Picking up vital signs of impending employee resignation
01/08/2011
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16
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As a people manager you are cruising along in your job - apart from market and client dealings, you motivate your teams, carry out employee appraisals, formulate development plans, assess financial remunerations, forecast and plan to hire based on projected growth in business. Then suddenly you are hit with a resignation of an employee. Where did that come from? Did you anticipate this? If you did, perhaps you could have prevented the resignation, but the chances are that you were taken by surprise as you did not notice the signs of trouble.
Managers can be proactive in preventing such surprises by focusing on changes in employee patterns of behavior. Interpreting behavioral changes is not exact science, but based on experience on the field, the following signs are vital clues:
Employee takes long vacations during period of critical business activity
This is a good indication of someone who wants to avoid hard work, or even take revenge, just before leaving the company. This may not be a good indicator for a new employee but for a seasoned employee who has been contributing towards business success, this is a vital sign of a pending problem. A classic example is of a salesman who decides to go on non-emergency leave in the last few weeks of a crucial quarter end during a time when the company is struggling to meet its revenue targets. Such an action is usually only taken when another job offer is on the table.
Burst of job related activities on social networks
If a manager is connected to an employee on LinkedIn or Facebook, then chances that a manager will pick up unusual activities of the employee are pretty high. A typical example: one employee fails to appear at work on a day when his presence is essential, citing that he was not well. Some days later the employee's manager sees photos of the employee partying with his friends in a country nearby on the day the employee claimed he was ill!
I am not suggesting for a minute that managers should spy on employees - this is unethical and totally unacceptable as every person has the right to do what he/she wishes in private time. Do not be like one CEO in the Middle East who used to monitor jobsites like Bayt.com and Jobserve.com to see which of his employees uploaded CVs, and then blacklisted them for training and promotion.
If an employee is joining job groups and linking up with recruiters, you know something is brewing.
However, be careful here - this activity may simply be that employee wants to know his/her worth in the market, especially before appraisal time. Look for other tell-tale signs as well to confirm employee is about to jump boat.
Being switched off, lagging behind work, demotivated
I have observed on numerous occasions that many people slow down at work, or switch off, one, two or even three months before they leave a company. Often their work will lag - you may hear complaints from clients or other team members that tasks are not carried out or deliverables are not on schedule. Creativity will vanish and energy level of employee declines. There will be loss of 'shine' in team meetings, quietness may set in or the employee may simply look dazed. The employee will be physically visible, yet invisible when it comes to contribution to teamwork.
Being argumentative at workplace
Some employees show their discontent with their job through becoming argumentative. If the behavior of the employee begins to change suddenly and does not return to normal patterns quickly, trouble could be brewing. This could be caused by personal conflicts - perhaps someone has upset the employee, or some other issue like external politics may have made an impact. Aside from these factors, the employee may simply be venting anger on people - a sign that he/she is considering an exit.
Coming late to work and/or leaving early
Coming late to work or leaving early regularly is an obvious sign that something is wrong. Now, it could be that the employee's car has broken down and catching a bus or a train may be causing delays. It could also be the fact that employee is now dropping off the child to school or picking up the child in the afternoon. Upon examination, if there are no clear signs that the employee has genuine reasons to be late or to leave early, you can bet that the employee is searching for another job.
Sudden pay demand
Employees are normally tactful in asking for pay rise. This may come through informal chats over a period of time, during the appraisal period, or when contracts are renewed for freelancers or when job responsibility is increased, for example, through promotion. If there is a sudden demand in pay increase outside these times or circumstances, the chances of another job offer is very high.
High volume data copying
Some people try to take data with them when leaving an organisation. This may be a contacts database, proposals, technical documentation, drawings or images and so on. As data is held on networked servers nowadays, there could be a surge in network activity for an about-to-go employee. This is very difficult activity to detect, but if there are sound network security policies in place, then these types of unusual activities can be detected.
Finally, a few words of caution are needed. There could be many understandable reasons why an employee may display an unusual behavior. It could be that a family member has become ill and this is causing anxiety. Financial problems may be another source - perhaps the employee has lost money through an investment that went wrong. It could also be that someone is going through relationship breakdown, like a divorce. Changes in the organisation, such as the appointment of a new executive or internal reorganisation, may cause uncertainties which lead to anxiety, anger, depression and demotivation.
A good manager always assumes the employee to be trustworthy unless proven otherwise. So the first step is to examine the well-being of the employee by engaging the employee and listening carefully to see if there are family or financial problems. Next, the organisation's environment should be examined - is there pending reorganisation or new management in place? Is there a job security issue? Has the market shifted so that your competitors are paying much more?
Detecting early and interpreting signs of unusual employee behavior is essential for managers to avoid urgencies becoming emergencies. If the employee decides to leave regardless, do give your thanks, and provide good reference and best wishes - the employee will remember your kind actions and will be your and your organisation's best advert in the market.
