I think I already commented on this phenomenon earlier, but now it is really starting to hit me. We are now in the middle of the big defection seaon. It kinda makes the company seem like a joke when people are walking left and right proclaiming their relief at escaping the madness. Just last week my senior mentor left the firm and invited me to the exit party.

Yes, it is firm policy that anyone of stature (two years service?) get a little party when they leave. We are celebrating the natural attrition process, wishing them well, and hoping for future referrals all at the same time. I can understand the business idea that fewer enemies is better, so why not part on relatively good terms, eh? But this...

I was discussing this with a couple managers over lunch today. I repeated my concerns about how inefficient and disorganized the industry is due to the incredible turnover. At my level, it is a constant battle to keep up with cleaning up last years work, learning this years job, and trying to improve our process, even a little. I am always working with new people and never really seem to master anything.

All part of the plan, they say. The important client relationships are maintained at the top between the CFOs and the partners/managers of our firms. If the people at the bottom provide poor, inefficient, frustrating service, nobody at the top seems to care.

And so I got the speech about how the firm's pyramid structure requires high turnover. After all, we can't have as many partners as we do staff people; some people have to leave. I had heard this theory of encouraged attrition through overwork and poor conditions, but it just never made sense to me. I thought it was a thing of the past. As I realize that it is still part of the plan, I have less and less desire to devote any of my energy to improving things here. If the system is not made to be bearable, why should we even try to bear it?