A valuable employee wants to quit. What to do
Oct 29, 2024 7:02:37 GMT
Post by shukla on Oct 29, 2024 7:02:37 GMT
When cutting costs in conditions of economic instability, you can overdo it and face discontent among the team and the dismissal of valuable employees. Dismissal is an unpleasant procedure in itself, and when a valuable employee wants to quit, it is doubly difficult and dangerous. So what is the right thing to do in this situation - sign a statement of your own free will or make efforts to retain? Let's figure it out in the article.
Main reasons for dismissal
Competent employees who have been working in the company for a long time and perform important tasks will not quit without a reason. The first thing you should do if you are informed of dismissal is to understand the reasons. To do this, you need to talk face to face and try to find out what the employee is not happy with. But be prepared that the person will not talk openly about everything: if the reasons are personal or there is a conflict with colleagues, not everyone will discuss this with the management. But, as a rule, the main reasons for dismissals are quite banal:
•
low or insufficient salary in the employee's opinion;
•
the impossibility of career growth and burnout from website development service long-term performance of typical tasks;
•
conflicts with superiors;
•
lack of opportunity for self-development;
•
boring, monotonous work;
•
interruptions and irregularity of salary payments;
•
conflicts in the team;
•
unofficial work, lack of paid sick leave and vacations, insurance contributions;
•
dissatisfaction with the work schedule.
Non-obvious reasons for dismissal
1. Dismissal as manipulation
It happens that an employee is going to quit because competitors have offered him a higher salary. If he says this directly, it is quite possible that this is manipulation: he would be more happy to stay in the company on better terms. The whole question is whether these terms are worth offering if the question is posed this way.
If you give in and increase the salary, this form of influence will become established as possible. A year later, the same employee will come for a raise again, and then again.
In addition, the team also considers this form of pressure to be effective, and following this employee, others may come with the same request.
There is one quite workable option here: along with the salary increase, add responsibilities to the employee. If he happily gets down to business, great, then there is a high probability that this employee was worth keeping exactly like this. If you hear complaints and discontent, then you can calmly say goodbye to this employee. It is better not to deal with outright manipulators.
Alexander Bochkin , CEO of Infomaximum , also thinks so :
"We noticed a decrease in the involvement of one developer in the work. He even became less active in chats and conversations with the team leader. When communicating with the manager, the person categorically noted burnout or some problems, focusing on a large number of tasks. But one day, the specialist himself called the team leader for a conversation, where he laid out in one fell swoop that he had been made an offer with a salary twice as big and hinted that he was waiting for a return offer from us. However, we decided not to do this. Firstly, according to the assessments of the department manager and the team leader, the person's skills and competencies did not pull off such an amount. Secondly, this form of blackmail suggests that in the future the person could do this more than once.
We will not persuade a person to stay if he gives such ultimatums. And it does not matter what complex and specific skills the specialist has. This is contrary to our values and internal policy. We will always support those who are confused or doubt their abilities, who want to achieve something more. In many ways, a person simply needs to be "led", encouraged or given time to get their thoughts in order. But we will not hold back blackmailers - and the conditions do not necessarily include salary. This is fraught with the creation of a precedent and its repetition"
2. Dismissal as a protest
In this case, your employee will most likely explain his decision. The reason may be an open conflict with the head of the department or division, a quarrel with colleagues, bullying. Talk to the employee, as well as the other parties to the conflict. If, for example, it turns out that not only this employee, but the entire department is dissatisfied with the head of the department, perhaps it is the head that should be fired or replaced.
3. Dismissal for personal reasons
Moving, a serious illness in the family, the birth of a child, a difficult divorce - all these are quite likely reasons for dismissing a valuable employee. As a manager, you cannot influence the reason itself, but you can adjust the conditions if you are interested in keeping the employee on staff.
You can set up a remote work format, consider a flexible schedule or part-time work, you can give an additional workload if a salary increase helps solve the problem.
