Perhaps some will. But in most cases, senior people do not make career decisions in a fit of pique after a single difficult compensation round. They leave when something more corrosive has set in: a sense that the organization is no longer being straight with them.

In banking, as in many other sectors, people can tolerate a great deal if they feel they are being dealt with honestly. A lean year, a delayed promotion, a less generous bonus pool than expected. None of these things are necessarily fatal. What unsettles people is uncertainty, or the suspicion that decisions were visible internally long before anyone had the decency to say so plainly.

That is where trust begins to recede. And once it has gone, retention becomes far harder than most leadership teams realize.

The good news for HR leaders is that this is fixable. Not through spin or reassurance, but through earlier and clearer expectation-setting.

Here are five practical ways to do it:

1. Identify where expectation gaps are forming

This usually happens well before anyone resigns. It appears around bonus rounds, promotion discussions, restructures, leadership changes, return-to-office expectations, or simply a slowdown the wider business has not yet fully absorbed.

HR is often well placed to spot those pressure points early, provided it is paying attention not just to policy, but to mood.

2. Encourage earlier conversations before decisions are final

Leaders often convince themselves it is more responsible to wait until every detail is confirmed. In practice, that creates a vacuum into which people pour their own assumptions. We saw a recent case where a bank delayed bonus announcements, leading to speculation that the news was bad. After a two-week delay, the low figures offered to bankers stung even more and prompted widespread questions  about whether this firm is the right one for many employees.

There is no need to dramatize bad news before its time. But signaling the direction of travel early allows people to adjust.

3. Train managers to handle uncertainty properly

A great deal of unnecessary attrition begins in one-to-ones rather than formal announcements. Managers who are not well supported often over-reassure or retreat into corporate mush because they are uncomfortable discussing uncertainty.

People do not expect their manager to have every answer. They do expect candor. ‘This is likely to be a tougher year’ is often better than a month of evasiveness followed by a surprise.

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