By Nadine Malek

September 17, 2024

How to Spot Employees Who Are at Risk of Leaving: The Top 5 Indicators

Employee retention is a critical concern for any organization, and being able to identify those at risk of leaving is invaluable. Over the years, Prodoscore has gathered substantial data on employee habits, providing us with key markers that indicate when an employee may be on their way out.

While some of these indicators can be observed without Prodoscore, our solution significantly simplifies the process of identifying at-risk employees before they hand you their two-week notice.

The average cost to a business of losing just one employee is 6-9 months of an employee’s salary, not to mention the goodwill lost with clients who they may have been working with and the inevitable impact on culture and morale.

An employee retention strategy can help mitigate unexpected attrition, but insight into employee engagement is really the best indicator of flight risk.

If you can pinpoint red flags in advance, you have an opportunity to fix issues before the employee is out the door. Prodoscore’s retention risk report offers visibility into flight risks six to nine weeks before an employee tenders their resignation. Consider the financial benefit of keeping top talent on board.

Indicator 1: Minimal Management Communication

Sometimes, it is not what an employee is doing but what a manager is not doing. According to our data, at-risk employees are not being contacted by their managers on a regular basis. We’ve found that:

61% of managers are not checking in weekly with subordinates
Managers only reach out every 3-4 days on average

While daily check-ins may be overkill, it’s important that managers have regular communication with their employees. The purpose is to ensure their workload is balanced and their needs are being met, and identify any pressing issues that may require management’s help.

One-on-ones are also a great time to acknowledge hard work and offer coaching and support. While we don’t suggest overwhelming them with calls and emails just to ask how they’re doing, it’s also important not to ignore those check-ins. It’s a fine line, and most managers know how to walk it.

Indicator 2: Significant Productivity Dips

Once an employee has disengaged, you’ll start seeing their productivity fall off. For businesses without a solution like Prodoscore, this will mean missed deadlines, a noticeable dip in the amount of work they are producing, and so on.

Prodoscore clients will see a decrease in employee productivity in the score. While we typically see some variance in scores, a disengaged employee often shows a consistent decrease over time.

The rate of change in an employee's Prodoscore is indicative of whether or not an employee is likely to leave

Indicator 3: Less Collaboration and Communication Internally

Alongside a decrease in daily activity, Prodoscore surfaces insights about internal communication, which typically takes a nosedive when an employee starts to check out. Internal communication could be emails, chats, and other digital communications with colleagues. =

Employees who are at risk of leaving give up on their work relationships, choosing not to nurture those bonds any longer. If you don’t have Prodoscore, you may want to keep an ear to the ground to learn about employees becoming distant or not participating in meetings, events, social gatherings, or similar activities.

Indicator 4: Less Time Spent in Tools

Those thinking of leaving will spend less time using company tools such as email, customer relationship management software, project management solutions, and so on. With Prodoscore, visualizing that dip is easy, and several of our dashboards offer insight into tool utilization.

Indicator 5: Length of the Work Day

Our data has shown that another indicator of an at-risk employee is the length of the work day. Employees on their way out typically start to delay their start time, and their end time slowly creeps up over time. An engaged employee will typically be online for the same length of time each day, with variances only for appointments, picking up a kid early from school, and other usual interruptions.

How to Address Flight Risk Employees

Once you’ve spotted a few red flags, the best approach is to have a direct conversation with your staff member. Let them know what you’ve seen, and ask them what they need to feel more comfortable in their position. They’ll usually tell you, especially if you’ve caught the issues early. This step is especially important for top-performing employees as well as the people who have been around for a long period of time and have institutional knowledge.
If employee retention is high on your priority list, Prodoscore’s Retention Risk report can help. There is no better solution to let you know what your employees are doing in a non-invasive way. There are no keyloggers, cameras, or anything else that may make employees feel uncomfortable. The data we gather focuses strictly on business tools and provides objective insights that enable smarter decisions about personnel. Prodscore also offers an employee dashboard, empowering them to self-coach and take on personal development directly.

This is an update to our blog from 2021 (linked here) based on new data points.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the early warning signs that an employee is about to quit?

The five most reliable indicators are a significant drop in productivity, reduced communication with their manager, less collaboration with colleagues, decreased time spent in core work tools, and changes in the length or pattern of their working day. These signals often appear weeks or months before an employee formally resigns, which gives managers time to intervene with a conversation rather than a counter-offer.

How do productivity dips signal employee retention risk?

A sustained drop in productivity often reflects disengagement, which is one of the strongest predictors of voluntary turnover. When an employee who has historically been a strong performer begins consistently underperforming without an obvious external cause, it typically means something has shifted in their motivation, their relationship with the role, or their relationship with the organization. Catching this early and addressing it directly is far more effective than waiting for a resignation letter.

How can managers identify flight risk employees before they resign?

The most effective approach combines regular one-on-one conversations with objective productivity data. One-on-ones give employees a chance to surface concerns they might not raise in a group setting. Productivity data from tools like Prodoscore can surface behavioral patterns, such as reduced tool usage, declining communication frequency, or shifts in work schedule, that indicate disengagement before an employee has decided to leave. Using both together gives managers the earliest possible window to act.

What should a manager do when they identify a flight risk employee?

Start with a direct, private conversation. Ask open-ended questions about how the employee is feeling about their role, their growth, and the team. Listen without being defensive. If the concern is about compensation, workload, or development opportunities, come prepared with what is and is not possible to address. Employees who feel heard and who see concrete action are significantly more likely to stay than those who receive vague reassurances.