Senior Leaders, Stop Funding Your Competitors' Talent Pool: The Hidden Cost of Your 'Fun' Company Perks

Victoria Canham • 25 June 2025 • 9 min read

Victoria Canham Consultancy | A person sitting on a sofa, looking up at money falling from the sky. They have their arms outstretched as if catching the falling money, and a laptop is on their lap. A purple overlay with white and yellow text reads: "Senior Leaders, Stop Funding Your Competitors' Talent Pool: The Hidden Cost of Your 'Fun' Company Perks" and "victoriacanham.com"

"Fixing the root cause of retention is not a cost. It’s an investment in your future margins, momentum, and mission."

You’re sitting in your office, staring at the latest engagement survey results. The numbers aren’t great. You’ve thrown pizza parties, covered the cost of the after-work drinks, installed a foosball table, brought in free coffee carts to say “thank you”, and you brought in those 'uniform benefits packages' you thought everyone would love.

You've done the 'fun stuff'. You've shown 'appreciation'. So why does it feel like your team is still... underwhelmed? Why are those expensive recruitment agencies still on speed dial?

And why, despite all your efforts, are your best people quietly walking out the door, only to pop up thriving at a competitor a few weeks later?

It's frustrating, isn't it? You’re trying. You're spending. Your Glassdoor reviews mention the perks. Your recruitment team uses them as selling points.

Yet, the revolving door of talent keeps spinning, and your recruitment costs are steadily breaking the bank.

And the ones staying don’t seem happy. You’re asking yourself, “Why are they still unhappy? We’re doing all the fun stuff!” or “Why are they leaving when we’re giving them perks other companies don’t?”

Sound familiar? Most senior leaders I work with feel this frustration. They’ve bought into the idea that “fun” perks boost morale and retention. They genuinely believe that more perks, more 'fun', or simply asking people to return to the office will solve their talent drain.

And to be clear: a bit of fun isn't bad. Showing appreciation is essential.

But those "fun" company perks and traditional 'thank yous' are often a smokescreen, a costly, ineffective plaster stuck on a much deeper wound.

They're not building loyalty. They're not retaining talent. In fact, if not coupled with the right foundation, they're actively funding your competitors' talent pool.

Let’s unpack why this happens, what your employees actually want, and how you can fix it with a process that’s simple, proven, and empowering.

Why Smart Leaders Fall Into The Perks Trap

Let’s start by seeing it from your side. This isn't about you being out of touch or uncaring. In fact, it's often the opposite. You’re trying to create a great workplace. You’ve read about trendy perks—free snacks, game rooms, casual Fridays—and thought, “This will show we care.” You’ve invested time and budget into these initiatives, expecting smiles and loyalty in return. But instead, you’re seeing resignations, disengagement, or worse—your top talent walking out the door to competitors who don’t even have an office.

Now, let’s step into your employees’ shoes. Imagine Sarah, your star developer. She’s grateful for the pizza party, sure, but what she really wants is to feel valued for her work, to have clear growth opportunities, or to know her voice matters when decisions are made. To her, the foosball table is fun for the first 10 minutes, but it doesn’t address the fact that she’s been passed over for a promotion or feels micromanaged, and to top it all, her reward for good work is simply more work, often someone else's problem dumped on her plate. Perks like these can feel like a shiny distraction from what’s missing: meaningful investment in her growth and wellbeing.

The hidden cost? When Sarah leaves, she takes her skills, experience, and potential to your competitor. Your perks didn’t just fail to keep her—they indirectly funded your rival’s talent pool by not addressing what truly matters. Every time a ‘Sarah’ leaves, it’s not just another vacancy — it’s £30,000+ in replacement costs and three months of ramp time... for someone who might also leave if you don’t fix the foundations.

Perks feel like wins because:

✳️ They generate immediate positive feedback

✳️ They're visible and shareable (great for employer branding)

✳️ They seem cost-effective compared to salary increases

✳️ They make leadership feel like they're addressing employee needs

Fab, but you're solving for satisfaction, not retention. And those are two completely different challenges.

