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How to Recover After Losing a Top-Performing Employee

April 25th, 2018

Turnover is a part of business. Like it or not, everyone experiences it at some point. There are times when more go, and times when it seems like you’ll have this team in place forever. That can be when real tragedy strikes – the leader of your team announces their resignation.

 

Recovering after losing one of your top-performing employees can be a challenge, especially if you don’t understand why. You’re a good manager after all, why would they want to leave? There’s a good atmosphere, and everyone gets along and works well together. Instead of overthinking the departure, immediately jump into recovery mode with these four steps:

 

  1. Evaluate why they left

There are a number of reasons outside of your control for someone leaving, such as their family is moving. To determine why, conduct an exit interview with HR so the former employee can discuss what they liked and disliked about the position and ultimately their reason for leaving. Going through HR may encourage more transparency.

 

Once you know, you can determine if there’s something you should be doing better. For example, you thought your team was good, but this employee didn’t feel challenged enough. Consider what you can and can’t do about their reasons and develop a plan.

 

  1. Make any necessary changes

If there are ways you can avoid this happening in the future, find the solutions. You want the rest of your team to stay in place and grow, and listening to what went wrong might help more go right in the future. Plus, if other employees had similar issues, they will see your attempts to fix these situations and potentially retain more team members as a result.

 

  1. Maintain transparency with your team

Everyone on your team is going to feel this, so keep them in the loop. Explain to them what you can and gather feedback when necessary. You want to encourage strong morale despite the loss, making transparency essential for you to be viewed as a trusted manager.

 

  1. Begin the search again

Once you can see what happened and know how to improve in the future, it’s time to fill the position. After someone else is hired, continue to gather feedback regularly to keep employees engaged and hopefully avoid more losses in the future.

 

Find your next best employee with Staffing Resources

We’re locally owned and operated, with deep roots in the metro Atlanta business community. We take our business personally and work with you to find the best fit for your open position. Contact us today!

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