difference.

The company has consistently performed at a low 3-star rating over the past decade, and now your main focus will be retention!-) GTFOH

Most of the people working here today probably won’t be here three years from now. That’s the part “leadership” seems to be completely missing.

There are huge numbers of employees already past Rule of 75 who are just waiting for the right severance offer or their retirement date, whichever comes first. Add in everyone without a pension who is already looking for the exit, and AT&T is about to lose an enormous amount of institutional knowledge. And who’s replacing them?

AT&T has spent years cutting, freezing, consolidating and making the place less attractive to the exact people who are supposed to become the next generation of experts. You can’t keep gutting the workforce and then act surprised when there’s nobody left who knows how to do the work.

Stankey is right that demographics are a problem. He’s just looking at the wrong side of the equation.

The answer isn’t simply squeezing more work out of fewer people. It’s retaining the people under 55, developing replacements before the experienced workforce walks out the door, and actually giving talented people a reason to build a career here.

Instead, we’re making the job less attractive with 5x RTO, cutting benefits, cutting headcount and watching experienced people walk. You can’t retire decades of knowledge and replace it with a PowerPoint and a new hire.

AT&T is going to find out very quickly that you can’t cut your way through a talent shortage.

When I first joined, there was a real sense that people cared about the work and about each other. That's mostly disappeared now. Years of changes have completely stripped away whatever it was that made the place special, and we're now at the point where loyalty and experience don't count for much. It's depressing watching a company lose the culture that made people want to stay.

This post on Reddit has a comment that someone’s husband was offered 100k counteroffer retention bonus when he tried to resign. Base pay 600k.
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedhealthgroup/s/PfEIguU2fk

So the company that is laying people off throughout the year and gives pennies for raises to most of its employees will give a 100k retention bonus to what is probably a lower level exec who tries to resign (assuming lower level because the higher up execs make 7-10 figures.)

Message for UHG/UHC/Optum…. Your executives are not the face of the company, the people whose jobs bring them into direct daily interactions with your members are the face of the company. Minuscule raises that can’t even keep up with inflation, elimination of bonuses, rising caseloads all lower morale. You can’t improve your public image when the face of your company has low morale. No amount of company culture pep talk will fix this because your own employees don’t feel valued.

The vast majority of people who remain here are just waiting for MR75 or to see what happens with leadership.

There are a lot of employees hoping that when Stankey is gone and a new CEO comes in, one of the first things they do is take a hard look at this completely overextended RTO policy.

Because if the new leadership comes in and decides to keep five-day RTO, I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.

There are a lot of people who are tolerating this right now because they’re hoping the policy changes. Take that hope away, and you’re going to see a lot of people make their exit at the same time.

And that’s when we’ll find out just how much talent this policy has actually pushed toward the door.

AT&T can change course or keep doubling down. But I genuinely believe the consequences of this decision will become impossible to ignore by 2028.

This company may sink or swim based on what happens with RTO. You ain’t seen nothing yet!

This is the only place I've worked where tenure is a disadvantage. New people get attention, praise, and opportunity, while most of long-timers get ignored, overloaded, and quietly pushed aside. The loyalty that used to mean something now feels like a trap.

Got this from someone who was laid off. Decision was made based on:

1) retention cost (those who have not been promoted for a long time in the same position, or those close to retirement age)
2) performance reviews from last 2 years (NS = chopping block)
3) last in first out (new hires)

Centene should give all employees with an approved vsp + separation date beyond 9/4/26, a quarterly bonus for staying and still pay their full severance!

Used to be Dell employees who left Dell would come back at some point to work at Dell, this is no longer true not sure why

I always assumed if you gave notice at T-Mobile, they'd just let you go. But a colleague of mine was recently on his way out, then mysteriously decided to stay. He wouldn't say why, but he did hint that the company came back with a better offer. I didn't know they did that.

Are you staying @VZ because you believe in the company or because you don't have another option?

