When an employee tenders a resignation, the loss of that individual may trigger several negative emotions in the remaining staff, and while some might tend to scoff at the importance of addressing this, Bob McIntyre, director of service operations for the human resources firm Insperity, advises against that. Those emotions — including hurt, fear, or a sense of abandonment — can affect the remaining staff, and how organizations handle such turnover will impact business performance. In this Take Five interview, McIntyre discusses the “three A’s” of managing the loss of a co-worker. If handled thoughtfully and strategically, the departure can turn into an opportunity for overdue change.
Before discussing employee resignation grief, what can you tell us about how much longer this “Great Resignation” trend is projected to continue?
“The last piece of data I saw is that 51% of the employees surveyed said they are looking for a different job. So, given that, part of the continuation of this will be based on employer flexibility in terms of where they work, what they work on, and how long they work. It’s also going to be based on money. The average amount of additional money people get when they go to a new job is at least 20%. Labor is still tight, and now if we start growing, it will get even tighter for a while. So, the answer to your question is that I have absolutely no idea, but I don’t think it’s going to end real soon.”
What would you say to a skeptical executive whose basic attitude toward employees going through resignation grief would be to say, “buck up” or “put on the big boy or girl pants?”
“I would not suggest that approach. We talk a lot about taking care of your people, and particularly the millennials and younger people. They don’t want to hear buck up. If they don’t like it, they will leave. So, now is the time to focus on your employees. Focus on what they want. Listen to them and work very, very hard to make them feel like this is a place where they want to stay. If any executives try to go old school, I doubt it’s going to work very well.”
Regarding the three A’s that you’ve alluded to — 1) Acknowledge the emotional loss, 2) Address the practical considerations, and 3) Assess needs — what can you tell me about what each step entails for employers, starting with acknowledging the emotional loss?
“Well, there are a lot of factors. One is where is the person going? If they are going to a competitor, that might change how the organization treats them when they go. You always read about how a company is like a family. Well, people don’t quit the family. They don’t get fired from the family. It’s a community. Acknowledging the loss is critical.
“Frankly, with the loss of any employee, some people are going to be happy. Some will be sad. Some are neutral about an employee leaving. Let’s assume that it’s a great employee, a great person. Then there will be some emotional loss, and the best way for a leadership team to deal with that is to talk to your people. Tell them about how well the company is doing. Tell them about where the company is going. Acknowledge that we miss him, and we wish him well, and note that he did a great job while he was here. So, take the high road and be very positive, even though the manager who supervised this person is going to feel a personal loss.
“There are a lot of emotions involved, but the leadership team must acknowledge it, tell them where the company is, and go forward. Then, if the employees want to talk more, larger companies use what is called an employee assistance plan. If somebody wants to chat, they can talk to a counselor. It’s important to let people talk about it. If you don’t open a forum to do that, there is going to be water cooler talk, so you might as well sanction it and say, ‘Hey, feel free to talk about some of your thoughts.’”
The second point was addressing the practical considerations. What is involved there for an employer?
“The practical piece of it is obviously when a person leaves, remaining employees shoulder a certain portion of the workload, and what has to happen immediately is the organization needs to figure out how they are going to get that work done. Many employees will feel like, ‘Oh, no, here we go again because I’m going to have to pick up the slack.’ So, at that point, companies must look at what they do and think about what do we want to start doing differently? What do we want to stop doing? What do we want to continue doing? When you’re down in terms of staff, if you try to do the same things, there is going to be a toll on your workforce.
“Again, this is all about the workload, how work gets done, and it’s a good time to talk about new opportunities and the future of the company. It’s also a good thing, a practical consideration, to ask employees — if you want to fill this job as soon as possible — do you know anybody? Many companies pay for an employee referral. It’s basically allowing all the employees into your management and thinking about how are we going to run this business? They might have better ideas than leaders do about what’s next and what has to happen.”
And, finally, assessing the needs. What can you tell us about the considerations there?
“The needs are on a couple of different levels. One is an emotional need. Depending on the person, do they need time to process the loss? Are employees thinking, ‘That lucky dog, he escaped.’ Or are they thinking, ‘Why would he leave us high and dry?’ Whatever the reaction is, providing time for employees to process that is critical. It’s good to have smaller group discussions about the work and the work process and how can we do this differently? Take ideas from the employee group. So, you have needs in terms of people, morale, communications, workload, work process, and all those things must be addressed. They are all needs.”
In some ways, you consider the loss of a key employee to be an opportunity — an opportunity to do what in terms of reengaging the remaining staff?
“Well, anytime you add a new person to the team [after losing someone], it changes the dynamics of the team. It allows other team members to perhaps step up and be a leader. It allows the team to develop a new culture, a new way of doing business, and as much as it hurts when you lose a person, particularly if they are a top performer, sometimes the reward of hiring a new person who is a good team member, and very good at the work, is a plus in the near term. Frankly, one of my joys is to build teams. So, as much as you hate to lose somebody, being able to build a new team, even if it’s only one team member, changes everything. So, that’s a huge opportunity.
“It’s also an opportunity to look at the talents on the team. Are we missing a certain skill or knowledge area that we would like to fill differently? It provides some opportunities to rethink what’s going on. Who are the employees? What is the purpose is, the objective? And then there is an opportunity to redefine the mission of the group. What are its values? It can be a very exciting time once you get over the hurt of a loss.”
Is another consideration that somebody who left might have become best friends with somebody on your staff? Sometimes, it’s hard to deal with it from that standpoint.
“Well, it is. From the time somebody gives a resignation notice and it’s announced to the team, we shouldn’t look at that employee as an enemy. They’ve been a good employee for a while, and it’s an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of that person, and how that person walks out the door and how they feel and how they are celebrated by the organization sends a very clear and direct message to all the other employees. They are more likely to think, ‘These guys are pretty good here. I’m sorry this guy left, but our employer is handling it properly and we appreciate that.’ That’s one way to look at it.
“It’s amazing that when somebody is leaving, sometimes it turns into kind of an untouchable. Nobody knows how to talk to him. Nobody knows what to say. If it’s out in the open, it can be a very positive experience for everybody.”
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