Telltale Signs That an Employee is About to Quit
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No matter the size of your business, retention is a huge concern. When turnover is high, employers face increased costs from recruiting and training replacement staff. Turnover can also affect productivity among remaining workers, lower morale, and impact customer satisfaction.
Imagine this scenario. Everything is going well in your business; you have a high-performing team and morale is high. Then your top employee quits, seemingly without warning. You are left reeling; why did this happen? Were there warning signs that you missed? Research on pre-quitting behaviors aims to answer these questions.
Changes in behavior indicating an employee may be about to quit include:
A decline in productivity.
Acting less of a team player.
A decline in the amount of work done/doing the minimum work.
Loss of interest in pleasing their manager.
Less willing to commit to long-term timelines.
A negative change in attitude.
A decline in effort and motivation.
Less focused on the job.
Increase in expressing dissatisfaction with the job.
Increase in expressing dissatisfaction with a supervisor.
Leaving work early more often.
Loss of enthusiasm for the mission of the organization.
Less interest in working with customers.
By noticing the warning signs that an employee is about to quit, you can intervene before it is too late and you lose the employee. There are a variety of short-term ways you can try to keep these employees on board. Invest in them via pay increases, bonuses, promotions, or new projects.
One of our favorite long-term retention techniques is the ‘stay interview’, which allows you to check in with your top performers and take corrective action before they reach the point of quitting. Conducting regular one-on-one interviews with employees enables you to find out what keeps them working for your business, and what needs to be changed to keep them from looking elsewhere.
If you suspect an employee is on the verge of leaving, the best thing you can do is have an open conversation with them about what can be done to avoid this.
If the employee is set on leaving, make sure you implement a thorough handover plan and try to establish as long a notice period as you can, to give you enough time to hire and train their replacement.
