It’s Not the End of the World When Your Best Employees Leave

You certainly would have a problem on your hands if your entire team decided to quit at the same time.

But aside from that drastic scenario, your business is strong enough to absorb any personnel changes — even the instances where your best employees leave.

It’s perfectly understandable that any manager would get a sick feeling in the pit of his or her stomach upon initially learning the news that a rock star employee decided to pursue another opportunity.

That sick feeling, of course, is amplified when managers are completely blindsided by the news.

But you shouldn’t panic when your top performers move on in their careers.

Chances are you’ve bounced around from company to company during your career. You need to expect your employees to do the same — particularly if they’re millennials, who hop jobs every two years on average.

When your best employees leave, you don’t have to be happy. But you certainly shouldn’t be depressed, anxious or angry. Here’s why.

Employee Happiness is Extremely Important

If employees don’t want to work for your company, you should be content when they move on.

For starters, happy employees are 12% more productive than their peers who hate showing up for work. When your team is full of people who are committed to what they’re doing, your organization is much more effective.

Unhappy employees can also hurt office morale, polluting the attitudes of once-happy employees.

You’ll Have Already Benefited

It’s true that you’ll have to rearrange some things and delegate responsibilities to other workers when your best employees leave. That will take some time, but it won’t kill you.

Don’t be sour about the situation. Remind yourself that your business is a whole lot better off having been able to leverage the talents of your best employees.

Would your organization be exactly where it is if your best employees never stepped foot in the office in the first place?

When People Leave, Employees Can Climb the Ladder

Employees enjoy professional development and career advancement opportunities. In particular, millennials seek to learn as much as they can on the job.

If no one ever leaves your organization, it becomes harder for employees to climb the ladder. This could discourage a number of newer team members, convincing them to find work elsewhere.

When great employees leave, however, opportunities open up.

Replace outgoing employees through internal promotions. Not only will those who receive the promotions be happy, the rest of the team will recognize they have the opportunity to be next.

Managers Can Build Better Relationships with Former Employees

You can certainly get to know your employees. But there’s a line that can’t be crossed so long as your working relationship remains intact. When great employees leave, working relationships dissolve. It’s then perfectly acceptable for you to build a stronger relationship with your former workers.

Who knows? These reinforced relationships could pay huge dividends — both professionally and personally — sometime down the line.

Remember, successful organizations are built on the backs of successful people. Even if you are only able to work with highly talented employees for a few years, your organization is stronger as a result of those individuals’ contributions.

To learn more about what managers can do to build stronger relationships with their employees — and reduce the likelihood they’ll search for other opportunities in the first place — check out The Alliance by Reid Hoffman, Chris Yeh and Ben Casnocha.