Employee Flight Risk Assessment

How to use the flight risk assessment

Pick one person, ideally someone whose departure would genuinely set you back, and answer honestly. For each factor, choose No, Somewhat, or Yes based on what you actually know, not what you hope is true. The score updates as you go, and the result panel lists the signals contributing most so you know where to focus.

The ten factors are grouped into four areas, because flight risk almost never comes from a single cause. It builds when problems stack: someone's pay drifts below market and they get passed over and a reorg drops a new manager on them. Any one is survivable; together they push people to start looking.

What the factors mean

• Growth & recognition. The most common reason good people leave is a stalled path. No promotion, no raise, no honest growth conversation in a year is a loud signal, and being passed over for something they wanted is louder still.
• Pay & market. Below-market pay is a standing invitation, and it's sharpest for people in roles recruiters chase. You don't have to win every comp battle, but you should know where you stand.
• Manager & engagement. People don't leave companies so much as situations. A fraying manager relationship and a visible drop in engagement often show up together, and early.
• Workload & burnout. Burnout doesn't just make people less productive; it makes leaving feel like relief. Chronic overload and collapsing work-life balance are retention problems, not just wellbeing ones.
• Outside signals. A refreshed profile, a burst of new skills, more networking, or an “Open to Work” badge are the public tells that a search may already be underway. A recent trigger, a reorg, a new manager, a missed bonus, a big life change, is often what starts it.

For a deeper look at each of these, our guide to employee flight risk walks through what raises it and the retention moves that lower it, and the signs an employee is about to quit covers the behavioral tells in detail.

Turning a score into action

A number on its own changes nothing. The point of the assessment is to move you from vague worry to a specific next step while there's still time to take it.

• Low. Keep doing the boring, effective things: regular one-on-ones, real growth conversations, and fair pay reviews.
• Watch. Book a stay interview. Ask what would make them consider leaving and what keeps them here, then actually act on one thing they raise.
• Elevated or High. Move this week. Understand the real driver, fix what you can, and be honest about what you can't. If a departure still looks likely, use the lead time to plan a clean transition instead of scrambling after notice lands.

The honest limits of a checklist

A manager's read of a factor is a guess, and guesses carry bias. You might rate someone low because you like them, or high because one tense meeting is fresh in your mind. The score is only as good as the honesty behind it, so treat it as a conversation starter, not a label to hang on someone. It's also a snapshot: risk moves, so re-run it a few times a year and watch the trend rather than fixating on one result.

The biggest limitation is that it depends on you noticing. Outside signals, in particular, are easy to miss until someone's already halfway out the door. That gap between when the signals appear and when a busy manager notices them is exactly what predicting employee turnover from public data is meant to close.