Common Perks Traps

Let's break down some more of the painful realities you might be experiencing, even if you haven't put it into words:

The "Pizza Party Paradox": You give a pizza party to say thank you for good work, and the reward for that good work? More work. More unpaid overtime. No wonder your team feels as if they are “rewarded” by being asked to do more. They're exhausted and feel taken for granted. The pizza becomes a symbol of expectation, not appreciation.

The "Everyone Loves a Free Beer" Myth: While a few might, many don't. Or they simply don't feel like celebrating when they're stuck in internal conflict, dealing with micromanagement (or no management), or feeling their contributions aren't genuinely valued. A beer won't fix poor leadership.

The "Benefits That Don't Fit" Fiasco: You offer a 'one-size-fits-all' benefits package that somehow favours one group way more than another, or doesn't address the real needs of your diverse team. This isn't appreciation; it’s alienation. You think you know what they want because you sent a survey, but are you truly listening and acting on what they need to feel valued and supported?

The "Culture Just Happens" Delusion: You believe culture is just about perks and fun activities, or that it 'happens organically'. Or worse, "our culture is fine because we haven't heard any complaints." This passive approach is a leadership void. When leaders don't actively shape culture, disengagement, resentment, and a silent exodus become the default.

When your team feels undervalued, unheard, stuck in problems, either micromanaged or left adrift, they don't leave as ambassadors for your company. They leave, often quietly, and become a future asset for your competitors, taking with them invaluable institutional knowledge and experience.

Your recruitment costs spiral because you're constantly replacing people who never felt truly connected or valued. This isn't just recruitment fees; it's the cost of lost productivity, reduced team morale for those left behind, and the immense energy required to onboard and train new starters... who might just leave in 6 months anyway. This attrition is costing you a fortune.

The Real Issue: Misaligned Priorities

Look, you’re not wrong to want a vibrant workplace culture, and perks can be part of that. But they’re often a plaster for deeper issues.

Every penny you spend on perks that don't address the real retention drivers is a penny that could have been invested in things that actually keep top talent engaged:

❇️ Clear career progression frameworks

❇️ Competitive compensation reviews

❇️ Meaningful project ownership

❇️ Skills development that advances careers

❇️ Leadership that provides genuine mentorship and advocacy

Your current approach isn't just ineffective - it's actively funding your competitors' growth. You're developing talent, building their confidence with fun team experiences, then watching them take those skills (and that positive energy) to organisations that better align with their actual career goals.

Research shows employees prioritise three things over flashy perks:

1. Purpose and Impact: They want to know their work matters and aligns with their values.

2. Growth Opportunities: They crave clear paths to develop skills and advance their careers.

3. Authentic Recognition: They need to feel seen for their contributions, not just handed a free doughnut.

When these are missing, no amount of free coffee or “fun” Fridays will keep your talent from looking elsewhere. The good news? You can shift your approach to deliver what employees want and strengthen your organisation, without breaking the bank.

2. Empower Employees with Growth Opportunities

Forget ladders. Today’s talent wants lattices—flexible, cross-functional growth that evolves with them. Diageo’s Learning for Life and internal mobility models show how development drives retention.

Diageo’s Learning for Life programme and graduate schemes offer clear career paths, from digital tech to whisky specialisation. Employees like Yuka, a Financial Controller, thrive due to flexible roles that align with their goals. Research shows 93% of employees stay when organisations invest in development.

Actionable Tip: Map career trajectories in quarterly 1:1s. Offer personalised learning, like Diageo’s digital training, to keep employees engaged and growing. Remember, the learning pathway has to be a mutual agreement, not an enforced one.

The Real Conversation Happening in Your Organisation

While you're planning the next team outing, your top talent is having these conversations:

"I love the vibe here, but I've been in this role for 18 months with no clear path forward."

"The pizza parties are nice, but I could be making £15K more elsewhere doing the same work."

"They keep giving us more stuff we don’t need, but when I asked about a promotion timeline, my manager couldn't give me a straight answer."

