It’s Not Me. It’s You.

When an employee wants to break up with your company.

Photo Description: Woman sitting at a desk with her head down on the laptop computer .

You feel it coming. Your employee is coming in later and later. They are less vocal in meetings when they used to be the first to suggest an idea. They may even have more negative commentary than usual. Then you get it: the late night email or text that things just aren’t working out. They list several reasons why they don’t think they can stay. So what do you do?

1. PAUSE and listen carefully to what they are saying. I get it. Rejection hurts. Having an employee tell you they are thinking about leaving you feels like a break up. You have had lunches and dinners. You have met their family (or at least seen their pictures and heard stories about them). But take the emotion out of it. You are running a business and they are thinking about their professional, personal, and financial stability and progress. Hear them out before reacting, and if necessary, take a pause before responding.
2. THINK back to when you hired them. When you hired this employee did you have any reservations? When you asked them about their long-term goals, did they in anyway align with the goals or values of your business? Or did you hire them because they seemed to be know what they were doing and you needed a butt in the seat. Often, once you take the time to go back and think, you know that there was a sell by date on this employee and your strategy with them and your hiring process needed to be a different one. Should you have hired them as a temp employee while you continued searching for the right fit for your business? Probably.
3. CORRECT. Implement what you have learned. Don’t just write it down on a piece of paper during the exit interview. If your employee says that they didn’t feel welcomed by the other staff, find a way to address that in onboarding, peer coaching, and 360 feedback evaluations. If they say that the business seem unorganized, listen. As entrepreneurs, we sometimes forget that all of our staff has not subscribed to our lifestyle. Many people seek out jobs that provide them with security and stability. They are not looking to try new things as often as our imaginations would like to believe they are. Find a filter for those things while allowing your employees to express their creativity and contribute meaningfully to the overall the vision of the business.
4. SET A TIMELINE. Put a date on it. If the feedback you received from your soon-to-be former employee had some substance (which it likely did), brainstorm some solutions and then set timeframes for your implementation of the solution. Voice these things to your remaining team. That employee who wants to leave may be the brave soul leading the pack. It’s important to let your employees know that things won’t remain status quo.
5. LET THEM GO. Most often once an employee has worked up the courage to tell their manager that things are probably not working out, they have already imagined a life not working for you. They may even be looking forward to it. Rarely does keeping an employee after this type of scenario work out in the long term. This doubly applies to an employee who has received an offer from another job. You are living on borrowed time. It’s usually best to bid them farewell and use the lessons taught to improve your business and the culture for your remaining employees and any new team members.

The key is, don’t just dig your head in the sand. Don’t let the rejection get to you. Acknowledge whether there are somethings (often there are) that you can do better as a company. Implement those things and don’t dwell on the rejection. It happens to all of us at some point, and you still have a business to run, my friend.