A great employee quit. She was wonderful, never complained, took on extra assignments, worked well over her 40 hours a week. She seemed happy enough…..why did she leave?
Read that again and ask yourself these questions:
- Did I ever ask her if she had any concerns regarding the workload or anything else for that matter?
- Could others have taken on that work or was it just easier to give it to Ms. Great?
- Were others in the same department doing similar work also pulling their fair share?
- In her doing this extra work, did I discuss with her why I felt she was the best to handle, did I discuss I was grooming her for bigger and better assignments with more pay?
Depending on your answers, maybe you can understand why she left. She most likely felt used. Now you will be depending on the slackers to pick up the workload, which is probably not going to get done.
To avoid these mistakes in the future. Give your top performer more advanced projects, but take something else from their priority list to give to someone else. Recognize their efforts. Advance their position and pay. Know your employees. Meet with them weekly and give them a chance to voice issues or concerns they may be having and listen to them. Work through it to a viable resolution.
Yes, all of us can be replaced, but those diamond in the rough employees are hard to come by. When you get one, polish it and keep it shiny!