Hiring and retention are two sides of the same coin.

You know well enough that you need to invest time, money, and effort to recruit new employees for your company.

That’s why when you strike gold and recruit a top performer, you need to work twice as hard to ensure that you are able to keep them.

Of course, the last thing you would want to happen is for your top performers to leave you. Here are five warning signs that foretell an upcoming resignation:

#1: Lackluster performance

When a top performer suddenly starts appearing late for work or begins to hand over less than satisfactory outputs, it could either mean that he’s not that into the job anymore or that he’s lost motivation.

It is a good hiring and retention strategy to talk to the employee at once to know what the problem is before it escalates. If this lack of motivation is not addressed immediately, the employee’s performance may worsen up to the point wherein he’ll 0r she’ll just quit.

If his or her lack of motivation springs from an issue in the workplace put an end to it immediately.

#2: Unsolicited feedback from other employees

When you start receiving unsolicited feedback from other employees about a particular employee, then it’s time to make a move.

The person may seem to be the same for you, but then looks can be deceiving.

He might be just putting up a face for you. Listen to what people have to say. Usually, workers air out their problems to their co-workers. Learning to value feedback from your employees is a factor that can dramatically improve hiring and retention.

#3: Life-changing events

 Sometimes, employees don’t leave because he wants to. At times, employees might not be able to cope up with the rigors of the office because they are encountering personal problems.

An employee might be having marriage issues, or a close family member might be in a life-threatening condition. Talk to the employee and offer concessions, depending on his need. You can offer to give him less workload for a couple of days or even suggest for him to take a leave of absence.

What’s important is you have to make your employee feel that you care for them, and you are willing to extend help when they need it the most. Otherwise, the crushing experience they’re encountering might just force them to resign, even if they don’t intend to.

4.     The job seeker

Other top performers might be actively seeking another job while still working with you. It may either be because they’re not satisfied with the pay, or are just seeking personal fulfillment that they are not getting in their present work.

It is easy to watch out for these types of employees. Usually, they start getting dressed up more frequently, and receive more calls than necessary. Other employees might even be taking their breaks at odd times, or leave the office earlier than allowed.

In these instances, you have to directly confront the employee and ask if he’s seeking another job, and try to find out if you can still win him over, or if he’s already a lost cause.

#5: The power achiever

Meanwhile, there are those types of employees who perform better and try to achieve more for the company in their last days in the office.

Such behavior can spring from his desire to leave a lasting mark on you as an employer, or out of respect.

No matter how good your hiring and retention policies are, these types of people – who are usually the very best – prove to be the most difficult to convince to stay after they’ve handed you their resignation.

Power achievers may want to leave their jobs due to better offers, yet if you could detect such occurrences immediately, you may still have the chance to win them over.

Managers should always be on the look-out for the tell-tale signs of employee resignation.

Hiring and retention policies should always be balanced in such a way that your efforts to hire good people are equal to your efforts to keep them.