What to do when a key employee resigns

It’s hard any time an employee quits. Even if the employee was awful, there will probably be some sort of 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.

Take a deep breath: You may want to go into freak out mode if a key employee quits, but you shouldn’t. You might feel that they’re irreplaceable, but the truth is, your team will recover. The first applicant you see may not solve all your problems, but the right person will come along. Obviously losing a valued employee can be tough at first, but with help from your team, you should recover quickly.

Huddle up: When an 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 think, and then have a group discussion so you can brainstorm solutions for the immediate future.

Offer assistance: Your office engine was purring like a kitten before your star employee quit. Now, you have staff assuming new responsibilities and things may not be running as smoothly as they used to. That’s ok. Unlike an actual engine, you can’t just replace a part and have it go back to working exactly like it did before. It may take a little time. Keep an eye on things to make sure that balls aren’t getting dropped, and offer to help when you can. Just because it might take some time to get going, doesn’t mean it won’t be running smooth again soon.