What is the impact on your business continuity when an employee leaves? And what you can do about it.

We all have experienced it. One of your employees/colleagues has decided to leave the company, but nobody expected it to happen, which means the team is one person down.

• Who will help us with that expertise?
• Who will take over the tasks?
• Who will do the additional hours?
• What will be the impact on the other teams?

These are a few questions that will come up with the people who remain in the company. But do we have a clear idea of what the impact is?

Let's figure it out.

Let's start by identifying which employee-specific factors we can link to the impact. What's the employee's role, how long is he/she already in the company, what skills do they have, what is the expertise, and in what departments was he/she active or had an impact?

When you've identified these, we can move on to get a better view of the business's impact. What are the most common business factors?

• Loss of productivity: there will be a temporary loss of productivity as the remaining staff tries to fill the gaps left by the departing employee. Resulting in project delays, missed deadlines, and decreased overall output.
• Reduced morale: other colleagues will notice the change in the team atmosphere, and there will be doubts.
• Increased workload for remaining employees: the workload often falls on the remaining employees. This most typically results in increased stress levels and potential burnout.
• Recruitment and training costs: There are costs associated with advertising the position, reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, and training the new employee. This impacts a company's bottom line.
• Loss of institutional knowledge: Employees take their knowledge and experience when they leave. It can be incredibly impactful if the employee has a specialized role or has been with the company for a long time.

Now that we've identified a better understanding of the business impact, we can do 2 things. Don't act, and it will continue to happen.

OR:

What can you do to counter this?

1. Identify the internal skills to see who can grow into that expertise.
2. Identify successors and ensure that people are ready to take over when necessary.
3. Develop and grow the skills of your workforce.
4. Get a grip on the expectations so that you can anticipate them.
5. Have a clear, open, and transparent way of communicating about aspirations and career opportunities.

Take-away: Remember to always go into conversations on these things. Take action for these situations not to happen and avoid them. We all know it can be challenging sometimes because we don't always hear things we like to hear, but at least you genuinely understand what's happening within your people's minds. People want to be heard, so let's start by putting a focus on that. Being aware makes you and your business more predictable.