Many companies are seeing staff cuts of 10 to 20 percent in their attempts to slim down and stay competitive. In a downsizing, companies can expect to lose 10 to 15 percent of the employees they didn't lay off-their critical top talent. Managers who ignore the human toll-for those who survive the layoffs as well as those who are hit-will likely find themselves with angry and anxious staff at a time when they need teamwork more than ever.

Why is this downturn different? In the economic slowdowns of the past, talented professionals were readily available and waiting in the wings. If you lost another 15 percent of your surviving staff, you could easily dip into a well-stocked talent pool. Today, companies only have a puddle to draw from.

What you don't read on the front pages is that the U.S. unemployment rate is only 4 percent. All the layoffs we've seen since January totaled only 150,000 people. Conversely, 268,000 new hires were reported in that same time frame. Meaning, more people were hired than laid off. The "talent pools" are mere puddles.

The hidden danger that should shock any executive is the amount of money their company loses when valuable employees exit. The numbers are staggering.

A recent client had 300 employees. To simplify the math, say every employee earned $50,000 per year. Executives decided to reduce the work force by 30 percent, or 100 people. Their savings would be equivalent to $5 million-a pretty good sum. What they didn't expect was to lose an additional 10 percent in the form of 30 indispensable people.

The cost to replace an employee is, conservatively, 1.5 times that person's salary, according to consulting firm Sibson & Co. It can cost up to four times a salary to replace many positions, such as executives and salespeople.

Using the 1.5x figure, the client has to replace the critical 10 percent it lost: That's 30 people x $75,000 ($50,000 x 1.5) = $2,225,000. Ouch! That amount should scare the pants off any executive and make him take action to find ways to retain those indispensable people.

Imagine the large companies that are cutting 5,000 jobs. Add the survivor exits that need replacing and that's an estimated loss of $1.5 billion. Retention is now a critical issue for every executive and manager. No longer is it a problem for human resources. It's a profit-and-loss issue that can't be ignored.

Gary Perman is a partner of Perman Willits Langone Inc., a National Search and Management-Consulting firm specializing in the Electronics Industry (Camas, Wash.).