In the last week two clients have approached me with the question of what to do about an employee who tells you they are looking for a different job. You may be wondering who would be that naive to tell their boss that they are looking for other work? Actually, there are many who do! So what should you do if this happens to you? Another great question for this week’s newsletter.

Great reading,

Diane

 P.S. Please share your thoughts about this email or send future topic ideas to diane@dianeamundson.com

It doesn’t seem possible that an employee would tell their boss that they are looking for other work while in their current job. My first “fight” instinct with this type of employee is to tell them that they now have forty hours a week to look for that better job. In other words…they are fired! I would most likely react this way out of hurt or disappointment. However, if I took my own advice and paused before I responded, I may have a better reaction to give my employee.

By the way, if you are communicating frequently with your employees, you will know if they are not content in their position and reduce the chance of this happening to you.

However, even with the best employee communication, this situation may still happen. There are several aspects to consider here:

 •How valuable is this employee to the organization?

 •How deep is your bench to replace this employee?

 •Do you, as their boss, know how to do any of their work?

 If this employee has been terrific at “performing the essential functions of their job” and they will truly be missed, my response question would be, “What is making you feel like you need a different job?” I would listen carefully to all the reasons and think of a way to possibly change their job responsibilities or find additional dollars if wages are the issue. However, research has shown that any counter offer made to keep an employee usually results in the employee staying just eighteen months more.

But what if I cannot change the job or wages…what do I do in this situation? I let the employee know that they put me in a difficult situation. How do I know they will stay committed to the work if they are looking elsewhere? I would remind them that their work performance needs to remain high and ask for plenty of time to replace them, i.e., two, three or four weeks’ notice before they leave the position, etc.

After this discussion, I would make sure that the person leaving trains another person in their key task areas so that I have two people knowledgeable of those responsibilities. By the way, this is a great practice to do with all employees is to make sure one other person can perform their most critical tasks, i.e., processing payroll, etc.

I would ask my Human Resources representative to begin recruiting for this position, or as a manager, I would begin recruiting for this position immediately. Depending on the position, it may take months to find a great candidate or the current employee’s performance may slip, so starting early is always preferred.

So how do you handle the employee whose performance begins to slip while they are looking for another job? I would use your progressive discipline process that starts with a verbal/written warning and may lead to termination.

Having an employee tell you that they are looking for other work can be devastating to hear. But, by remaining calm, and pausing before you respond, you will be better prepared to handle this troubling situation.