About the author
Shabeer Ahmad is a software sales manager at a leading IT company in the Gulf. Shabeer has worked for global blue-chip companies like EDS, Royal Bank of Scotland and Toyota in the US and Europe. Shabeer is the author of the book "The Inspired Manager: 40 Islamic Principles for Successful Management', which was published in the UK by Hothive Books. The book is available worldwide on Amazon and is carried in the Middle East by Jarir Bookstores.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inspired-Manager-Shabeer-Ahmad-Gazdar/dp/1906316406
Email: shabeer@inspiredmanager.com
Latest Comments
Total:
16
comment(s)
Nazeer Aval on
03 Aug 2011 05:43 PM
Excellent article. I had seen some of these signs on people who left earlier, of course yet to see in myself ;-)
Rizwan Ahmed on
06 Aug 2011 08:42 AM
Good thoughtful, and very readable piece. Good balanced treatment of the whole topic, especially the parts that caution about not being judgmental about the whole thing.
Emad AbuGharbieh on
06 Aug 2011 08:53 PM
Good article Shabir, but I'm not sure about the first and the second signs. Long vacations are planned at the first beginning of each year, and we all are very cautious in adding our managers to social networks :)
Ashraf Alam on
07 Aug 2011 09:32 AM
Nice Article. True picture about reason behind attrition. Very Informative.
Ahmed on
07 Aug 2011 04:32 PM
Interesting article, I have seen some of the above in people who have left an organisation that I have worked for.
A couple of other factors that I have heard people leaving mention are;
1. Recognition of work. This may be the business as usual work that is done on 'personal' days or the 'over and above' work done in order to help meet deadlines or customer satisfaction. If the right recognition (even if it is a thank you email sent to all the team) is not seen to be done an employee may feel they or their work is not being recognized.
2. Employees who have been with an organisation for a while, tend to inherit responsibilities over time due to various reasons e.g. stop gap for shortage of staff or due to organisational changes, but these are not always tangibly recognized whereby leaving certain employees with a feeling that they are doing things which should either be recognized through development plans or otherwise.
Anis CHAIEB on
07 Aug 2011 05:28 PM
Hi Shabeer, I found your article very informative and insightful ! I also "discovered" that you wrote a book about management principles inspired from Islam ! Very interesting ! Well done Sir !
Nadeem on
08 Aug 2011 04:45 PM
Informative and interesting tell-tale signs. I also feel that a good manager should be able to know his staff well enough to judge their employment satifaction / motivational level.
Asim Khan on
08 Aug 2011 06:24 PM
Interesting insight and I think the last two paragraphs summarized it very well. As the main catalysts to leave are if there is a change in job environment, lack of motivation and a drop in job satisfaction levels.
Mohammed Kiki on
08 Aug 2011 09:08 PM
Excellent Article. I have some other points to add that will give you some hints that the employee will leave:
1) Employee starts to change his work style. For example, if he always comes late and he starts coming early then this is a sign. If he always argues with his manager and he -all of a sudden- stops the argument hassle then this is also a sign.
2) Employee will start making fun or criticism his managers in front of his colleagues.
3) Employee will look over committed to work or -in some cases- careless to his work.
4) Employee will start asking other managers in his organization for a position change. This is definitely a sign that the employee is leaving.
5) Notecing many one 2 one meetings between the employee and his colleges give one indication,he is leaving and he is trying to justify -to himself- why he is doing it.
Syed Hassan Abbas on
09 Aug 2011 01:26 AM
I agree with you Shabbir Ahmad..
These signs are more obvious particularly in current econimic scenario, for instance in Saudi Market. Particularly with companies with no or less centralised HR function. In Saudi Arabia, these signs also indicate the direction of Menegement Attitude towards Growth and friendly HR Policies.
Aileen on
10 Aug 2011 02:15 PM
Very informative and well written, Mabrouk Shabir.
Raji Thomas on
11 Aug 2011 05:59 PM
Excellent article Shabeer. Enjoyed reading it.
Abdullah Al-Muaiqel on
15 Aug 2011 09:01 AM
That's a great article showing the major noticeable employees' behavior changes in the working environments. However, it's very important to the managers to have an early alert to have a suitable corrective actions to solve these issues may affecting employees performance or causing frustrations for the employees. Good and successful managers usually know how to retain their good employees without punishing them if they asked for their simple rights!
Thanks for the author for such a great article!
Aiedh Al-Zahrani on
18 Aug 2011 11:40 PM
great article, enjoyed reading it. thanks
Imran Mughal on
13 Sep 2011 07:57 AM
I agree 100% with Shabbir excellent article, valid signs.
I want to say its not only in Middle East its same around the globe.
(People always leave Managers not companies)
(Morale isn't something that can be bought. The work environment has to provide people with opportunities to success, to do their best, to be trusted, to be valued, and to be respected. Then morale and productivity can take place)
Mohammed Iftekhar on
16 Sep 2011 06:32 AM
Quite an interesting article. I now look forward to reading your book 'Inspired Manager'.