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WARNING SIGNALS WHEN AN EMPLOYEE IS ABOUT TO LEAVEIn the last issue we discussed that all good managers have to resign themelves to the fact that even their most long term, perfect employees may resign at any time. Murphy's Law applies here too....they will always resign at the worst time. Being emotionally and mentally prepared for it is the first and best countermeasure that can be taken. Pay AttentionThe next line of defense is to look for the warning signals that usually precede some one's leaving. Looking for the warning signals of an employee about to resign takes some awareness. Even during the first six months or so of employment, most employees establish patterns of work. It is important for managers to be attentive to those patterns. When a person arrives at work, how much work they do, when they leave for the day, even how tidy or untidy they keep their desks become habits or patterns. When employees are thinking of leaving they tend to alter those patterns. Their desk all of a sudden becomes tidy. They either appear right on time when their pattern has been the opposite. They are out more than their pattern has been with excuses that are vague. They stay late or leave right on time when their pattern has been the opposite. On some days they over dress (for interviews) and either leave early or take a long lunch hour. Some employees give an indication of their leaving by purposely soliciting from as many superiors as they can their opinion of how the individual is doing. They hint at where they would like to be in the organization when they already know the progression. Some even go so far as to threaten management that if things don't change they will leave. (Don't worry when this happens, that person is leaving anyway!) Once a person feels compelled to threaten he is mentally on his way out. These same types of people openly start complaining about management, their peers, their pay, etc. They often seek out other weak links in the organization who they complain to (thinking it will change things). They think or imagine that such conversations will ease the pain when they leave. Be ForewarnedA real forewarning as to why a person will leave is to analyze and understand why they left their last positions. Most managers who have been interviewing, hiring, firing and supervising over a long period of time (at least 10 years) will testify that most of their ex-employees left them for about the same reasons they left their previous employers. They performed at about the same level as they had done in their previous jobs too. If that usually comes as no shock why do we. not analyze more closely all of the circumstances around the candidates leaving his previous jobs?. ...A mystery of the mind! A drastic change in one's personal life will often cause them to leave their jobs. Divorce rates highest on this list. Marriage is second. Death of a close family member is third. Often when people change their personal lives emotionally they change jobs too. They'll say "I just need a change!" Rarely do they leave and there is little a manager can do. ChangeGood managers recognize changes in behavior. Sometimes the only action to be taken is to do nothing but prepare for the resignation. Other times the best action is to recognize that once an employee leaves mentally they might as well leave physically. Encouraging the inevitable in a tactful way will end the anxiety and emotional trauma of the separation. How this is done has a lot to do with the personal style of the manager. Some managers of highly intense groups like sales forces protect themselves by regularly interviewing perspective candidates just in case there is an unexpected resignation. (We will discuss the residual benefits of this in other HIRING LINES.). It may be painful to do and in some departments rather impractical, but it's a strong decisive, defensive move. Being aware of the indications that lead to an employee's departure helps make good managers better. |
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