Retention – The unsung quandary of a start up

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I had almost zero attrition till about August this year. My first employee put in his papers due to a medical issue and that started the domino effect. In a short span of about a few months, I have had a complete team change.

One Monday I walked into the office and one of my employees who has been with me for a long time put in his papers. I didn’t stop him. I knew I couldn’t offer him anything as he was changing stream completely. But my heart sank. This lead to panic and I called the only person I knew who would know what to do, my father. He laughed and said this is normal and that he went through the same thing when he started 38 years ago. I felt relief sweep over me.

But this got me thinking and I started speaking to a lot of my fellow entrepreneurs. To my lack of surprise, they all were facing the same issues. The answer to this was as simple as daylight “ Stability and growth.” I remember saying I wouldn’t work for a startup you never know when they close doors and now here I am on the other side of the fence.

This doesn’t make you a bad boss or make you a failure. It also doesn’t mean that your employees didn’t like you or that they didn’t like the environment. It just means that their journey with you is over and they are moving on to the next chapter of their lives and so are you.

My employees who have worked with me for an extended period of time all apologized and had genuine regret on their faces. My hearts went out to them and I told them “There is no love loss here. You are always welcome back our doors are always open.”

Is there a way around this? No. Attrition is a problem every employer faces. What do you do when the good ones leave? Always have a backup plan. Being overstaffed is better than being left the lurch.

Hedging is close to 40% of an entrepreneur’s job within the confines of the office. Knowing that no one is indispensable even you being the founder changes the game completely. It motivates the owner to have a contingency plan for everything staff, vendors, avenues of income and even themselves (an exit plan). By doing this existing infrastructure never experiences a nervous shock and things function with some semblance of normality.

While having a plan B is always advisable one shouldn’t forget your current asset base cause a company is only is as strong as its employees. Create an atmosphere where your employees thrive and enjoy their work, the rest will take care itself.


So till the next crisis emerges……. Forge on …. But don’t forget to Smile, Breathe, and Go Slowly.

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