Top 9 subtle signs your employees are looking for a new job

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If you’re looking for subtle signs your employees are looking for a new job, you’ve come to the right spot. As a Leadership Development and Career Coach, I’ve worked one-on-one with hundreds of professionals who began job searching while on the job. I decided to narrow down the most common reasons for quitting and create this article Top 9 subtle signs your employees are looking for a new job.  

It’s no secret that the mindset of many working professionals has changed since 2020 aka the great resignation. Professionals now believe in working for companies that value them personally and professionally. No one wants to be a number. Employees want to feel seen, heard, respected, and valued.

What employees want more of

Employees are also looking for employers who live up to their values. This means, employees no longer care about fancy words on your website or job postings. Instead, they want to see and know that you live up to those. My friend, George Anders, Senior Editor at LinkedIn recently released an article, Why 8 in 10 U.S. workers want employers’ values to match theirs.

The truth is, if you can’t live up to your employees’ expectations and standards regarding culture, growth opportunities, and flexibility, employees will look for better opportunities.

If you’re a supervisor or owner of an organization, this should be a cause for concern. Why? Losing good employees can be detrimental to the success and growth of a company.  As you know, employee turnover costs money, time, and productivity. This is why you have to be able to recognize the signs that an employee is looking for a new job so that you can address it and try to retain them.

Before diving into the subtle signs your employees are looking for a new job, I want to answer a few commonly asked questions that I’ve received from employers and managers.  

Why do employees look for different jobs?

Employees look for different jobs for a variety of circumstances and some may be out of your control (as a company or manager). Examples of reasons employees leave can be found in this article, 15 Best Reasons to Look for a New Job.

Some of the most common reasons include lack of fulfillment, limited career advancement, abusive or toxic leadership, and the job doesn’t align with their skill set.

You can avoid losing your top talent by practicing open communication, taking a genuine interest in their satisfaction, and addressing issues that they bring up in a timely manner. To sum it up simply, develop relationships with your staff.

If you’re a new manager, you should check out my LinkedIn Learning Course, Skills for your first 90 Days as a New Manager. In the course, you will learn foundational skills that will help you increase your employee retention rates.

What is the number one reason good employees quit?

Employers often lose their best talent due to poor management and leadership practices. If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “People don’t leave companies, they leave managers” I’m sure you can agree with the truth in this.

This is why leadership development and training managers on relationship building, conflict resolution, mentoring, and other essentials are so important. If you’re interested, my company Chelsea Jay Consulting partners with companies to bring leadership development training to new and aspiring managers. Reach out if you want to implement these trainings for your organization today.

What to do when a great employee quits

When your best employee decides to quit their current job, there’s a good chance that you missed red flags leading up to their departure. Upon leaving, the first step you want to take is to find out what went wrong. If you’ve developed a positive relationship with your employee, ask for an exit interview.

Take time to ask about concerns and what you or the company could have done better. Listen and ask for suggestions and begin working towards addressing any issues that were brought up during the discussion. Your next step should be taking the time to speak with new and existing team members about your retention efforts. Transparency and communication is key to staying ahead of the curve so that you don’t continue to lose employees.

Now that we’ve discussed some of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to why good employees leave, let’s talk about the subtle signs your employees are looking for a new job. 

9 Subtle signs your employees are looking for a new job

Sign #1- Decreased productivity

This is one of the top clear signs that an employee is looking for another job. When employees are unhappy, productivity is one of the first things to decrease is the level of productivity.

When a new employee or long-term employee begins to become emotionally and mentally disengaged or lose motivation, this results in less work being completed.

If you notice that your top-performing employee begins missing deadlines, turning in assignments with visible errors, or lack of effort, this is a sign that your employee is looking for a new opportunity.

Sign #2- Shift in attitude

Building one on one relationships with your employees is crucial to easily identify when something seems “off.” Pay attention to the way your employee treats you, your team, and your customers. Become familiar with how they approach challenges, new projects, and conversations.

If your employee who is normally positive, introspective, and bubbly, all of a sudden turns into a “negative Nancy” this should cause a bit of alarm.

