SFFP, I guess we will have to disagree. In this case any planning that management may have done would have left via the window of SDSR. If you talk to any of the strategic manpower planners they will tell you that it is not possible to predict all the market conditions (especially financial) that affect intake and especially outflow. It is not an exact science and the controls take time to have any effect.
The equivalent of FRIs happen every day across the commercial sector - if companies really want to retain a particular individual or their skills, they just pay more.