Identify High Flight Risk Employees: Behavioral Indicators

It's challenging for managers to identify employees who might leave the organization.

By learning the behavioral indicators that signal an employee is a flight risk, managers can take proactive steps to retain valuable talent.

In this article, we'll explore the meaning of "high flight risk" employees, behavioral indicators to watch for, strategies to assess flight risk, and approaches to employee retention and turnover management.

Introduction to Flight Risk in the Workplace

Employee turnover is a significant challenge for many organizations. Identifying employees who are at high risk of leaving can allow companies to take proactive retention efforts. This article will provide HR professionals and business leaders guidance on recognizing behavioral indicators that may signify an employee is likely to quit.

Understanding High Flight Risk Meaning

A "high flight risk" employee refers to staff members who exhibit attitudes and behaviors indicating they are seriously considering leaving the company or have already decided to quit. Typically, high flight risk employees have lost engagement with and commitment to the organization. Their dissatisfaction may stem from unmet expectations, lack of growth opportunities, pay inequity, or other drivers. If not addressed, these employees will likely hand in resignation letters in the near future. Proactively identifying flight risk factors can allow companies to intervene before talent walks out the door.

Behavioral Indicators: A Primer

There are several observable behavioral cues that can indicate an employee may quit soon. Some top signals include:

Declining performance over time or lack of interest in assignments
Avoiding workplace socialization or calling in sick frequently
Expressing cynicism about leadership or company trajectory
Lack of engagement in team meetings and projects
Failure to take on additional responsibilities or challenges
Increased networking externally or with recruiters
Sudden urgent personal issues requiring flexibility

While any one sign does not guarantee an employee will leave, a combination of factors merits further inquiry. HR should analyze trends through stay interviews, engagement surveys, and performance reviews to identify flight risks early on. Addressing pain points openly and directly can retain talent by showing the company cares.

How do you identify a flight risk employee?

Identifying flight risk employees can be challenging, but paying attention to certain behavioral indicators within the workplace context can help signal if an employee might leave. Here are some of the key signs to look out for:

Changes in Attitude Towards Work

Employees who suddenly become less engaged, stop volunteering for projects, or withdraw from collaborating may be losing interest in their role. Negative changes in attitude over time can indicate a flight risk employee.

Decline in Productivity

A consistent decline in productivity levels or quality of work can also signal an employee is checked out mentally. Falling productivity may result from decreased motivation or effort.

Increase in Absenteeism

Frequent unplanned absences or tardiness may demonstrate an employee's waning commitment. While there can be legitimate reasons for time off work, patterns of absenteeism can raise red flags.

Lack of Interest in Development

Employees looking to grow their careers will pursue development opportunities. But employees planning to leave may show less interest in training, certifications, or expanding their responsibilities.

Interpersonal Changes

Flight risk employees often start withdrawing from colleagues, become less collaborative, and reduce communication. Sudden interpersonal changes can signify deeper issues leading to quitting.

Proactively monitoring these behavioral shifts and having open conversations can confirm if an employee is planning to leave. Addressing problems early and re-engaging employees reduces turnover risks. Utilizing pulse surveys, stay interviews, or HR analytics also helps assess flight risk trends across the organization. With emotional intelligence and the right workplace resources, managers can identify flight risk warning signs and attempt to retain valuable talent.

What is the employee flight risk model?

The employee flight risk model is a data-driven approach to identifying employees who are most likely to voluntarily leave the organization in the near future. It analyzes various risk factors and behavioral indicators that tend to precede employee turnover, enabling proactive retention efforts.

