What to do when an employee quits suddenly

Every employee leaves. It’s just a fact of work life. Sometimes it’s regrettable—your high performers decide to move on, chasing new opportunities. Other times, it’s a decision you make because a change just needs to happen. Either way, you can’t be caught off guard.

Especially when 56% of employees want to find a new job in 2025 and 46% of frontline employees globally feel tempted to quit on tough days. The standard two weeks’ notice is fading fast, especially among Gen Z. 

Trends like #NoTwoWeekNotice are gaining steam on social media, with many workers questioning why they should give notice when they don’t feel cared for or respected at work. After all, companies lay people off without warning. So should employees worry about burning a bridge?

Turnover is inevitable. Preparation is essential. By making resignation readiness part of your talent strategy, you can keep your team moving forward no matter who decides to leave. Here’s how.

Capture critical knowledge and make it accessible

A single sudden departure can be hard enough to overcome, let alone a constant stream of turnover or mass retirements. You just can’t replace 20 or 30 years of experience with a training program, no more how comprehensive it is. Too many organizations fail to capture the critical know-how of their most experienced employees. Sure, SOPs are useful, but they often miss the everyday practices that make the biggest difference and keep the operation running smoothly. 

Many employees don’t realize they have valuable knowledge to share. Others may intentionally hoard insights, viewing proprietary knowledge as a way to safeguard their workplace value and job security. This is why organizations must make knowledge sharing a cultural priority. Relying on employees to document their expertise on their own isn’t enough. It’s the organization’s responsibility to ensure critical knowledge is actively captured and made accessible to everyone who needs it.

Modern technology has made knowledge sharing simpler, scalable, and more effective than ever. Video, for instance, offers a highly accessible way to capture critical expertise, allowing employees to explain their work in everyday language without the burden of writing lengthy guides. Quick tutorials or interviews with subject matter experts can preserve valuable insights while minimizing disruption to daily operations. 

AI-powered search engines and digital assistants take this a step further by making these assets easily accessible across the organization and streamlining the management of your knowledge base. By embedding these tools into everyday workflows, organizations can ensure critical knowledge remains intact—even when key employees eventually move on.

Prioritize cross-training for critical job tasks

“What if they got hit by a bus tomorrow?” This is often how organizations highlight the risk of relying too heavily on one person to handle critical tasks. Let’s put a more positive spin on this challenge: what if they won the lottery? Either way, you still need a plan. Succession shouldn’t be reserved for senior management. It must be embedded within every phase of your talent strategy. A highly effective way to achieve this? Cross-training.

Cross-training ensures there are enough people available to handle critical job tasks, creating a safety net for when someone is unavailable due to an absence, resignation, or other reasons. It allows team members to step in and keep the operation running smoothly, even if they don’t have the same depth of expertise as long-tenured employees. At the same time, cross-training makes your operation more agile and adaptable, enabling you to shift resources where they’re needed most—whether that’s covering unexpected absences or responding to surges in demand—while strengthening your team’s ability to handle challenges as they arise.

Cross-training is a great strategy in theory, but it requires intentional effort and planning to put into practice. First, encourage employees to develop new skills and take on expanded roles by offering incentives, such as increased pay and flexible schedules. Set aside the time and resources needed to make cross-training a regular part of your operation, not an afterthought that’s easily set aside when budgets are crunched. Use modern learning technology to help employees discover new roles and engage in on-demand training. Give location managers the ability to run their own cross-training programs without L&D assistance. By embedding cross-training into your strategy, you’ll be even more prepared to handle unexpected employee departures. 

Accelerate onboarding for essential tasks

You’ve got a curated knowledge base packed with insights. Your cross-trained team is ready to step into the gaps and handle a variety of tasks. But even with these pieces in place, you still need to find a replacement and get them up-to-speed quickly. Unfortunately, many teams operate at minimum staffing levels due to labor costs, leaving managers scrambling to hire reactively when someone leaves. That’s why every team needs a strong onboarding plan to get new hires contributing as quickly as possible.

Start by focusing on the essentials. New hires don’t need to know how to handle every corner case or rare situation they may encounter someday. They need the basics – how to execute essential job tasks. Your knowledge base can act as a crutch, giving people a reliable place to find answers for topics they don’t cover during onboarding. AI-enabled digital assistants can make it even easier to get help on-demand without the need to rely on teammates or managers. 

Once your new hires are up and running, use microlearning to continue building their skills. Deliver short, targeted updates and refreshers to maintain and expand their knowledge in the moments they have available during the busy workday. With an onboarding strategy that combines streamlined training, accessible resources and ongoing development, you can close capability gaps ASAP.

Be turnover-ready, but treat employees like they’re irreplaceable 

Being prepared for turnover doesn’t mean treating your employees as if they’re disposable. Instead, it’s about building a resilient operation. By capturing critical knowledge, cross-training your team and accelerating onboarding, you’re not just protecting your business—you’re also supporting your remaining team members. They benefit from a system that is equipped to adapt so people aren’t left scrambling to pick up the slack when someone unexpectedly walks out the door. When you prioritize readiness, you create a culture of shared responsibility, growth and stability that serves both your people and your organization.

JD Dillon, Chief Learning Architect

JD Dillon became an expert on frontline training and enablement over two decades working in operations and talent development with dynamic organizations, including Disney, Kaplan and AMC. A respected author and speaker in the workplace learning community, JD also continues to apply his passion for helping frontline employees around the world do their best work every day in his role as Axonify's Chief Learning Architect.

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