Engage them! It sounds fairly basic but I've found time and again that many acquirer take their time identifying and assessing "key talent" then tip-tow around engaging them and asking what they want. Engage them! If the target has "key talent" then pull them into the deal, show them the value/opportunity of the deal, understand their careers aspirations, and assign them role in the transaction. What is a better way to assess talent than when they have a clear role/outcome, in the thick of it, and working in conjunction (not just parallel) with the acquirer. We take a similar human centric approach to M&A and the broader workforce. We leverage the workforce as a tool to drive change by building a strategy that engages your employees. Your workforce can be accelerators or impediments to change; its critical to for the workforce to “own” the integration
M&A transactions can certainly create uncertainty (and anxiety) for many employees involved or impacted. Additionally, these efforts typically create a larger workload for an extended period-of-time. In addition to providing retention bonuses to key employees, it's equally important to deploy effective change management and transparency in communication, to the extent possible. Communicating the potential transaction to key employees pre-closing is critical to ensure business continuity and strong employee morale. They should be informed on what is expected to happen, potential changes to occur and timing. Key management should have the opportunity to speak with the acquiring company pre-close to hear their message and strategy. If key managers are kept in the loop and feel positive about the change, they can then carry that message to the employees with confidence. This will go a long way to employee retention and keeping employees focused and engaged.