Some key aspects of the flight risk model include:

Analyzing trends in past employee turnover to identify common predictive characteristics of those who left - such as performance ratings, tenure, salary levels, absenteeism rates, engagement survey scores, etc. This establishes baseline flight risk criteria.
Tracking real-time changes in those predictive metrics at the individual employee level to flag potential flight risks - such as a sudden dip in performance or engagement.
Contextualizing the data by considering the employee's specific circumstances at work - such as recently being passed up for a promotion or having a new manager. This provides a more holistic flight risk assessment.
Updating predictive analytics as new turnover trends emerge, to keep the model accurate and calibrated.
Targeting retention efforts like career development support, increased recognition, or stay interviews for those flagged as potential flight risks. Quick intervention can often prevent voluntary turnover.

An effective flight risk model needs consistent monitoring and updating to account for evolving employee behaviors over time. But used proactively, it is a powerful data-driven approach for minimizing preventable employee turnover through selective retention efforts.

Who is a high risk employee?

A high risk employee refers to those workers who exhibit concerning behaviors or performance issues that indicate they may be more likely to voluntarily leave the organization or require termination. While not all employees with risk factors will become flight risks, identifying problems early allows organizations to proactively address issues before they escalate.

Some common high risk employee indicators include:

Repeated policy violations or misconduct
Sudden decline in productivity or quality of work
Increase in unexcused absences or tardiness
Withdrawing from involvement in team activities
Expressing dissatisfaction with job duties, pay, management, etc.
Conflicts with leadership or friction with colleagues

HR leaders can utilize pulse surveys, stay interviews, and performance reviews to uncover risk factors. Analytics tools can also identify changes in behavior patterns.

By regularly assessing the workplace environment and maintaining open communication channels, managers can better understand employee sentiment and intervene with support resources when needed. Offering professional development opportunities, goal setting collaborations, and transparency around pay structures and promotion timelines can also help mitigate flight risk.

Proactively identifying and working with high risk employees not only reduces regrettable turnover, but builds mutual trust and loyalty. With compassion and commitment to improvement on both sides, many struggling employees can become reengaged, productive members of the team.

Who are the people who are flight risks?

Employees who are flight risks typically exhibit certain behavioral indicators that signal their disengagement and likelihood to leave the organization. Some common signs to look out for include:

Declining performance over time
Lack of motivation and decreased productivity
Expressing dissatisfaction with their job, manager, or the company
Disengaging from team activities and meetings
Actively looking for other job opportunities
Sudden change in demeanor and attitude
Taking more time off than usual

While some employees may openly communicate their intentions to leave, others provide more subtle cues through their behavior and workplace interactions.

By proactively identifying flight risk behavioral indicators, HR leaders and managers can step in to have stay interviews, address concerns, and take retention efforts before the employee hands in their resignation. Analytics tools that detect changes in engagement metrics can also forecast flight risks early on.

The key is to interpret behavioral shifts not in isolation, but within the full context of that employee's typical demeanor and performance. This allows determining if an indicator truly signals a flight risk or is an anomaly. Emotional intelligence, resources and training for managers, setting measurable and attainable goals, pay transparency, and offering professional development opportunities can further equip organizations to retain their top talent.

Employee Flight Risk Assessment Matrix

Developing effective employee retention strategies requires identifying employees who are at risk of leaving the organization. A flight risk assessment matrix can be a useful tool for this.

Here are some best practices for creating a comprehensive flight risk assessment matrix:

Developing a Comprehensive Assessment Tool

Include both quantitative metrics (e.g. attendance, performance reviews) and qualitative indicators (e.g. engagement, attitude) to evaluate flight risk holistically.
Incorporate insights from exit interviews, stay interviews, and employee engagement surveys to understand reasons for resignation.
Develop clear criteria and a scoring system to objectively rate each employee's flight risk.
Regularly review and update the matrix to account for changes over time.
Use the matrix data to have supportive conversations with high flight risk employees.

Identify High Flight Risk Employees: Example Scenarios

Here are some hypothetical examples of employee profiles that could signal a flight risk:

Jane has missed several deadlines recently and expressed dissatisfaction with her manager's leadership style. Her scores related to job satisfaction and work relationships are poor.
John has an ambitious career development plan but turned down his last two promotion offers. His training and growth opportunities scores are low.
Lisa used to be very engaged but has become withdrawn. Her peer connection score has declined over the past year.
Mark's performance metrics are satisfactory but he has been arriving late and leaving early frequently. His reliability score is dropping.

