Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 24 posts

Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#1

Post by seniordevconfuz »

I’m a developer with quite a bit of experience in the field.

My company has gone through some hella changes, new owners and we pivoted our product to adapt to the market.

Problem ———————- These past 4 months, people have been resigning faster than we can refill their spots.

I’m not sure what to do, on paper things are going well and we have enough redundant staff to pick up the slack. But it's not sustainable.

Honestly, I'm a little worried

Has any of y’all experienced this?

What signs should I be on the lookout for?

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#3

Post by kbrannigan »

Companies usually go through cycles of turnover. This might be an instance of that - it's a very normal thing.

However do you notice a lot of senior level people leaving? That could be a bad sign.

Things are subject to the network effect, if my friends leave, so will I.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#4

Post by seniordevconfuz »

downerending wrote: post #2

Generally, turnover is a very bad sign. But why are they leaving? Can you ask some of them? If there's nothing really wrong with management, etc., it might actually be in your favor to stay, faster promotions, maybe a raise, etc.

Very bad? Really! It was my understanding that companies account for that, they expect it even, since they make staff replaceable by nature.

In any case, it's a gamble. I fear that if too many people leave none of the original staff will remain and management will suck.

Good advice, I should ask some of them before they leave.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#5

Post by downerending »

seniordevconfuz wrote: post #4
downerending wrote: post #2

Generally, turnover is a very bad sign. But why are they leaving? Can you ask some of them? If there's nothing really wrong with management, etc., it might actually be in your favor to stay, faster promotions, maybe a raise, etc.

Very bad? Really! It was my understanding that companies account for that, they expect it even, since they make staff replaceable by nature. In any case, it's a gamble. I fear that if too many people leave none of the original staff will remain and management will suck. Good advice, I should ask some of them before they leave.

I meant a very bad sign for employees or potential employees when trying to guess whether it's a good place to work.

I once took a job with FAANG-level pay and realized too late that their annual turnover was 30%. It was extremely unpleasant to find out that it was that high for a reason. I left quickly.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#6

Post by rossdavidh »

Possibilities: 1) they're all leaving for the same place, each one recruiting the next 2) they know something you don't about the company's future, under the new ownership 3) the fact of big changes made them look around at where they were for the first time in a while, and the things that had long been just annoyances became reasons to leave. 4) they were quietly asked to leave, but given time to find a new job elsewhere first, on the condition they stay quiet as well 5) there is always the possibility of random luck

Some of these are more worrisome than others, and it can be hard to know which. But...the fact that your company has new owners is the most interesting. Why is that? If you don't know, you should find out, and if you do know, it should help you guess which of the above scenarios is more or less likely.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#8

Post by mdorazio »

seniordevconfuz wrote: post #4
downerending wrote: post #2

Generally, turnover is a very bad sign. But why are they leaving? Can you ask some of them? If there's nothing really wrong with management, etc., it might actually be in your favor to stay, faster promotions, maybe a raise, etc.

Very bad? Really! It was my understanding that companies account for that, they expect it even, since they make staff replaceable by nature. In any case, it's a gamble. I fear that if too many people leave none of the original staff will remain and management will suck. Good advice, I should ask some of them before they leave.

Having some turnover is expected and accounted for. It varies by industry, but in tech it's pretty high at usually around 12-13%. The problem is when a company's turnover rate greatly exceeds the industry norm because it means 1) they're spending a lot on employee acquisition, training, and efficiency loss due to knowledge leak, and 2) there's probably one or more bad reasons why so many more people are leaving the company than is normal.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#9

Post by cl42 »

If this is a small enough company (say, I've dealt with turnover as a CEO and it was stressful and painful for me as well. Whenever employees would approach me with concerns during such times, I'd be relieved to (a) know they care about the company, (b) want to do something to help it rather than quit with everyone else, and (c) trust me enough to actually discuss + fix things.

... and if you don't feel like you can do that with your CEO, then that's part of the reason people are quitting.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#10

Post by elfexec »

> These past 4 months, people have been resigning faster than we can refill their spots.

I'd be asking for a significant raise. Looks like you walked into a short term supply and demand issue in your favor, not to mention a bunch of freed up cash for the company. Strike while the iron is hot.

Post reply on HN