Employee turnover is a high stressor for employers as this equates to more added stress, expense, and time-consuming efforts to recover, especially when the people leaving are your top talent. Does your company have processes in place for retaining your employees? Many businesses claim to have the budget for employees furthering education and great benefits to maintain staff. Is this enough?
As Forbes proclaims, it indeed is not enough. “Despite some of the delusional perspective in the corner office, when we interview their employees, here’s what they tell us:
- More than 30% believe they’ll be working someplace else inside of 12 months.
- More than 40% don’t respect the person they report to.
- More than 50% say they have different values than their employer.
- More than 60% don’t feel their career goals are aligned with the plans their employers have for them.
- More than 70% don’t feel appreciated or valued by their employer.”
Let us explore the top ten signs that your top talent is about to leave.
1. No longer invested in long-term projects.
Top talent thrives off projects that test their innovation and put them up to a challenge. The long-term patience, planning, organizing, and hard work drives home their talents in your industry. If you notice staff no longer interested in long-term projects, this is a red flag. Speak with them before it is too late.
2. Low contribution during team meetings
Team meetings are where lots of ideation and future opportunities grow from. Employees who once were talkative no longer contribute during meetings is a sign of leaving. Top talent enjoys sharing their innovative ideas and lead projects. If these employees are now delegating assignments to others, this may be worth a conversation with the staff member.
3. High number of absent leave
Everyone needs a few days off for a refresher. However, have you noticed an employee who is now taking off lots of random days? Or have you noticed an employee now has new behavior of showing up and leaving at exact times? Although these do not warrant a conversation as these are personnel information to your employee, stay tuned to other behaviors. Oftentimes absent leave is followed by other, new behaviors.
4. Personality change – more reserved or quiet
Talented people value the opportunity to give their thoughts, ideas, insights, and observations on projects. Once your most passionate person stops talking, you need to be concerned. Has their been something at work that caused this new personality? Reach out to your staff and show empathy and understanding. This will show initiative towards a company culture that is about their employees as well as their company goals.
5. Talent was not considered for promotion or raise.
Employees are likely to accept the workload responsibility you give them if this comes along with performance and execution of the workload. Do you have a career plan for your employees? If so, have you been ensuring to continue to communicate progress or next steps to fulfill these career goals with staff? When employers fail to show an interest in their employees’ passions, employees will often seek employment elsewhere.
6. Productivity decrease
Productivity may be the easiest measurement when noticing an employee may be looking for employment elsewhere. Are there regular tasks each month that now take the employee much longer to preform? Or is the employee no longer showing an interest in completing projects? Regular check ins can give you the opportunity to discuss productivity. However, remember this is one part of what is often a much larger human resources issue.
7. Frequent frictions with another employee
When you enjoy what you do, your work is not work. Is this true? What if you enjoy your work and yet struggle to feel a sense of community with your coworkers? There is an ongoing trend that employees leave due to frictions with their supervisor or other employees. Keep track of ongoing frictions with employees you witness or are brought to your attention. This documentation will be helpful when approaching the employees about next steps in resolving consistent staff tension.
8. Start complaining.
People work for a paycheck. However, there are many studies to show that a paycheck is not the top reason people work. If you as employer fail to care about your employees at a human and emotional level, employees will level no matter how great their pay is at your company. Your easy-going employee has started complaining. Why? Approach your employee and show that you care. This will speak volumes about you as an employer and make a tremendous impact on the value your employee sees in continuing employment with you.
You have read through the list and you have a feeling your top talent is showing signs of leaving. Now what? We have experience guiding our clients through retention stressors. Contact us at Vinna Human Resources to discuss your next steps.