Is a valuable employee really going to quit?
Before deciding how to act, you need to understand how valuable and irreplaceable the employee is going to leave you. To do this, you need to divide the staff into core and auxiliary. Of course, this is a conditional division, but it will help you understand who and what you are losing.
There are employees whose decisions and work directly affect the development of the company. They are difficult to replace because, firstly, they are highly qualified, and secondly, they are deeply immersed in the processes. It will take a lot of time to replace them - find a new specialist, train him, establish his interaction with the team, introduce him into the main processes of the company. Perhaps, if such an employee wants to quit, it is worth making an effort to retain him.
For example, it is better to motivate a good salesperson or IT specialist and offer more favorable conditions. It will be difficult to find a replacement for them. The same story with the head of a department or deputy head who has a large amount of information about the company.
Among objectively valuable employees, there are also conditionally "irreplaceable" ones. This category of workers is not so simple. At first glance, they work diligently and responsibly, take most of the processes into themselves, and try to solve everything themselves. But on the other hand, this approach has a huge number of disadvantages: they do not know how to delegate, do not explain to subordinates what tasks they are solving, and selectively inform colleagues. As a result, the company has an "irreplaceable employee" who demands special conditions for himself. In fact, his efficiency is much lower than that of colleagues who transparently set up processes.
If such an “irreplaceable” employee wants to leave, most often this is only a plus for the company in the long term, and it is not worth keeping him.
Dmitry Matveev , founder of the company "My Car Rental" , believes that you need to know how to let people go, especially if it is not a valuable employee who is leaving, but an employee who considers himself valuable:
"The first thing you need to do to retain a valuable employee is to understand the reasons for the dismissal, they can be very different: from family circumstances to the employee being outbid by competitors. If it is a family matter, then the company always meets halfway and tries to help the employee. But if it is outbid and the employee is loyal, then you need to understand the competitors' offer, and if it is really better, then beat it by discussing the employee's additional motivation.
It is motivation and super-tasks that help employees grow, but the first thing you need to start with is to diagnose the reason, and then work on the tasks.
We have no experience of valuable employees leaving. Employees who considered themselves valuable left, but new personnel quickly grew up in their place, who had previously been in the shadow of more experienced colleagues.
Main reasons for dismissal
Competent employees who have been working in the company for a long time and perform important tasks will not quit without a reason. The first thing you should do if you are informed of dismissal is to understand the reasons. To do this, you need to talk face to face and try to find out what the employee is not happy with. But be prepared that the person will not talk openly about everything: if the reasons are personal or there is a conflict with colleagues, not everyone will discuss this with the management. But, as a rule, the main reasons for dismissals are quite banal:
•
low or insufficient salary in the employee's opinion;
•
the impossibility of career growth and burnout from website development service long-term performance of typical tasks;
•
conflicts with superiors;
•
lack of opportunity for self-development;
•
boring, monotonous work;
•
interruptions and irregularity of salary payments;
•
conflicts in the team;
•
unofficial work, lack of paid sick leave and vacations, insurance contributions;
•
dissatisfaction with the work schedule.
Non-obvious reasons for dismissal
1. Dismissal as manipulation
It happens that an employee is going to quit because competitors have offered him a higher salary. If he says this directly, it is quite possible that this is manipulation: he would be more happy to stay in the company on better terms. The whole question is whether these terms are worth offering if the question is posed this way.
If you give in and increase the salary, this form of influence will become established as possible. A year later, the same employee will come for a raise again, and then again.
In addition, the team also considers this form of pressure to be effective, and following this employee, others may come with the same request.
There is one quite workable option here: along with the salary increase, add responsibilities to the employee. If he happily gets down to business, great, then there is a high probability that this employee was worth keeping exactly like this. If you hear complaints and discontent, then you can calmly say goodbye to this employee. It is better not to deal with outright manipulators.
