{"id":3314,"date":"2018-01-25T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=3314"},"modified":"2026-02-12T05:29:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:29:46","slug":"how-to-recover-after-your-best-employee-quits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/how-to-recover-after-your-best-employee-quits\/","title":{"rendered":"How to recover after losing your best employee"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/category\/people-leadership\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">People &amp; Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHow to recover after losing your best employee\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2018-01-25T09:00:11-05:00\">January 25, 2018<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"How to recover after losing your best employee\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/how-to-recover-after-your-best-employee-quits\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/author\/jewelhazelton\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/05\/Jewel.png\" class=\"entry-author__image\" height=\"40\" width=\"40\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Jewel Hazelton<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>When a football team loses its star player due to a season-ending injury, other players need to \u201cstep up\u201d so the team can still perform and have a winning season.&nbsp;Businesses have to deal with similar losses, too. What makes a good employee quit? A key employee may leave for several reasons\u2014moving, illness, a new career opportunity, higher education, or they even decide to start their own business. However, it could also be due to culture, employee autonomy, management, and lack of growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-can-you-bounce-back-from-losing-your-best-employee\">How can you bounce back from losing your best employee?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>First, stay calm<\/strong>. You want to project confidence to your employees who are not leaving. Let them know while losing Joe or Jane is a painful blow to the\u00a0team, life goes on and so will the business. It is time for everyone to move forward and overcome this temporary obstacle.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Minimize the damage. <\/strong>Can the departing employee responsibilities be reallocated? If some of the former employee\u2019s skills are unmatched by your remaining staff, perhaps you can step up to the plate to fill the void or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/hire-pro-back-office-co-founders-finding-top-notch-freelance-talent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hire a seasoned freelancer<\/a> with those skills.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Find an internal replacement. <\/strong>No one is truly indispensable. With some training, another loyal employee may be able to backfill the opening on your team\u2014and they may even surprise you with different talents and perspectives that the previous employee didn\u2019t have. If that is not an option, put on your recruiter\u2019s hat and start networking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-now-take-steps-to-keep-this-situation-from-haunting-you-again\">Now, take steps to keep this situation from haunting you again:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Find out the real reason the employee is leaving. Speak with the employee after they give their notice, if possible.\u00a0<\/strong>Common causes include lack of challenges, limited growth opportunities, and employee autonomy, micromanagement, dysfunctional culture, or feeling undervalued. You may not like the answer, but at least you can begin correcting a problem that may be festering others.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Identify critical skills that the former employee held and cross-train others to perform these jobs.<\/strong> Cross training helps employees to be more engaged in the business and supportive of your goals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Start grooming potential \u201cstar\u201d replacements.<\/strong> As a business leader, you should never stop looking for ways to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/how-payroll-can-you-help-you-find-superstar-performers-in-the-workplace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hire great talent<\/a>, cultivate their abilities, and motivate them to stay on your team.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you handle departures of your staff?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to our Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ab515c6e-7e90-4c2f-a67e-113872516e8b\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Working from home with tea in hand\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a football team loses its star player due to a season-ending injury, other players need to \u201cstep up\u201d so the team can still perform and have a winning season.&nbsp;Businesses have to deal with similar losses, too. What makes a good employee quit? A key employee may leave for several reasons\u2014moving, illness, a new career [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":3319,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[284],"business_type":[41],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[55],"persona":[99],"imagine_tag":[231],"coauthors":[640],"class_list":["post-3314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-leadership","tag-hiring","business_type-growing-business","industry-professional-services"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-us","author_name":"Jewel Hazelton","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/01\/employeeretention.jpg","imagine_tags":{"231":"Start up business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35339,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions\/35339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/3319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}