Incorporating Emotional Intelligence in Assessments

Emotional intelligence—the ability to understand emotions and relationships—can provide useful insights when evaluating flight risk:

Observe body language and tone during conversations for signs of unhappiness.
Get to know employees personally to build trust and understand motivations.
Ask thoughtful questions and actively listen without judgement.
Show empathy, validate concerns, and explore potential solutions.
Track sentiment over time watching for changes in behavior or attitude.

In summary, a multilayered flight risk assessment process, informed by emotional intelligence, data, and dialogue, can help retain top talent over the long-term.

Managing for Employee Retention

Regularly assessing employee flight risk is crucial for retention efforts. There are several best practices organizations can implement:

Leveraging Stay Interviews and Employee Surveys

Conduct anonymous employee surveys at least annually to gauge job satisfaction, feelings of appreciation and value, career development opportunities, workplace culture, and other factors tied to retention. Track trends over time.
Hold regular stay interviews with employees to understand their goals and frustrations. Adjust roles accordingly to align with employee aspirations when possible.
Use survey and interview data to shape retention strategies like:
- Providing professional development opportunities
- Offering attractive employee benefits
- Communicating with employees about their value
- Acknowledging great performance

Integrating Flight Risk Factors into Employee Performance Reviews

Incorporate flight risk assessment into employee performance reviews. Gather manager insights on risk factors like:
- Lack of engagement
- Dissatisfaction with role, pay, etc.
- Insufficient career progression
- Poor cultural fit
Address issues uncovered proactively through coaching, development plans, promotions, etc.

Utilizing HR Analytics to Predict Turnover

Leverage HR analytics to uncover macro trends that may increase company-wide flight risk, like:
- Declining employee net promoter score trends over past year
- Increasing average tenure length of exiting employees
- Growing employee turnover rate
- Salary ranges misaligned with market rates
Make strategic management decisions aimed at reversing negative indicators, through initiatives like:
- Annual pay increases
- Pay equity analysis
- Expanded learning budgets
- Succession planning

Proactively assessing flight risk using surveys, stay interviews, performance reviews, and HR analytics enables organizations to catch issues early and retain talent through tailored retention initiatives.

Retention Strategies for At-Risk Employees

Retaining top talent is critical for any organization's success. Employees who are disengaged or at risk of leaving can significantly impact productivity, profitability, and knowledge retention. By identifying behavioral indicators of flight risk early and addressing employees' core needs proactively, companies can greatly improve retention rates.

Offering Professional Development Opportunities

One of the biggest drivers of turnover is lack of career progression opportunities. Employees, especially high performers, want the chance to continuously develop new skills and take on greater responsibilities. According to a LinkedIn survey, 93% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their careers.

Some effective professional development tactics include:

Formal training programs: Offer workshops, seminars, certifications, and other learning opportunities relevant to employees' roles and interests. Support participation with time and monetary resources.
Stretch assignments: Let employees take on short-term projects outside their core roles to build new capabilities.
Mentorship programs: Pair junior employees with more experienced mentors for guidance and coaching.
Tuition assistance: Contribute funds towards external education like advanced degrees and technical certifications.

The more employees feel they are growing professionally, the more engaged and invested they become in sticking with the company long-term.

Creating an Inclusive Company Culture

Beyond career growth, employees also want to feel like they belong and are valued for their unique backgrounds and perspectives. Fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace is both the right thing to do and critical for retention.

Strategies for improving company culture include:

Employee resource groups (ERGs): These groups give employees with common interests/backgrounds community and support.
DEI training: Educate leaders and staff on mitigating bias and championing diversity.
Review HR policies: Ensure they account for diverse needs around flexibility, time-off, family leave, etc.
Listen to employees: Regularly survey for insights into the current culture and areas needing improvement.