Alexander Bochkin , CEO of Infomaximum , also thinks so :
"We noticed a decrease in the involvement of one developer in the work. He even became less active in chats and conversations with the team leader. When communicating with the manager, the person categorically noted burnout or some problems, focusing on a large number of tasks. But one day, the specialist himself called the team leader for a conversation, where he laid out in one fell swoop that he had been made an offer with a salary twice as big and hinted that he was waiting for a return offer from us. However, we decided not to do this. Firstly, according to the assessments of the department manager and the team leader, the person's skills and competencies did not pull off such an amount. Secondly, this form of blackmail suggests that in the future the person could do this more than once.
We will not persuade a person to stay if he gives such ultimatums. And it does not matter what complex and specific skills the specialist has. This is contrary to our values and internal policy. We will always support those who are confused or doubt their abilities, who want to achieve something more. In many ways, a person simply needs to be "led", encouraged or given time to get their thoughts in order. But we will not hold back blackmailers - and the conditions do not necessarily include salary. This is fraught with the creation of a precedent and its repetition"
2. Dismissal as a protest
In this case, your employee will most likely explain his decision. The reason may be an open conflict with the head of the department or division, a quarrel with colleagues, bullying. Talk to the employee, as well as the other parties to the conflict. If, for example, it turns out that not only this employee, but the entire department is dissatisfied with the head of the department, perhaps it is the head that should be fired or replaced.
3. Dismissal for personal reasons
Moving, a serious illness in the family, the birth of a child, a difficult divorce - all these are quite likely reasons for dismissing a valuable employee. As a manager, you cannot influence the reason itself, but you can adjust the conditions if you are interested in keeping the employee on staff.
You can set up a remote work format, consider a flexible schedule or part-time work, you can give an additional workload if a salary increase helps solve the problem.
Is a valuable employee really going to quit?
Before deciding how to act, you need to understand how valuable and irreplaceable the employee is going to leave you. To do this, you need to divide the staff into core and auxiliary. Of course, this is a conditional division, but it will help you understand who and what you are losing.
There are employees whose decisions and work directly affect the development of the company. They are difficult to replace because, firstly, they are highly qualified, and secondly, they are deeply immersed in the processes. It will take a lot of time to replace them - find a new specialist, train him, establish his interaction with the team, introduce him into the main processes of the company. Perhaps, if such an employee wants to quit, it is worth making an effort to retain him.
For example, it is better to motivate a good salesperson or IT specialist and offer more favorable conditions. It will be difficult to find a replacement for them. The same story with the head of a department or deputy head who has a large amount of information about the company.
Among objectively valuable employees, there are also conditionally "irreplaceable" ones. This category of workers is not so simple. At first glance, they work diligently and responsibly, take most of the processes into themselves, and try to solve everything themselves. But on the other hand, this approach has a huge number of disadvantages: they do not know how to delegate, do not explain to subordinates what tasks they are solving, and selectively inform colleagues. As a result, the company has an "irreplaceable employee" who demands special conditions for himself. In fact, his efficiency is much lower than that of colleagues who transparently set up processes.
If such an “irreplaceable” employee wants to leave, most often this is only a plus for the company in the long term, and it is not worth keeping him.
Dmitry Matveev , founder of the company "My Car Rental" , believes that you need to know how to let people go, especially if it is not a valuable employee who is leaving, but an employee who considers himself valuable:
"The first thing you need to do to retain a valuable employee is to understand the reasons for the dismissal, they can be very different: from family circumstances to the employee being outbid by competitors. If it is a family matter, then the company always meets halfway and tries to help the employee. But if it is outbid and the employee is loyal, then you need to understand the competitors' offer, and if it is really better, then beat it by discussing the employee's additional motivation.
It is motivation and super-tasks that help employees grow, but the first thing you need to start with is to diagnose the reason, and then work on the tasks.
We have no experience of valuable employees leaving. Employees who considered themselves valuable left, but new personnel quickly grew up in their place, who had previously been in the shadow of more experienced colleagues.