On 2nd February, I had the joy of co-presenting (at a Birmingham Forward event) with David Richardson. David is Lloyds TSB’s Regional Director for Large Corporate, Midlands, East & South West. The thrust of our presentation was the importance of good people management in minimising the likelihood of good people walking out the door once things improve.

Research shows that, generally speaking, people tend to leave their line manager rather than their employing organisation. Difficult market conditions like this recession can make it so tempting to behave as though all of your employees owe you a debt of gratitude for having a job. Worse, managers can even become abusive and inflict neglect upon their employees. Thinking differently about it, how would you behave as a leader and manager if every day, each person with whom you work wore a T Shirt bearing the words “Make me feel special today”? The questions and comments of the many senior managers in the room encouraged David and I with the thought that people are actually thinking rather carefully about the dangers of an economic upturn in the sense of keeping good people despite other offers in the market. This is importance since as the CIPD warned on 26 January 2010 “Recession ‘over’ but employee engagement hits all-time low”.