Did Your Top-Performing Employee Quit? Here’s How to Bounce Back

Making sure you have the right team members to help you keep your business on the right track can be a real challenge. Between tough competition with other companies over the industry’s top talent and bridging the skills gap, losing a key team member can be a significant challenge to overcome. But it’s one challenge you need to be prepared to face head-on. Here’s what to do, should the worst happen.

Hold Your Ground

In most cases of an employee leaving for a better offer, resist making a counteroffer. In most cases, a counteroffer is made in a moment of panic, but they generally don’t work out well in the long run. If an employee has accepted an offer from another employer, it’s likely it wasn’t just money that drove the employee to start looking. Rather than chase after a lost cause, focus internally and figure out what went wrong to push them out the door.

Plan for an Effective Handoff

When someone leaves, make good use of the person’s remaining time. Too often, when someone resigns, employers squander the person’s last few weeks in the role, by just letting the person continue on as if it’s business as usual. Instead, be smart about using their remaining time to download key information and extract their insight and advice on the responsibilities they’re leaving behind. Understanding those secrets will help you hire the right replacement and set them up for success in the role too, creating for a much smoother transition.

Add Them to the Loop

If you can, involve the departing employee in recruiting for the new role. It’s likely your departing employee will already be gone by the time you start interviewing for their replacement, but that doesn’t prevent you from picking their brain about who they think should fill their shoes before they go.  They may recommend someone already working for you, or might have an outside contact they think would be just the person for the job. If nothing else, they’ll likely have strong opinions about the type of person who would excel in the role (and maybe how to find them), and that’s valuable for you to hear.

Address Questions Head On

After a key player takes their leave, you can expect other staff may be nervous. If the departing employee has been handling key work or is known for being particularly outstanding in the role, other staff members may be anxious about what will happen next. They may even wonder what it means for their job. Take time to reassure people you’re confident that things will be fine. It might take a little while to get back to the way things were, but you have a plan and will help them through it all.

Need help finding great ag talent?

Losing a top-performing employee is never easy but luckily there are tips you can use to ensure there is a smooth transition. For more advice on how to retain and build an excellent workforce, contact the team at Ag 1 Source today.