How to handle your top employee leaving

Here are some ways to tackle finding new talent and improving your business when your best worker decides to leave 

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Business News Daily

High performing employees know their worth. They may decide to resign because they’ve found another business that values their efforts or, perhaps, their current job at your company is not allowing them enough professional growth. 

Here are some tips on how to handle things when your best team member decides to leave. 

Let them know you appreciate their work 

Thanking the employee for their high performance during their time at your company will make them feel valued and will also ensure a good relationship, going forward, allowing you to safeguard any connections you have to this person and their network. 

Be polite

Taking out your frustration and fear on the employee is one of the worst actions you could take – speak calmly, and try to find out their reasons for leaving – maybe you can negotiate and keep them after all. 

Be legally safe 

Ensure you are abiding with employment laws when accepting their resignation. It’s also worth going over your contract with the employee to make sure any confidentiality agreements, or similar arrangements, are clear to both parties. 

Have an enriching termination interview 

It’s important to find out why your employee is leaving and how, if applicable, you can make changes to improve your company to make it more attractive to current and future workers. 

Filling the space 

You should think about setting up a succession plan so you are not left in a situation where you are forced to hire the first new candidate that shows interest. Maintaining a good relationship with your departing employee is especially important in this situation as you need them to provide a good handover to their successor plus they might be able recommend a potential new employee from their own network. 

Appointing another top employee 

Recruiting new employees will often take a large amount of time and resources to get them up to speed. Here are some alternatives for filling the role efficiently: 

• Promote from your current talent pool – your current employees are all well-versed in company culture and ethics. Appointing internally might save time and create a rewarding work environment as employees will see that there are pathways for progression with you. 

•  Have a deep understanding of the job you’re hiring for – your best worker will have performed numerous tasks – often outside of their specialised areas. Make sure you have a detailed record of their tasks in order to write an all-encompassing job description for external advert. This will help widen the chances that the new talent you recruit can perform all the tasks your previous employee did.

• Use recruitment teams to source talent – your job role might not allow you the time to find an appropriate candidate so consider using recruitment companies to filter through the candidate pool.