An article in today’s WSJ, “These People Who Quit Jobs During the Pandemic Say They Have Regrets” states that recruiters are seeing that expectations for people entering new jobs have never been higher.

But we kind of knew that, didn’t we?

We’ve been seeing it, hearing it.

What surprised me was the following, reflected by a study of 2500 US workers earlier this year:

• 75% who’d left a job to take another experienced either surprise or regret
• Half of those workers said they’d try to get their old job back

Half!

Another thing that caught my attention?  Among the positive attributes that recruiters were possibly inflating in new roles?  Autonomy.

It really is that important.

And an ounce (or two) of prevention in retention goes a long way for hanging onto your best people, given the high costs of replacement and disruption to initiatives and the team.

But if you’ve lost someone to a competitor and you’d welcome their return, consider the following:

• Get their truest take on why they’re leaving, make it easy for them to tell you
• Don’t burn the bridge, wish them well
• Stay in touch after they leave
• Let them know about any new projects and exciting work that the organization/team is doing and that might be of interest to them, specifically
• Have a really good sense of what’s important to them in the big picture of family, work, contribution, etc., and keep them apprised of new initiatives and growth at your company that are in alignment and support of that big picture