Breaking up with a company is hard to do. If someone really wants out of the employment relationship, it might be better just to let them go.

A while back I was in the awkward position of wanting to leave my role in an organization whose leader very much wanted me to stay. As the days leading up to my departure counted down, he kept trying to push me to name my price – to identify what, if anything, could be done to get me to change my mind.

Not wanting to make waves, but just wanting to leave, I could not bring myself to list the symptoms and causes that all made for an un-healthy workplace, at least for me. As he repeatedly pressed, I considered doing so, but ultimately felt that it would produce only negative outcomes. So I stuck to my story, saying, “It’s not you, it’s me.”

If this is bringing back memories for you of awkward romantic relationship breakups, you’re not alone. Perhaps more than any other time I have decided to leave a company, this particular break-up resembled those romantic ones where one party wants to leave but does not want to hurt the other person if they don’t have to do so.

And just as with a romantic relationship that is no longer working for one of the two parties involved, if one of your best employees decides they want “out,” it might be better just to let them go.

4 Ways to Rebound When Your Best Workers Break Up with You

Remember: There are other fish in the sea.

It was true when your mom, dad, big brother or sister or some other adult said it to you when your heart got broken the first time, and it’s true when an employee you love leaves your company, too.

Work on yourself.

If a departing employee is generous enough to point out some of the things they found unattractive about your company, whether or not changing those characteristics makes a difference to them, it’s still worth some serious introspection. Be open to acknowledging that they might have been partially – or totally – right about something they did not like, and fix it before getting into a new employment relationship with someone else.

It might take some time.

You don’t have to jump in to a new relationship right away. Take time to assess not only what you want in a new employee now, but what traits will help your company grow in the future.

If all else fails, there’s still ice cream.

You don’t just have to soldier on! It could be beneficial to sit down with other employees over ice cream and dialogue about the reasons why one of your best workers left or to give them a chance to ask questions or express their own concerns and suggestions.

***

Elizabeth Kraus is the marketing manager for business cash advance and receivables factoring company DB Squared Inc. and the author of From Beginning to End: 2014 Small Business Marketing Calendar, available on amazon.com.

Related articles

• How to Make Your Employees Care About Your Business (365daysofmarketing.wordpress.com)
• 4 Ways to Get Better When Top Talent Leaves