[theshrike79]

Companies keep making this mistake.

Nokia at one point started handing out very generous severance packages to get people out. The management thought that the bad workers would be the ones to take the deal.

Nope, the oldest and most experienced ones took the money and used it to start their own companies.

[mprovost]

(As I always point out...) This is known as the "Dead Sea Effect" and it was traditionally associated with companies like IBM but now we're seeing it across the board with tech layoffs. The best people know they have options and they have a good network so once a company starts showing signs of slowing down they bail out.

http://brucefwebster.com/2008/04/11/the-wetware-crisis-the-d...