Your best employees are the most likely to leave via attrition, because they have the most opportunity elsewhere.

In theory, a small layoff can target the least productive employees.

> Your best employees are the most likely to leave via attrition, because they have the most opportunity elsewhere.

But this remains true after a layoff and the layoff often acts a motivator for your best employees to start looking even if they weren't previously.

Usually they aren't thinking "well, glad I survived that layoff and now my job is safe forever", they are thinking "huh, is this a sinking ship? Maybe I should look around and see what else is out there..."

...speaking as someone that has been at several companies during layoffs...

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rconti 4 hours ago | parent [-]

yeah, it seems like it would have to be accompanied by a pay bump for the ones you really want to retain... which is challenging from an optics perspective.

	▲	wrs 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Perhaps, but there are optics only when someone sees. It's not unusual to fund retention increases using some of the budget freed up by a layoff, but that won't be explicitly stated in a public announcement.