Red Flags That Indicate Your Top Performers Are About to Quit!
Believe it or not, your top performers often work the hardest and add extreme value to your business than your worst performers combined, which is probably why you want to keep them around for as long as possible, right?
You may find yourself in a situation where your top performs quit or resign out of the blue, then you may ask yourself: what went wrong, was their departure that unexpected?
How many of your top performers have quit, leaving you, their leader, manager or boss, wondering why or what happened? People will quit before they ask for what they want or tell you what is wrong. That’s why knowing what to look out for is so powerful.
We’ll explain and explore what four red flags to look out for when trying to figure out if your best employee is about to quit.
If you notice some of these behaviors, remember to act fast and retain your valued employees!
NO MEANING IN THEIR WORK:
Quite an obvious sign that your employee is unhappy if they no longer find their work rewarding and meaningful. This often happens if your leadership skills are lacking as an employer and don’t show your team the bigger picture and fail to explain how they contribute to the company’s goals and success.
‘’Even if your employee is a top performer, they might get no sense of meaning from their work, mainly if they deal with transactional or manual activities and don’t involve a lot of contact with others’’ says Heather Reading from the Juice, Accelerated Recruitment Learning.
Your top performer can be highly beneficial to your company but they not understand it, as their work brings no satisfaction and resulting in making them feel like they haven’t accomplished anything.
Put yourself in your employees’ position or ‘’shoes’’ as they say. How would you feel? What would you like your manager or boss to do? To battle and understand this feeling of what they are going through, conduct one-on-ones with your employees to talk about their role within the company. During that meeting describe how their work affects the company at large and as a whole, which will help them feel valued. Communication is key!
If your employee finds no meaning at work, they might just quit soon.
LOWER ENGAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY AT WORK:
When you notice a decline in work productivity and engagement, your employee is likely to be on their way out. Yes, this sounds very harsh but it’s true. Did you know that 73% of disengaged employees are actively looking for another job?
Be sure to look out for certain behaviours such as when an employee stops sharing their ideas, suggestions and observations, they no longer have the will to engage with your business or want to contribute to its success other than the obligatory tasks.
Since engagement and communications is an essential factor for retaining employees, you will need to find ways to promote it. You can’t do this without working closely and being hands on with your employees and making an effort to hear about their day-to-day activities.
If you take the time to actually sit down with them and ask their opinion regarding their job, how they feel when they work or if they are coping with the workload and what would be improved moving forward, you may just light a spark in them again and get them to say as they feel valued.
Lower engagement and productivity is a huge red flag as it shows your employee is unhappy with their job.
VISIBLE STRESS:
Employees who are showing signs of stress are more likely to quit.
According to The World Health Organization, the organization lists burnout as an occupational phenomenon cause by chronic workplace stress. Symptoms include exhaustion, lower productivity, and mental distance to the job or a negative attitude.
None of these symptoms are good for your employees’ mental health, who will eventually quit due to all the stress involved. The sad reality is that burnout happens because no one does anything to improve the well-being of their employees. As a manager, you should find ways to reduce the workload and work stress of each overwhelmed employee.
Ensure you organize meetings with the team to determine whether they need help or assistance with the workload. Be sure to encourage them to ask for help when they feel as if they have way too much on their hands.
If most of your employees are overworked, you need to hire more staff and rethink your strategy and operations to retain them.
When your top-performing employees show evident signs of burnout, they are likely to quit.
WORK AVOIDANCE:
Work avoidance is a huge warning sign that your top performing employees are fed up with work and have reached boiling point. After constantly performing well and constantly raising the bar, you might notice that an employee’s behaviour to changing and is starting to avoid work.
This doesn’t have to to limited to tasks avoidance – some employees might even skip work altogether. An employee that used to complete five tasks on a daily basis might be only completing one per day. They will no longer be a volunteer for assignments and tasks or to help others.
Why? Because they no longer have the ‘’capacity’’.
Employees, are feeling very overwhelmed with work in this case and feel underappreciated and are probably burned out. Since you are wanting to your top performers to stay and be happy at work, you should act fast in trying to assist them and address the problems they are encountering at work.
You need to understand and be mindful of the signs that your top performers are displaying at work as they are no longer satisfied with their work and this can help you address the issue/s effectively and on time. Often, it’s the little things that lead to someone quitting and you can usually improve the situation or problem with a little bit of effort that is required.
In summary, if you notice your top employee is showing signs of burnout, avoiding work, and disengaging with you or the team, you need to act fast before you lose them.
Supreme Staffing Group – Superior People, Superior Service
Connecting businesses and the people who drive them.