Ask around and you'll hear real frustration. With Gunjan/leadership, with direction, with a culture that's betting worse, high workloads, burnout.... But turnover is basically nothing. People stay for years, sometimes decades.

That's a weird combo. Usually when people are this unhappy, they leave. So what's actually keeping everyone here?

My guesses:

Golden handcuffs. Pension, benefits, tenure perks that are hard to walk away from
Grass isn't greener thinking. Assuming other places have the same problems anyway
Complaining isn't the same as job hunting. Sometimes it's just how people vent
Not a lot of comparable roles nearby to jump to

Anyone who's been here a while, what's actually kept you?

Wellsfargo is annoying employees and so they are taking money to other banks, I am doing it too, Laid off , retired employees doing it too.
Wells should come up with some plan to retain good employees and keep them happy.

People are leaving in droves. I'm wondering if there's anything that could actually convince you to stay, or are you just done?

Our best people are leaving and nobody seems to care. The average tenure is dropping fast. How do they think this will end?

What’s keeping GB gainfully employed? Is he special or actually a great leader?

If Stinky’s goal was to convince younger employees to stay, publicly taking shots at Gen Z over wanting flexibility wasn’t exactly the way to do it. His comments came across as dismissive, disrespectful and completely out of touch.

Here’s what this pre-computer dinosaur fails to understand. We grew up online, made friends online, had relationships online. We learned online, collaborated online, and even went to school and got degrees online. We don’t need a five-day RTO mandate to know how to be connected and productive.

Nobody is asking to never come into an office. People are asking for flexibility. Instead of trying to understand that, leadership keeps acting like it’s a work ethic problem.

Then they wonder why younger employees don’t stick around.

Maybe stop blaming the workforce and start asking why the workforce isn’t buying what your so called “leadership” is selling.

IMO. These days, the company pays no importance to retention. The majority of XOM employees in the US will likely have a maximum of 5 years at the company before they finally realize that they are better off somewhere else. 10 years maximum if they are a glutten for punishment and think they are going to make it to retirement eligibility. Considering RE being 55 with 15 years of experience. Who in HR has the statistics of the last 5 years of attrition with the why they were separated, for Campus hires and Experienced hires? What are the breakdowns of left on own will versus MLRP?
My prediction for the future employment longevity in the US for MPT for someone based upon when hired is the following:
Age of hire: 22 - 25, probability of lasting 30+ PA cycles 3-5%.
Age of hire: 25 - 30, probablity of lasting 25 - 30 PA cycles 5-7%.
Age of hire: 30 - 35, probability of lasting 20 - 25 PA cycles 2%
Age of hire: 35 - 40, probability of lasting 15 - 20 PA cycles 0.5%
Age of hire: 40+, probability of lasting 15+ PA cycles 0%

HR does not care about retention. People are a commodity to them and they have sources of cheap labor outside of the US that are going to run the company.

Coming over from Oxy board to check here..

People claim that you’re giving technical staff a bonus for retention. Is this true?

A lot of people are reading Xerox’s retention plan as if it were a secret bankruptcy announcement.

It is not.

What it actually says is simple: "Xerox is under pressure". No surprise there.

"Xerox is going through transformation, restructuring, Lexmark integration and balance-sheet work". Also not news.

"Xerox wants selected critical people to stay for the next two years while that work gets done".

That is the point.

The plan is cash-based and paid in 8 quarterly instalments. So nobody gets a giant cheque on day one.

If someone leaves, they generally lose the unpaid part. That is why it is called a retention plan :-)

Note: the 8-K says the CEO and CFO are not expected to participate. So the “top two are cashing out before collapse” theory is weak.

Does this mean Xerox is financially healthy? No.

Does it prove Chapter 11 is imminent? Also no.

Does it prove delisting? No.

The serious interpretation is much simpler: Xerox is in a high-risk execution period and is paying selected people to stay long enough to help get through it.

Fair questions: Who gets it? How much? Are they the right people?

