Even if you have an open door policy and this person is in your office regularly, you've come to recognize the slightly hesitant tone in their voice, the awkward, uncomfortable silence after they settle into the chair.
You know what's coming next.
"I've accepted a job offer at another company."
Your inside voice says "Sh*t!!" because this individual is one of your better performers and it's a busy time in the office. Your outside voice says "That's interesting! Tell me about it!"
I remember once reading that 20% of your team is either in the first year of their employment with you, or the last year of their employment with you. You know which ones are in their first year. It's not so easy to predict those employees in their last year.
Employee turnover, or churn, is inevitable for a number of reasons.
I'm not talking about the people who leave because you un-hire them, or those that quit because the work environment is toxic, but those employees that outgrow their position, and you can't provide the next step of challenge.
In small teams, advancing would mean waiting till someone died before a position came open.
So they start to look elsewhere.
Not because they want to.
Because they have to if they don't want to stay in the same position, at the same top of classification pay rate for the next several years.
