Originally found at Business Insider Germany

Quitting your job and taking a new job means change. But not only for yourself. Because the employees who stay behind in their old job are also affected by the departure of a colleague. A study by the UBC Sauder School of Business in Canada shows that they can even go so far as to consider resigning.

The researchers found that employees are concerned when a colleague fires them. "Each type of churn causes its own level of disruption," study author Sima Sajjadiani said in a statement. After a layoff, peers with similar accomplishments resign the most.

Researchers have examined the termination behavior of over a million employees

The study “Who is leaving us and why? The Dynamics of Brain Drain” was published in the Academy of Management Journal on January 30, 2023. Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada and the University of Minnesota wanted to find out how employee quitting behavior changes after another colleague quits or is fired.

For almost two years, they examined the arrivals and departures of 1,620 retail stores. In total, more than one million employees were considered. The researchers also tracked which employees performed better and which were more likely to be low performers. Because the results show that this can also have an influence on colleagues.

Continue reading the original article at Business Insider.

Read the original research in Academy of Management Journal.

Read the Academy of Management Insights summary.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

• Sima Sajjadiani, University of British Columbia
• John D Kammeyer-Mueller, University of Minnesota
• Alan Benson, University of Minnesota