The real tragedy? Most resignations happen months before the letter is written.

“Here is my resignation. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of your team.”

Having an employee resign may seem like a normal part of running an organisation.

But sometimes it feels less like receiving a letter and more like being kicked in the stomach.

Because when a good employee leaves, they do not take only their job title with them.

They may also take:

• years of organisational knowledge;
• trusted relationships with clients and colleagues;
• specialist skills that are difficult to replace;
• knowledge of systems, processes and history;
• creative ideas and problem-solving capacity;
• stability within the team;
• the confidence and energy they brought to the work.

And then the organisation has to absorb the impact.

Recruitment begins.

Managers lose time reviewing applications and interviewing candidates.

Colleagues take on additional work while the role remains vacant.

Deadlines become harder to meet.

Pressure increases.

Morale can drop.

Then comes onboarding, training and the long period before a new employee understands the role, the team, the culture and all the things that were never written down.

The cost is not simply the recruitment fee.

Widely cited estimates suggest that replacing an employee can cost between six and nine months of their salary, once recruitment, onboarding, lost productivity and training are taken into account.

For someone earning £50,000, that could mean approximately £25,000 to £37,500 before accounting for the loss of knowledge, team pressure and delayed work.

And the cost can be even greater for specialist, managerial or leadership roles.

But here is the question organisations should ask:

Did that resignation really begin on the day the letter arrived?

Or did it begin months earlier with:

• unclear expectations;
• constant cognitive overload;
• communication mismatches;
• unresolved conflict;
• competing priorities;
• a lack of psychological safety;
• a manager who did not know how to provide the right support;
• a talented person repeatedly having to work around the way work was organised?

The CIPD found that only 46% of employees believe their manager designs and allocates work around their strengths and interests.

That is more than an engagement statistic.

It should make every organisation ask:

How much capability are we losing before someone finally decides to leave?

At The Missing Link, our Capacity Programme helps organisations identify the everyday friction that reduces performance, productivity and engagement.

Through a neuro-affirming approach, we help neurodiverse teams understand different strengths, communication styles, working preferences and sources of pressure.

We then work with teams to create practical agreements and sustainable ways of working, so people can collaborate more effectively, perform at a higher level and contribute without constantly battling the system around them.

Because retention does not begin with a counter-offer after someone resigns.

It begins by creating a workplace where people can do their best work and where leaving does not feel like the only way to protect their wellbeing.

If your organisation is experiencing avoidable turnover, rising pressure or a team that is working harder but achieving less, let’s talk about your team’s capacity before another resignation lands on your desk.

Source note

The replacement-cost estimate is commonly reported as six to nine months of salary, depending on role and seniority. The CIPD statistic is from its 2024 Neuroinclusion at Work report.

Sources: CIPD, Neuroinclusion at Work Report 2024; summary of employee replacement-cost research.