How to Rebound and Hire When Your Most Productive Employee Quits

The sudden departure of a top performer can be hard for any company in any industry. It’s nearly always a shock to the system. Top performing people often have some of the most valuable knowledge about how the business works. They’re used to taking on some of the toughest jobs and making the company’s wheels spin. So when they decide to leave, that often causes problems.

Here are some ways to mitigate the effects of the sudden exit of one of your best employees.

Get Appropriate Notice and Commitment

To shield themselves from some of these issues, some companies tend to ask for a particular job commitment at interview. This doesn’t mean the person promises to stay forever — but it can help with the planning that has to go on when a top person finally wants to depart for greener pastures. At the very least, the company should have two weeks to try to deal with the aftermath.

Utilize Any Existing Safety Net

Smart and forward-thinking managers will have a contingency plan to handle these types of situations. Many companies employ cadres of extra ‘floaters’ or as-needed people to fill in gaps in a schedule. When sudden changes happen, these people are suddenly extremely valuable, not only in terms of saving money, but in ensuring smooth operations and competency in key business processes.

If you don’t have anything like this, you have to find another way to deal with a sudden change in your workforce.

Advertise Well and Early

When it comes to getting new people on board quickly, a well-written job ad can work wonders. Have HR people ready to step into the gap and ramp up their work quickly. Get job ads out onto key platforms and get ready to do the hard work of interviewing. Hopefully, interviewing new people will soon follow, to get the staffing that you need in place for the next busy season.

Talk to Staffing Companies

Here’s another quick fix for when one of your top people leaves — be ready to re-deploy those who have been at the company for a while, and fill their positions with brand-new hires.

How Do You Do this Quickly?

One way is to deputize some of the full-time people who have been at the company the longest and promote them up toward the top. Then, to save time, you can call a staffing company and have temporary workers still in the entry-level positions recently vacated. This is one way to adjust to change without having to go through the entire long-term hiring process in order to fill a spot.

About Full Steam Staffing

Full Steam Staffing is a full-service staffing agency in Modesto focused on providing clerical and light industrial staffing solutions to manufacturers, distribution centers and other organizations that need qualified, reliable workers. If you are currently looking to hire and grow your workforce, contact our team of skilled recruiters today!