"I feel like they think a beer cart makes up for the fact that my project suggestions keep getting ignored."

Your competitors aren't winning because they have better perks. They're winning because they're having different conversations entirely. Conversations about growth, impact, and recognition that goes beyond a company-branded water bottle.

What Your Top Performers Really Want (And It's Not More Pizza)

After working with many organisations on retention challenges, the pattern is clear. High performers leave for three core reasons, and none of them are perk-related:

They don't see a future. Your org chart hasn't changed in two years. Promotions happen rarely and seemingly randomly. Career conversations are vague and non-committal.

They don't feel valued where it counts. Recognition comes in the form of team shout-outs and fun experiences, but their compensation hasn't moved meaningfully. Their ideas are noted but rarely implemented.

They don't believe in the leadership pipeline. They can't see themselves growing into leadership roles because the development path isn't clear or accessible.

Meanwhile, your competitors are actively addressing these exact pain points with structured career frameworks, transparent promotion processes, and compensation that acknowledges market realities.

The Strategy That Actually Works

The companies that win the talent war aren't the ones with the most creative perks. They're the ones who have cracked the code on making high performers feel genuinely invested in their future at the company.

This means shifting from asking "What perk would make them happy?" to "What would make them choose us over a 25% salary increase elsewhere?"

The answer isn't more fun. It's more growth, more recognition, and more alignment between what they want for their careers and what you're offering as their next chapter.

Great leadership is more powerful than any perk. Your people aren’t leaving because of a lack of free stuff. They’re leaving because no one’s showing them a future worth staying for.

Your Next Move

If you're tired of developing talent for your competitors, it's time to audit where your employee investment is actually going. Are you funding short-term satisfaction or long-term retention?

The organisations that master this shift don't just keep their best people - they become magnets for top talent from competitors who are still trying to solve retention with office perks.

Your choice: keep planning pizza parties while your best people plan their exits, or start building the kind of employee experience that makes other companies' perks irrelevant.

The clock is ticking. Your competitors are counting on you to make the wrong choice.

What to Do Instead (And Where I Come In)

This is where Victoria Canham Consultancy comes in. We work with ambitious leaders in scaling businesses (like yours) to transform your employee journey, not with superficial fixes, but with fundamental shifts in leadership and culture.

I’m not here to cancel the brownie boxes or bin the team quiz night.

I’m here to help you stop bleeding talent and start building cultures that people don’t want to escape from.

As a Performance and People Strategy Partner, I work with senior leaders and HR teams to:

1. Uncover the real reasons your team isn't engaged: It's rarely about the pay cheque. It's about 1feeling valued, having clear direction, autonomy, growth opportunities, and genuinely supportive leadership. We'll identify the specific blind spots and breakdowns in your employee journey.

2. Equip your leaders to truly lead: Stop the micromanagement and the 'no management'. We empower your leaders to inspire, listen, solve problems with their teams, and foster an environment of psychological safety and growth. This isn't about becoming 'soft'; it's about becoming incredibly effective.

3. Craft an irresistible Employee Journey: From onboarding to offboarding, every touchpoint is an opportunity to build loyalty. We help you design an experience where your team feels seen, heard, challenged (in a good way!), and valued, leading to genuine advocacy for your brand. This isn't 'one-size-fits-all'; it's strategically aligned to your business and your people.

Imagine a scenario where your best talent isn't just staying, but actively championing your company, where your internal team becomes your most powerful recruitment tool, where your growth is fueled by a committed, engaged workforce, not a constantly churning revolving door.

This isn't a pipe dream. It's the reality for businesses that choose to invest in their people strategically, not just superficially. You can solve this. Your team can be engaged. Your recruitment costs will plummet.

You have the ambition to scale. You have the desire to do things differently. All you need is the right strategic partner to help you see beyond the surface-level fixes and build a truly resilient, high-performing team.

Ready to Stop the Talent Drain?

If you’ve got a retention problem hiding behind perks, I can help you solve it.