When employees feel respected, accepted, and able to thrive as their authentic selves at work, their sense of loyalty and motivation to stay increases dramatically.

Ensuring Pay Transparency and Equity

Pay unfairness, whether real or perceived, is one of the fastest ways to lose top performers. Employees want compensation systems that are transparent, equitable, and tied to clear impact metrics.

Tactics like:

Publicly sharing level-based salary ranges
Conducting robust equal pay audits
Basing pay on performance through regular reviews
Offering clear promotion pathways

Can help ensure employees understand pay policies and feel fairly rewarded for their contributions. This drives engagement, innovation, and retention.

Setting Measurable and Attainable Goals

Finally, clearly articulating what success looks like and providing resources to achieve goals are pivotal for motivation. With tangible metrics to work towards, employees gain purpose and autonomy in driving results.

Best practices around goal-setting include:

Collaboratively set objectives based on company priorities
Break bigger goals down into smaller milestones
Equip employees with sufficient resources/tools
Schedule regular check-ins on progress
Recognize achievements

Well-designed goals give employees a roadmap to make an impact, powering engagement and loyalty.

In summary, by honing in on development, inclusion, equity, and purpose for at-risk employees, companies can significantly improve retention rates and reduce regrettable turnover.

Incentives for Employee Loyalty

Retaining top talent is critical for any organization's success. One of the biggest drivers of employee turnover is feeling undervalued or lacking growth opportunities. Companies can promote loyalty and longer tenures by offering incentives tailored to employee needs.

Attractive Employee Benefits and Annual Pay Increases

Competitive compensation and benefits signify that a company values its people. While pay isn't everything, fair and equitable salaries matter. Conduct periodic pay equity analyses and offer annual raises to keep pace with market rates.

Attractive medical/dental coverage, retirement matching, paid time off, flexible work arrangements, and other perks also boost satisfaction. Consider benefits most meaningful to workers when shaping offerings.

Promotions and Career Progression Opportunities

Ambitious employees need visible career ladders to envision their future at an organization. Managers should set measurable and attainable goals tied to advancement during performance reviews. Outline required competencies, training, and milestones at each level.

Publicize open roles, clarify promotion criteria, provide stretch assignments, and celebrate growth to spur retention. Demonstrate appreciation for worker dedication by supporting professional development.

Acknowledging Great Performance

While competitive pay and advancement opportunities incentivize quality work, simple recognition nurtures engagement. Employees want to feel valued for their contributions.

Managers should provide regular feedback, praise accomplishments, and call out exceptional efforts. Peer bonus programs enable coworkers to acknowledge each other as well. Small gestures like thank-you notes or shout-outs in meetings can boost morale and loyalty.

Resources and Training for Skill Development

Investing in learning new skills makes employees more capable and well-rounded. Offer internal and external training to hone existing capabilities or gain new ones. Educational assistance programs support formal learning too.

Sponsor mentorships, job shadowing, stretch assignments, and conferences attendance to spur growth. Employees are more likely to stay at companies committed to developing talent over the long-term.

Strategic Management Decisions to Reduce Turnover

Strategic decisions made by management can have a significant impact on employee turnover rates. By analyzing the root causes of turnover and making changes to address those issues, organizations can improve retention.

Identifying the Biggest Drivers of Employee Turnover

To reduce turnover, organizations need to understand what's causing it in the first place. Some of the most common drivers include:

Pay inequities or uncompetitive compensation: If employees feel they are underpaid compared to market rates or their peers, they will be more likely to leave. Regular pay audits are important.
Lack of growth and development opportunities: Employees want to continuously learn new skills and progress in their careers. If they feel stuck or see no clear path forward, their risk of leaving increases.
Poor or toxic work culture: Things like excessive stress, lack of work-life balance, bullying, harassment, and other cultural issues can quickly lead to burnout and prompt employees to find a new job.
Lack of communication and feedback: When employees feel out of the loop or don't understand how their work contributes to larger goals, they can become disengaged. Consistent communication and feedback are vital.

