A manager described a colleague as lacking confidence. Their own 360 feedback showed the same assumption running in the opposite direction. Managers interpret their teams through their own strengths and their own careers, and treat behaviour as an explanation when it is only evidence. What that costs organisations, and what works instead.

Retention strategies usually focus on stopping people leaving. The real risk is stagnation, not disengagement. Drawing on a client story and current research, this piece reframes staff retention as a work-fit issue, showing organisations what to notice and what to do before good people start quietly checking out.

For senior hires, where expertise, client trust, and leadership complexity are involved, the true cost, when productivity loss, management time, and team disruption are factored in, can reach multiples of annual salary. Yet most organisations never carry out that fuller calculation. They measure what is easy to measure and overlook the rest.