This isn’t about adding another workshop or slapping on a new benefits policy.

This is about building a culture where your people want to perform—and choose to stay.

📩 Book a free Strategy Call and let’s map out where the real risk lies—and what to do about it.

Ready to stop funding your competitors' talent pool? Let's talk about building retention strategies that actually work - strategies that make your best people choose growth with you over higher pay elsewhere.

It's time to stop guessing and start leading with a retention strategy that works. Book a call, let's set up a Talent Retention Review and let's find out what’s really going on under the surface — before your next star performer hands in their notice.

Let’s Talk About the ROI of Retention

Because here’s what your board really wants to know:

“What’s this going to cost us?”

My answer?

Let’s reframe the question.

What is attrition already costing you, right now?

✳️ The average cost to replace an employee = £30,000*

✳️ Morale drop = incalculable

✳️ Customer experience hit = brand damage

✳️ Leadership trust loss = ripple effect for months

Fixing the root cause of retention is not a cost.

It’s an investment in your future margins, momentum, and mission.

*How is the £30,000+ replacement cost calculated?

This figure comes from multiple HR studies (like those by Oxford Economics and the CIPD) and typically includes:

1. Direct recruitment costs

Agency fees / recruiter commissions

Advertising costs

Internal time spent on CV reviews, interviews, onboarding

Average estimate: £5,000–£10,000

2. Salary costs during ramp-up

Most new hires take 3–6 months to reach full productivity

During this time, they’re being paid but not yet performing at full capacity

You’re also often doubling up—paying both the new hire and others who cover during onboarding

Estimated cost: ~£15,000–£20,000

3. Lost productivity and knowledge drain

When someone leaves, there's usually a knowledge vacuum

Projects slow, client relationships can suffer, and remaining team members are stretched thin

Cost of lost productivity, rework, morale impact: £5,000–£15,000

So what's the real cost?

“The average cost of replacing an employee earning £25,000+ per year is £30,614.”

– Oxford Economics + Unum, Workforce Mobility Study

For senior leaders or specialists? That figure can easily double—especially if institutional knowledge or client trust is lost in the process.

🔻

I am Victoria Canham, I transform employee journeys into competitive advantages. From frontline staff to senior leaders, I help you create a culture of respect, growth, and loyalty that drives bottom-line results.

As a Performance and People Strategy Consultant, I help organisations transform workplaces through culture change, leadership coaching, and EX strategies that drive results. Follow me on LinkedIn for more insights on building high-performing teams in 2025.

Book a Consultation

Comment On This Article

First Name

Email *

Comment (Email addresses will be kept private)

I consent to receiving email from Victoria Canham Coaching and acknowledge that I can unsubscribe at anytime.

Return to Blogs

Fast Asleep: How to get a really good night's rest by Dr Michael Mosley

A good night's sleep is essential for a healthy brain and body. So why do so many of us struggle to sleep well? In Fast Asleep, Dr Michael Mosley explains what happens when we sleep, what triggers common sleep problems and why standard advice rarely works.

Prone to insomnia, he has taken part in numerous sleep experiments and tested every remedy going. The result is a radical, four-week programme, based on the latest science, designed to help you re-establish a healthy sleep pattern in record time.

With plenty of surprising recommendations - including tips for teenagers, people working night shifts and those prone to jet lag - plus recipes which will boost your deep sleep by improving your gut microbiome, Fast Asleep provides the tools you need to sleep better, reduce stress and feel happier.

We’re not just about overcoming obstacles, we’re about transforming lives.

Book Recommendation

Victoria Canham - Performance and People Strategic Partner

Victoria Canham is an ICF-accredited Certified Professional Coach and the founder of Victoria Canham Consultancy. We are a specialist performance consultancy partnering with senior leaders and HR teams to elevate culture, leadership, and employee experience. Rooted in behavioural insight and change expertise, we diagnose what's truly holding performance back, co-creating practical, strategic interventions that drive sustainable business results and build workplaces that work—for people and performance.