Recruiting Roadmap: Losing a Top Performer

This article originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of Security Business magazine. When sharing, don’t forget to mention @SecBusinessMag on Twitter and Security Business magazine on LinkedIn.

It is Friday at 4:55 p.m., and you were just about to shut down your computer for the week when an email rolls in from a key player within your organization announcing their resignation. You feel your heart sink into your stomach at the utter shock. As you start to run through a million different emotions in your head, from grief and sadness to anger and betrayal, you are asking yourself: Now what?

What a way to start a weekend, right? I can almost guarantee that there is not much worse that can happen to a leader than losing a person they can truly depend on. It can be heartbreaking and spirit-crushing – after all, if you are bought into your organization, why isn’t your employee?

The Impact of Losing an ‘A Player’

In my experience, managers and companies deal with this loss in a few different ways. The most common reaction occurs just after the initial shock subsides: The old what could we have done to prevent this question. It is only natural to wonder why a good employee may want to leave; however, it might be worth it to think through a few other important things first. The impact of losing a team member may be greater than you think. As an owner, leader, manager, etc., it is paramount to attempt to calculate what exactly is being lost financially by losing an employee.

The answer may shock you. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that the cost of replacing an employee is nearly 150% of their annual salary. While this number seems high, it can often be difficult to put a price tag on losing an employee, because the effects can be more than just monetary. These “hidden turnover costs” are less tangible and can include issues like time, training, lost opportunity costs, as well as a growing backlog and strained client relationships.  When an “A Player” leaves, they take their knowledge and skills with them – sometimes leaving a company with a gap that can be challenging to fill, especially in the field.

Unfortunately, recruitment efforts often take longer than expected, depending on the position and an organization’s recruitment resources. That elongated vacancy time gap, coupled with a several month-long learning curve during onboarding and ramp-up time for a replacement, could cost the organization even more time and money.   Also potentially overlooked is the fact that high performers tend to lead their teams, even if they are not in management. They work hard, jump in when no one else will, and set a great example that motivates the rest of the group and boosts overall team performance and morale. After they leave, the team is left picking up the pieces, and some may feel a little overworked – resulting in a loss of motivation or productivity.

Depending on how influential the lost employee was, sometimes a team can feel the pain for an extended time, and other employees may even feel influenced to leave as well. 

Guiding a Successful Transition

With so many potentially adverse effects, your attention should be on how to overcome them.  Once you communicate to the team that changes have taken place, the next critical step to a successful transition is re-distribution. Sit down with the team, talk with them, and determine how to best break up the workload to optimize production. You may quickly notice that one or two employees may even take this shift in responsibility as an opportunity to shine and step up to lead the team to continued excellence. There are several additional areas of opportunity here that sometimes get missed by even the most thorough leaders. Here are xx best practices to help guide a successful transition:

1. Conduct an exit interview with the departing employee. An exit interview may be an uncomfortable conversation. No owner or executive wants to hear about the shortcomings of their company or things they may be doing wrong; however, the reality is, if one of your employees feels that way, it is more than likely that others do as well. Having this conversation may enable the executive or business owner to identify small improvements or changes that can be made to hopefully prevent others from leaving in the future. Remember, happy employees help businesses thrive. 2. Talk to remaining employees. As a star player leaves, a vitally important step for long-term retention of remaining employees is to talk to them about their individual, long-term growth goals. This will help to identify potential new leaders within the organization. Not only will this assist in pinpointing potential new stand-out individuals, it will also identify and possibly save potential “flight risks” on the team by learning about what might be missing from their daily work experience to make them completely fulfilled in their work life. This research will also help determine areas of focus for additional training.

3. Plug the gaps. After you have gathered this data from remaining employees, determine a solution or a set of solutions that can make the workplace more enjoyable. Sometimes, the reasons for turnover may surprise you. Many candidates leave a company for an external position due to factors outside of your control or for an opportunity your company simply could not provide internally – such as upward mobility or professional development, higher pay, or better benefits. That said, it may come as a surprise that many people leave companies for less significant reasons, including boredom, lack of employee engagement or group culture, remote work or better hours, or even to maintain a better work life balance.

4. Make it annual. Whatever the reason may be for someone leaving, surveying your team at least on a yearly basis will lead to higher retention. The results of these surveys will enable the business to be more proactive in implementing small changes that, in the end, may prove to be quite meaningful to employees. 

Ryan Joseph is an Executive Recruiter for Recruit Group (https://recruitgrp.com), with a focus on security industry operations, sales, and sales leadership. For help with your security recruiting efforts, contact her at [email protected] or call (954) 278-8286.