3 steps to take when a valued employee suddenly resigns

It’s tough any time an employee quits. Even if the employee was awful, there’s going to be an adjustment period. If the employee was one of your “stars” it can be extremely frustrating to see them seeking greener pastures. If this happens in your office, here are 3 steps you can take to start recovering.

Don’t freak out

You may be tempted to immediately freak out when a key employee quits, but you shouldn’t. Maybe you feel they’re irreplaceable, but the truth is you’re going to be okay. The first resume you look at may not solve all your problems, but you’ll figure it out. You might have to spread some responsibilities around, but the job will get done. Obviously losing a valued employee will be tough in the beginning, but with help from your team, you should bounce back quickly.

Meet with your team

When a key employee quits, it affects everyone. Make sure the team is informed about what happened and then make a plan to cover all the essential job responsibilities that you’ll be missing. Give your team some time to adjust and think, and then have a group discussion, brainstorm and come up with ideas for moving on.

Keep an eye on your finely tuned machine

Your team was running to perfection before your star employee quit. Now, you have different people doing different things and your machine may not be running quite like it used to. That’s ok. Unlike an actual machine, you can’t just replace a part and have your machine go back to working exactly like it did before. There will be some adjustment. Keep an eye on things and make sure things aren’t falling apart, but have faith in your team. Just because they can’t stand back up and hit the ground running, doesn’t mean they won’t be running again shortly.