Resignation

Yesterday I was faced with an employee who had decided to resign his position within our organization. This is a really unfortunate situation as the employee has only been with us for a couple of months. The question that comes up during this time is, why? Why has this person decided to leave the organization? What could we have done differently to prevent this person from leaving?

The first decision that a business or a manager has to decide was the decision to hire this person the right decision to begin with? If the answer to this question is yes than there is going to have to be some further research about the reason for leaving. The first question would be to think about onboarding and if the onboarding experience was performed successfully. This includes the time the offer was made, the first day of employment and initial training. If all of these were done successfully than the next place to review would be the team they were working with. Did this person feel part of the team, did they feel they had the support of the leadership, and do they feel like they are valued? The last concern would be how was the communication with the employee on a daily basis and did they feel like they had a personal contact with leadership.

The fact of the matter is it is very difficult to find the right person for the right role. Once you have found this person it is important to understand they have an option to leave. It is the role of the manager to make sure the employee is happy, producing and challenged. Every manager is busy but if they do not build a bridge of communication with the employee the employee is certain to lose interest quickly. Leaders find a way to be accessible, touch base and respond when needed.