When is it too late to ask?

An employee hands in their notice.

You look back.

You see the signs.

The slightly shorter replies in chat. The meeting where she didn't say anything. The Friday he left at exactly four.

You kind of knew.

You just didn't ask.

Wellbeing doesn't disappear suddenly.

It happens slowly. In small frustrations that are never said out loud. In energy that quietly withdraws.

Not dramatically. Not visibly.

Just quietly.

And then it's too late.

The dangerous stage

An employee who's starting to disengage almost always follows the same pattern.

Engagement drops.
Initiative fades.
Their contribution in meetings gets shorter.

Tasks get done. But none get lifted.

That's not laziness.

That's disconnection.

And disconnection happens long before the resignation. Not after.

Why managers don't catch it

Because they wait to be told.

Employees rarely speak up before they're ready to leave. They put up with things. They hope it gets better. They tell their colleagues. Not their manager.

Not because they don't want to.

But because it feels risky.

The one-on-one happens face to face. Answers get filtered accordingly. The informal chat by the coffee machine never quite gets to what matters.

You hear what they think you want to hear.

Not what they actually think.

What it costs

A resignation typically costs between 50% and 200% of annual salary, when you add everything up.

Recruitment. Onboarding. Lost knowledge. Cultural impact.

For specialists, it can be significantly more.

That's not an HR figure.

That's a leadership figure.

And it's almost always a figure that could have been avoided.

When should you ask?

Not when someone hands in their notice.

Not even when you start to worry.

Now. And again next month.

An annual survey tells you how things were.

A monthly pulse check tells you what's happening now.

There are two kinds of companies.

The ones who find out a staff member has been struggling, when the resignation lands on the desk.

And the ones who find out three months earlier. And do something about it.

The difference isn't luck.

It's a question asked in time.