If someone who is normally talkative in meetings and freely shares ideas, suddenly becomes more reserved, nonchalant, and irritable, there may be a problem.

Of course, there could be issues happening outside of work that are affecting them, but pay attention to how long this new attitude lasts. If it lasts for more than a week or two, your employee may be disgruntled and could potentially be looking for new opportunities.

Sign #3- No longer providing feedback or suggestions

Employees want to feel helpful, useful, and a part of major projects and processes. After all, these traits are helpful for being identified for promotions and recognition.

If your employee who is known for always having an opinion now offers no input, it may be a sign of them becoming disengaged, frustrated, or lacking enthusiasm for their role or any long-term projects. When these feelings creep in, it’s often because employees have given up and started looking for new jobs.

Sign #4- Using up large amounts of PTO

Don’t get me wrong, I advocate for work-life balance, but increased PTO usage can be a red flag. If your company has a policy regarding the number of PTO hours a departing employee can be paid out, they may be working towards getting within the limit so that they don’t “lose” the time they earned and the hard work it took to gain that time.

Also, pay attention to the timeliness of the requests. If your employee begins approaching you with last-minute requests for blocks of time off during the workday, this is a clear sign that they could be utilizing those hours to attend job interviews.

Sign #5- Using sarcasm… often

Sarcasm, smart, or hurtful comments are often done in a passive-aggressive manner. If you begin to notice that conversations have a sarcastic or nonchalant tone, this is a big sign that your employee has lost interest or investment in the role. This can also mean that there are feelings of resentment as well.

Sign #6- Increased absences

This is similar to the point I made earlier regarding PTO. If you notice an uptick in absences, it could be because your employee is taking time off to search for jobs or attend interviews. The truth is, the job search is a job and often employees will take time off (or call in sick) to focus on job hunting and meeting with potential employers and recruiters.

P.S. Increased absences could be due to a major life change that your employee may be going through. Don’t be afraid to take the extra effort by asking if they are ok or if they need support. 

Sign #7- Networking (heavily) on social media

LinkedIn is an amazing platform and is often referred to as the land of opportunities galore. A part of carrying out a successful job search involves networking and updating your career documents.

If you happen to notice a new headshot, a revamped LinkedIn profile, and increased engagement from your employee on social media platforms, this could be a sign of what is brewing. If your employee went from a dormant account to now being overly active on social media channels, it is a sign that your employee is looking for a new job.

Sign #8- Asking for references

Yes, it is a good practice for employees to ask if they can use you as a reference, but if they ask you for a letter and begin asking others around you, this is a sign that they are looking for new opportunities.

Sign #9- Asking for more feedback

This is another type of behavior that can be seen as proactive, but there can also be an underlying motive for the feedback requested.

When employees are looking for a new position, they often want reassurance and feedback to know where they can excel and what they can improve on for their next job.

Bonus Sign (#10)- Lack of respect for current role

This is a huge red flag. If you being to notice that your star employee begins taking personal calls during team meetings, limiting social interactions with the team, and an extended lunch break is the new norm, your employee no longer cares about the role. Similar to the sudden change in attitude that I mentioned earlier, these major behavioral changes indicate that there is a serious problem. 

Conclusion

Losing employees is never easy. It can be an exhausting and disappointing process especially if you have a genuine relationship with them. This list is not all-inclusive and there are many other telltale signs your employees are looking for a new job, but these are some of the most common and forgotten.

A part of being a leader is being comfortable having open and transparent conversations with your employees when you notice a shift in behavior. Do not be afraid to ask about your team’s level of happiness, satisfaction, and personal goals. 

Your employees want to know that you care about both their personal lives and professional lives. Remember, you don’t work with robots, you work with people. People who want to be valued, respected, seen, and heard. If you see something is off, say something, and if you can’t change their minds, prepare for the transition accordingly and wish them the absolute best! Remember, you always want to help your employee leave on good terms with you, the team, and the company. 

The good news is, when you lose employees, this is the perfect time to team up with your human resources department, review turnover rates, and address the best way to increase employee engagement and retention. Make your goal one of creating a great place for employees to work long-term. 

You’ve got this. 

Cheers to your success!

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