Organizations should track metrics like employee turnover rate and conduct exit interviews to identify patterns in why people are leaving. This data can shine a light on priority areas for improvement.

Addressing Pay Inequities and Salary Range Adjustments

Pay unfairness is one of the biggest drivers of employee turnover. To assess this, organizations should conduct regular salary audits to review:

Whether there are pay inequities between employees with similar roles and experience levels
How current salary ranges compare to market rates for those positions
If certain groups, such as women or minorities, are being paid unfairly

By uncovering and addressing pay gaps with annual pay increases or market adjustments to salary ranges, organizations can promote pay fairness and competitiveness. This helps retain top talent who might otherwise leave due to compensation concerns.

Communicating Employee Value and Contribution

It's critical that organizations clearly communicate to employees how valuable they are and how their work impacts success. Some ways to do this include:

Providing context on how employee performance enables achieving measurable and attainable goals
Sharing updates on business outcomes that their work influenced
Ensuring managers regularly hold stay interviews to gather feedback and reaffirm future career plans
Publicly celebrating wins and giving acknowledgement of great performance
Offering professional development opportunities to signal investment in their growth

With transparent communication and demonstration of employee value, retention is likely to improve as workers feel appreciated, understood, and connected to organizational goals.

Managing Employee Turnover

Retaining top talent is critical for any organization's success. However, some amount of employee turnover is inevitable. As an HR professional, analyzing turnover rates and root causes can provide insights to guide strategic retention efforts.

Analyzing Employee Turnover Rate and Its Impact

Track employee turnover rates by department, tenure, performance rating, etc. High performers leaving at higher rates indicates issues to address.
Exit interviews and surveys provide visibility into reasons for leaving and satisfaction levels. Look for trends.
Model the costs of replacing employees and impacts on productivity to make the business case for retention investments.

Implementing Targeted Retention Efforts

For employees identified as flight risks, have stay interviews to understand their goals and frustrations.
Offer development opportunities, new projects, flex schedules, etc. to high potential employees showing disengagement signs.
Review compensation and benefits competitiveness regularly, adjusting to market rates to retain top talent.
Publicly recognize contributions to make employees feel valued. Small gestures can make a difference.

Learning from Exit Interviews and Feedback

Analyze exit interview themes to guide enhancements to culture, manager capability building, workload balance, growth opportunities etc.
Incorporate exit interview insights into manager feedback and training programs to prevent recurrence.
Track reasons for leaving to identify policies and practices needing change, focusing retention efforts accordingly.
Follow up with alumni to learn how the exit experience could be improved.

Taking a data-driven approach, HR can gain visibility into turnover drivers and target interventions accordingly, communicating with transparency to retain talent.

Conclusion: Retaining Valuable Talent

Identifying and retaining high flight risk employees is crucial for organizations to maintain productivity and reduce turnover costs. Here are some key takeaways for HR professionals:

Proactively assess flight risk by looking for behavioral indicators like disengagement, declining performance, and passive job searching. Tools like stay interviews and engagement surveys can provide insight.
Address flight risk factors like lack of growth opportunities, pay inequity, and poor company culture through open communication and tangible improvements.
Customize retention tactics to employees' needs and values using personalized development plans, fair compensation analysis, and emphasizing work-life balance.
Track metrics over time like turnover rate, regrettable losses, time to fill open positions, and cost per hire to evaluate the effectiveness of retention programs.
Focus retention efforts on high performers and employees with valuable institutional knowledge to avoid preventable talent drain.

The key is combining proactive risk assessment with tailored interventions to retain vital talent, sustain productivity, and reduce turnover expenses. Consistent measurement allows refinement of the most impactful retention strategies over time.