Well, now it happened to me. For the first time, an employee from my team quite her job. It was very surprising to all of us, because in our regular 1-on-1s, she never mentioned any unhappiness at all. It happened during my vacations and when I came back, everything was decided.

I had several talks with her to understand the reasoning behind it. She explained to me, that her main reason was the supply chain domain we’re in and that she doesn’t find it exciting anymore.

What’s next?

I think it’s important to ask why your employee leaves. It could be a sign of a dysfunctional team or some disturbing factor that needs to be resolved. Not fixing the defect affects the teams performance and motivation. Both will suffer and decrease over time.

I also want to have one final “farewell 1-on-1” with her where I give her feedback for the last years and also some advice for her career. In return, I want to know what we as a team or a company can improve. I believe in such situations people are very honest.

At the very end, the official offboarding process happened. I helped with writing the employment reference letter, revoked access to accounts and rotated secrets. For the employment reference letter, my actual rating is higher than the performance actually was, because hiring managers and human resource already count in some goodwill.

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