Peter Vander WallFounder driving creative community growth

Most firms lose talent for one simple reason

Name: Most firms lose talent for one simple reason
Uploaded: 2025-05-07T12:14:27+00:00
Duration: 43 s
Channel: Peter Vander Wall
Description: A short talk arguing that many firms lose talent because they offer inconsistent, seasonal work. The speaker recommends restructuring work so employees…

7 May 2025 · 1 min

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A short talk arguing that many firms lose talent because they offer inconsistent, seasonal work. The speaker recommends restructuring work so employees have more consistent, predictable hours year-round (avoid summer layoffs, provide steadier schedules), which improves employee quality of life and helps attract and retain higher-quality staff. An illustrative comparison contrasts a firm that works long hours during tax season then lays people off versus a firm that smooths hours across the year (e.g., 50 hrs during tax season, 30 hrs in summer/fall).

Chapters

Rather than say no, I'm just going to lay everybody off over the summer and bring them back on for a little bit in the fall and then get full time in January or February. Get those other aspects of your business in order so that you can feed those people year round and you're going to have a much better life. You're going to have a much better business and frankly, it's going to be a way better quality of life for these people on your team. And so you're going to be able to attract and retain higher quality people on your team as well. Because that's the thing too. Like if I'm an accountant and I've got the option of working at Firm A, where I'm going to be working 60 hours a week all tax season and then laid off on the summer, or I'm given the option of working at Firm B, where I'm going to be working 50 hours a week all tax season and then 30 hours summer and fall, I'd way rather have the other one, the Firm D, because it's more consistent, it's more predictable and it's going to allow me to flourish in my life.