Is your organization starting to feel like a revolving door?
You spend all this time finding the right person, putting them in a key position, getting them up to speed, and then they leave. Or someone else leaves. And you’re back to square one.
It is frustrating. It is expensive.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), it can cost anywhere from 50% to 200% of a person’s annual salary to replace them, depending on the level. Beyond the cost and hassle of hiring and onboarding, there’s also the impact on you and your team as you pick up the extra work.
And sadly, many times it’s this extra work, when it goes unacknowledged, that pushes other people on your team over the line into exploring other jobs themselves, and the cycle continues.
But here’s what I’ve learned from more than 15 years of working with leaders around the world. By the time somebody gives their notice, the decision has been made months, and possibly even years, earlier.
The good news is that most of the time, they’ve been showing signs all along. The problem is we just haven’t been paying attention or trained to see them.
Three Warning Signs That Someone May Be About to Leave
Before I share these, I want to be clear. What I’m about to share are indicators, not facts. It’s like when people talk about body language and they say, “Oh, they crossed their arms, they’re closed off.” Sometimes I’m just cold. These are signals worth paying attention to, but unless you check with the person, you don’t know what’s actually happening.
1. They lose their sense of humor.
If you had the habit of joking, playing, and laughing together all the time, having lunch together, making fun of each other, and it has stopped happening, that’s worth noticing.
A good thing to do is take a step back and check with this person. Something like, “Hey, we used to joke and laugh together all the time, but I’ve noticed recently that you don’t seem to be joking anymore. Is there something going on? Is there something I did?”
And sometimes, maybe they’re going through a divorce, or they have family or health problems, or maybe they’re just exhausted from work. But this conversation is an invitation to check in, whether as a colleague or as a manager, to see what’s going on and see if there’s anything you can help with.
2. They stop showing up (even when they’re there).
Maybe they call in sick all the time. They’re late for meetings. They don’t deliver things on time. Or maybe they just stop participating or turning their camera on.
If people stop sharing or participating, it’s often because they feel like they have no reason to be there. They may be considering other jobs. Or maybe not. Maybe they’re just saying, “You know what, I used to share my ideas and no one seemed to care. So I’m going to quietly resign.”
In this case, what we want to do is call it out. “Hey, I noticed you used to participate more, but you don’t anymore. Is there something happening? Is there something I did?”
Take the opportunity to take stock and see what’s going on.
3. They stop talking about the future.
They don’t mention next year’s conference. They stop talking about goals for next quarter, how they want to grow, what they want to work on. When people stop talking about the future, it’s usually because they no longer see a future for themselves in this company or in this position.
When that’s the case, the conversation we want to have is something like, “You know what, I realize we haven’t had a conversation in a long time about how you want to learn and grow within the organization. I want to know how you want to grow, both personally and professionally, over the coming year. Is there anything I can do to help? And is there anything stopping you from thinking you’ll have the opportunity to evolve here?”
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The Real Work Happens Before the Warning Signs
Spotting the signs is important. But if we want to create the kind of environment that makes people want to stay, we can’t just wait for the red flags. We need to make sure we’re doing regular check-ins.
Think of it like this. When we buy a plant, we rarely bring it home with the intention of killing it. But often what we do is take it home, put it on a shelf, forget to water it, forget to put it in the sun, forget to prune it, forget to make sure it has the soil it needs to grow. And then all of a sudden it dies.
If we don’t want that to happen with our people, we need to create and shape an experience that will make them want to stay. And here’s what that looks like in practice.
Have regular one-on-ones with your people. Whether it’s every week or every two weeks, keep them consistent. Don’t cancel them. These conversations are where trust gets built.
Understand their goals, both personal and professional. And remember, their goals may have nothing to do with yours. Maybe this job is simply offering them the salary, benefits, and resources they need so they can work on something they care about outside of work. But if you understand what matters to them, you can help them work towards it.
Remove the barriers that prevent them from doing their job. If someone leaves and we don’t replace them but just give everyone else more work, of course people are going to want to leave. It becomes unmanageable. As leaders, we need to understand what our people are facing, what’s getting in their way, and eliminate as many of those obstacles as possible.
Recognize and appreciate what they do every day. Not once a year. Not at the annual review. Every day, in small ways that show people their work matters and that someone sees them.
The Bottom Line
If we do these things and stay aware of what’s happening with our people, maybe we’ll stop losing them through that door. Maybe they’ll start staying longer. And maybe we’ll start building cultures that people don’t want to leave.
If you want to help your leaders get better at seeing, recognizing, and supporting their people before they start looking for the door, take a look at The Art of Recognition Training. It’s where we help leaders build the everyday habits that make people want to stay.
If your team is also navigating tension right now, this might help: Is Tension High on Your Team or in Your Organization Right Now? (Activity)
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