Bad questions:
“Is this proof of bankruptcy?”
“Is this proof the stock is going to zero?”
“Is this SLT stealing bonuses before the end?”

Occam's razor tells us that the simplest explanation is usually the one closest to the truth.

So here it goes: Xerox is buying continuity during an extremely difficult transformation (with no guarantee that it will be completed).

No conspiracy required.

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001770450/000119312526294480/d111689d8k.htm

I look around and I see so many talented people putting up with so much nonsense. We all deserve so much better than what we're getting here and what we've been getting for years. It actually surprises me that more people haven't already decided to leave and find something better.

I think it's very possible that more people applied than what they anticipated.

imagine if the target was 8,000 eliminations and they received 12,000 applications... but of those 12,000 applications, only 3,000 were on the elimination list. they still need to cut the 5,000... so what do they do? maybe accept 1,000 of the VSPs and still have to cut 4,000...

now for those 8,000 VSP applications they have to reject? that's a LOT of pi---d off people who will probably be looking to leave. now they have to figure out how to retain those employees.

and for those 4,000 being cut... they will be upset too.

that is probably the clusterf*ck they have gotten themselves into.

July is about to be a headache for everyone.

Nintendo announced a 10% increase in employee base salaries. Company President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed this decision. The move aims to maintain competitive working conditions. It also seeks to retain valuable specialists within the company. This strategy contrasts with widespread layoffs across the gaming industry.

https://ixbt.games/en/news/2026/06/27/419575-nintendo-podniala-zarplaty-na-fone-uvolnenii-v-igrovoi-industrii.html

Why are there so many Sirius sellers leaving, or left, the company? CDW is hemorrhaging all the 20 year customer relationships? As a CDW seller, I was assigned a lot of these accounts, that came with very high quotas and they don't want to do business with me. My management said these all would be easy accounts to farm and my income would double. I am starting to realize CDW management doesn't understand why customers buy from who they do and most of them that I know of never had a job selling directly.

If leadership is reading this, I encourage you to take an honest look at P. Di-kerson's track record since she joined. Consider the number of people who have left the team, the overall level of dissatisfaction, and the noticeable decline in morale.

I would challenge leadership to run a truly anonymous team survey. I believe the results would highlight concerns that many people are currently reluctant to raise openly.

Her management style creates an environment of fear rather than trust. Public criticism is common, feedback is often delivered in front of others, and people become more focused on avoiding blame than on doing their best work. Instead of encouraging ownership and collaboration, it drives people to protect themselves.

There is also very little visible self-reflection or willingness to acknowledge when her own approach may be contributing to problems. Accountability appears to be expected from everyone else, but rarely from herself.

I hope leadership takes these concerns seriously, as I believe the current environment is having a significant negative impact on employee wellbeing, engagement, and retention.

Executives and their narcissistic egos still can’t accept that the world changed.

Five years after the pandemic, employees have overwhelmingly shown they value flexibility. The data keeps showing hybrid work isn’t going away. Yet some leaders remain obsessed with attendance, visibility, and control instead of results. That’s exactly what we’re seeing at AT&T.

Instead of focusing on performance, productivity, innovation, talent retention, or competitiveness, leadership is focused on presence reports, badge swipes, and making sure people are physically sitting in a building.

The irony is that the people making these decisions are often the same people wondering why morale is collapsing, why experienced employees are leaving, and why younger talent isn’t interested in coming here.

Employees adapted, the workforce adapted, the job market adapted, but this leadership didn’t.

The future of work is flexibility. Every major survey and labor trend points in that direction. Younger companies and younger leaders are embracing hybrid work while companies clinging to rigid mandates are increasingly fighting yesterday’s battle.

AT&T’s leadership continues to act like forcing people into an office five days a week is some competitive advantage. It isn’t, It’s a recruiting and retention disadvantage and a morale disaster

And the longer leadership refuses to acknowledge that reality, the further behind the company falls.

You can force people into a building but you can’t force talented people and the people you want, to stay.