Hire Today, Gone Tomorrow?

Every company that's serious about talent is wrestling seriously with the same vexing question: How do we hold onto our best people? Minimizing employee turnover now ranks with finding new employees as one of the toughest challenges in this talent-scarce economy. So why are some executives-senior leaders at respected companies-actually celebrating the departure of talented people?

"Losing people isn't a bad thing," declares Tom Tierney, 44, worldwide managing director of Bain & Co., an international consulting firm headquartered in Boston. "We attract the best and the brightest. And those people are the hardest to hold onto. Our job is to create a value proposition that gets them to stay another day, another month, another year. But ultimately, it's foolish to believe you can trap good people. The idea is to stay connected with them after they leave your payroll. How do you turn them into advocates, clients, business partners?"

Sue Thompson, 41, vice president of human resources at In Focus Systems Inc., a fast-growing manufacturer of computer projectors, couldn't agree more. Her astoundingly successful company, based in Wilsonville, Oregon, consistently ranks among the best places to work in the state. Yet last year, more than 10% of its people left voluntarily. "Bondage is out," Thompson declares. "We don't think employees will stay here for life. So we do whatever we can to help them while they're here-and after they leave."

Arthur Gensler, 63, cofounder, chairman, and CEO of San Francisco-based Gensler, one of the world's most influential design and architecture firms, knows that every great person who walks in the door will eventually walk out the door. "There are all sorts of reasons why people might want to leave us at some point in their career," he says. "A person may say, 'I've got to try a small firm,' or 'I want to live in the suburbs.' If people are good and if they're leaving to learn something new, it doesn't pay to try to keep them here. But we do try to keep the relationship going-because many of them will decide to come back. And the people who do return become our most loyal employees and our best recruiters. When they come back, they're incredibly committed."

Tierney, Thompson, and Gensler aren't crazy. They're just a little ahead of their time in responding to one of the defining challenges in the new world of business. Forget lifetime employment. The new goal is lifetime affiliation. Forget such terms as "ex-employees" and "former colleagues." The new term of choice is "alumni." Forget all your old ideas about who works for you and how. The day someone walks out the door doesn't mark the end of your relationship with that person. It marks the start of a new stage in that relationship.

Roger Herman, 54, CEO of the Herman Group, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and author of Keeping Good People (Oakhill Press, 1989), argues that how you respond to the departure of top people will shape your relationship with them forever. "Let those people know that you want to keep in touch," he says. "Be sure to get their new phone number, address, and email coordinates. Offer to send them your annual report or your company newsletter. Explain to them, "You never know when there will be an opportunity for us to use your services, for you to use ours, or for you to come back and join us." If you draw a clear picture about how you might continue your affiliation with them, they're more likely to remain a part of your network."

Which doesn't mean that you shouldn't work hard to create a company where great people want to stay. Nor does it mean that you shouldn't use savvy tactics to make it harder for other companies-especially competitors-to steal your people. (See What to Do When a Valued Employee Quits and How to Headhunter-Proof Your Company) But it does mean that you need to think more creatively about how to keep great people working with you, even after they've stopped working for you.

"Our number-one source of high-quality new business is our alumni," says Tierney. "Walking out the door is just one more step along a career path," says R. K. Stewart, 45, a Gensler vice president based in San Francisco. "It doesn't have to be the end of your association with someone."