Most employees who are planning to resign will give you some unintentional warning signals. How can you spot them? 

Changes in employee behaviour at work are often a signal that they are looking for another job or are planning to resign soon. Most signs are subtle, but a few are pretty blatant. This article describes the signals to watch out for and recommends what to do if you notice them. 

What are the signals to look out for? 

If an employee is looking for another job, you may notice the following: 

  • Improved grooming and dress habits 
  • Different patterns of absenteeism and sick leave, plus taking annual leave in single days 
  • Making phone calls away from the employee’s work station, or on a mobile phone instead of the office phone 
  • Job performance may suddenly improve – because it can be demonstrated to other employers 

If an employee, in particular a long-serving one, is about to resign or retire, you may notice: 

  • Personal items start to disappear from the workstation 
  • Working less overtime or taking less work home 
  • Variations in job performance – usually it deteriorates, but it may also improve significantly 
  • Reacting calmly to events that you would typically expect them to be angry about, e.g. increasing workload  
  • Trying to be a “small target” – avoids participation in decisions, meetings, etc., is reluctant to discuss issues in any detail and gives as little as possible. 

Employees who frequently make constructive complaints and suggestions because they genuinely want things to be done better (as distinct from the “whingers”) will suddenly go quiet. 

Conversely, a generally quiet employee may start to express frustration and dissatisfaction with various work issues. This may indicate that they are contemplating leaving but hasn’t yet made their mind up. The employee may be hoping that someone will notice and encourage them not to go. 

To summarise, you need to be aware of changes in employee behaviour, whether for better or worse. 

What can you do? 

Suppose a valued employee displays some of the behaviour changes listed above. In that case, it could be a good idea to increase your level of informal contact with them, but without resorting to micromanagement. It can provide opportunities for the employee to raise concerns or dissatisfaction in a non-threatening environment. But you must offer more than just a sympathetic ear – if issues are raised, you must make a profound and transparent effort to fix them. Otherwise, the best you can hope for is to delay the inevitable temporarily.  

If the employee has already found another job that is better paid or has more favourable work arrangements (e.g. more flexible hours), consider whether you can match or better the payor work arrangements, and make a counter-offer if you can. 

Some older employees decide to cease full-time work for lifestyle reasons and may start planning their resignation or retirement well in advance. This may give you time to evaluate whether you can offer work arrangements that retain the employee in at least some capacity and thus avoid losing their knowledge and expertise completely. In a small business, this may be difficult. Still, options may include more flexible working hours, part-time or casual work, independent contractor arrangements, working from home, and various forms of extended or increased leave arrangements.