By
Bob Phibbs
Retailers often fear an employee quitting because it will come at the worst time: before a sale, during a busy period, or right when they start a new retail sales training program.
How many times have you been blind-sided when one of your best employees comes to you in the middle of a project, a record month, you're about to go on vacation, and told you they were quitting?
We've all had that nightmare. In hindsight, were there signs you should have seen from your employee?
Could their quitting have been prevented?
Think about when you quit a job...
How hard of a decision was that for you? Probably not that tough. You knew all the reasons. You gave up trying. You were looking for greener pastures.
In many ways, it is the exact same process people go through when they leave a relationship or marriage.
Nothing happens in a vacuum...
Let’s look at four signs:
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Eyes - Averted, looking down at the ground, off to the side, anywhere but directly at you.
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Behavior - Do you wonder where they are on a regular basis? Hiding behind a rack, in the stockroom, doing errands?
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Tardiness - When they are tardy on an ongoing basis, the job has become of secondary importance.
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Attitude - This is always a dead giveaway for me. When that's gone, I've found the mind has already left; the body is still trying to make it work.
The chart below shows responses from several hundred employers who find, more often than not, the person who they are questioning keeping, more often than not, are like Schleprock.
Again, attitude.
Thinking it's time to let this person go?
As the economy jolts through the recovery, employees will look outside your doors to better themselves. At least the better ones will.
Use these tips to start a dialogue rather than wondering what you could have done better.
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