While an employee who is an average performer rarely considers leaving his or her job during a difficult economic period, high-potential employees do, according to research by Sirota Survey Intelligence.

The firm has found that the actions taken by employers during a recession can start a process that unintentionally devalues employees — by seeing them as costs to be controlled, rather than assets to be valued. For example, many companies will centralize decision-making, control information, reduce entrepreneurial risk-taking, and reduce discretionary rewards — and this makes it more likely that high performers will defect.

Programs for high-potential employees often seek to involve them in strategic decision-making, challenge heir abilities, develop/advance them quickly, and recognize/reward them generously. The business choices many companies make when responding to a recession can frustrate all of those goals.

Sirota has come up with eight steps employers should take to retain high-potential employees without alienating the rest of the workforce:

• Keep a focus on their career development needs
• Re-emphasize corporate values and ethics
• Be transparent as much as possible
• Reinforce their need for camaraderie
• Show leadership is also focusing on the longer term
• Involve them in the solutions
• Show they are valued
• Think creatively about recognizing and/or rewarding them