Michael HornThought leader creating a world where all individuals can build passions & fulfill their human potential. Author of the national bestseller Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career

Stop bribing your employees to stay.

Name: Stop bribing your employees to stay.
Uploaded: 2025-06-18T14:00:29+00:00
Duration: 54 s
Channel: Michael Horn
Description: In this concise video, Michael Horn critiques conventional employee‑retention tactics—higher pay, better benefits, fancier titles, and purpose‑driven…

18 Jun 2025 · 1 min

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In this concise video, Michael Horn critiques conventional employee‑retention tactics—higher pay, better benefits, fancier titles, and purpose‑driven messaging—arguing they fail because they miss the true reasons people leave. Citing a Wall Street Journal article he co‑authored with Ethan and Bernstein, Horn urges managers to stop "bribing" staff and instead ask four probing questions: (1) When was the last time you almost quit? (2) When was the most recent time work didn’t feel like work? (3) What trade‑offs are you making to stay in this role? and (4) If this job disappeared tomorrow, what would you choose to do next? These questions are presented as a diagnostic playbook for understanding and retaining top talent.

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The playbook for keeping top talent today is pretty straightforward. More money, better benefits, fancier titles, greater sense of purpose. But the problem is, it's not working. And that's because it misunderstands why employees quit. So our big message in our Wall Street Journal piece that Ethan and Bernstein and I wrote is to stop bribing your employees to stay and and instead ask better questions so that you can retain them. The first question to ask when was the last time you almost quit? The second question when was the most recent time that work didn't feel like work? Third, what trade offs are you making to stay in this role? And fourth, if this job disappeared tomorrow, what would you choose to do next?