No IT manager is spared from facing the harsh realities of immediate IT employee resignations, me included. Overtime, I have learned to identify those potential soon to be 'immediate resignees' that will be leaving my team and how I prepare myself before it happens.
1.Consistently reports late for work.
This is the first early sign of lost interest towards work. Employees tends to find it ever more difficult to wake-up early in the morning as their usual interest wanes each passing day.
2.Not meeting project deadlines.
Work tasks slowly and consistently piles up. Not hitting the required turnaround time for task or project deadlines.
3.Leaves work earlier than usual
An unmotivated worker despises to do extended work and therefore leaves earlier than what he usually does. Of course, this alone cannot be used as an for loss interest since reasons for leaving early from work is diverse and may vary from one employee to another.
4.Lost interest and enthusiasm
The employee seem become serious at work and become less and less creative.
5.Receiving more external calls than usual
The likelihood of this employee looking for another work is high and inevitable. There will be times when he suddenly receives more calls on his cellphones and keeps on excusing himself to answer them frantically. Yes, these are calls made from HRs of companies the employee is applying a job for. This is a sure fire indicator that he's bidding farewell very soon.
6.Slowly distancing from colleagues
They don't see themselves staying longer and, as much as possible they don't want to nurture anymore attachment because it will make it even harder for them to separate from your company. A good example maybe, if an employee usually joins the team for lunch, you will slowly notice that he ain't joining them anymore and gives varied excuses why he can't.
7.Not making any more long term commitments
It's difficult to make this guy to say yes on some long term commitments. Like assigned projects or tasks that may take longer than his planned exit. This can easily be spotted during team huddles and strategic planning.
8.Seldom laughs at the boss' jokes
I have the habit of cracking jokes even at the most unlikely hour. I do this to break the seriousness and liven up the work environment. Even if my jokes were somewhat corny and at times, downright offensive, they never fail to laugh at them. If you see one of your guys not laughing at your jokes anymore – definitely he's a big candidate.
9.Personal belongings are slowly removed from the employee's desk or locker.
IT guys love to bring toys and some very unusuak stuffs. They fill in their work desks with things like: Rubik's cubes, actions figures, plastic toys, and technical books. When you see them slowly dwindling in number, they will surely be out in 2 to 3 days.
10.Not attending company engagements
Who would miss out a company-sponsored Christmas party or worse, a summer beach party?! If you had one under your department, surely there must be very very good reason for this or it may simple mean good-bye.
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My Advice:
If your were able catch this guy early on before he completes everything in the list above, find time to seriously talk to him and understand what needs to be done to save his job. Always remember that nobody wins when you lose your best guy, so give your best shot to spark his interest ones again.
1 comment:
Wow, nice. I did that at my last job when I was on my way out, and I figured some manager would notice beforehand. None did till it was too late and they tried a bunch of stuff to make me stay.
You should add that by the time you hand in your 2 week notice, its too late to do anything about it, peolpe have already accepted oter offers, made moving arrangements, etc.
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