Recently there was some interesting news that online shoe retailer Zappos offers new hires $1,000 to quit at the end of their first week on the job. In that same spirit, I think companies would be better served to gracefully accept resignations without trying to talk an employee out of it.
Early in my career as a manager, if a key employee came in to my office to tender a resignation, I would try to talk her out of it. I would try to understand the motivations behind her decision, and combat each point with a counterpoint for staying. Sometimes I was successful, but only in the short run.
Over time I’ve learned two things. First, when an employee resigns I’m at least six months too late in starting to create an environment where the employee can succeed and wants to stay and contribute. Second, talking someone into staying never works in the long run. You’re better off dealing with the pain as quickly as possible.
In the last few years I’ve seldom been surprised by a resignation. I’ve seen it coming early enough to either change the environment or the individual’s workload in ways to stimulate and reinvigorate the employee, or to recognize that the person (and maybe our company) would be better served to move along.
Talking someone out of quitting is a bad idea. By the time they walk into your office and hand you their resignation letter, they’ve already processed the idea thousands of times. They were emotionally checked out long ago. I’m sure some of you will ask “but what about the person who quits or takes another job offer as a means to force a discussion about a raise?” I’ve only seen that tactic used a couple of times in my career and in 100% of those cases , I was better off without those individuals. The outstanding employees I wanted to keep never needed a resignation or a better offer as fuel for such a conversation. I guess what I’m saying is that top employees usually have the full package, including knowing how to manage their own careers without having to resign in order to demonstrate their value.
Finally, as a good manager we need to plan for the occasion when a top employee will move on. Succession planning - ensuring that business continues as usual after someone departs - is part of what defines a manager as a leader.
