What do you do if you lose that ‘genie in a bottle’ worker?

We all have that one team member (at least) in our respective teams who we depend on in times of crises and exigencies, who shoulders the team’s unassigned responsibility without being asked to, who takes up the weekend duty without complaining, who’s both competent at what s/he does and is passionate about proving themselves in their chosen domain. You may call them star employees, the best performers, or the 20 per cent who do 80 per cent of the work (the Pareto principle).

I call them my genies in a bottle. They’re the lifeline of any organisation — they may be chatty or reserved, flamboyant or unassuming, expeditious or fastidious, but the one trait associated with all ‘genie workers’ is that they are reliable. They will fulfil any task thrown at them at any time of the day or night. They’re a blessing to have in your team, and managers who have more than one such genie at their disposal are incredibly lucky.

What happens, though, when your genie decides it’s time to move on? Yes, it may initially feel like a slap on the face like a personal rejection or betrayal, but as all professionals know, expats are a workforce on the move, and there are times when the move is inevitable. A counter-offer may work in some cases where the employee is discontented because of lack of career growth or pay hikes (or both), but there may be reasons beyond anyone’s control.

We live in a transient world. Most expats have different obligations to meet. Some of us may need to move back owing to family commitments. Some others may have career compulsions that drive them to distant shores where the grass may be greener. Some of us may have set ourselves a timeline to reach a career milestone, and decide to move after reaching that or because we couldn’t achieve that goal. But the one thing that all managers need to ensure is that the genie is not leaving because of being rubbed the wrong way. That, without a doubt, is the biggest organisational blunder at a time when talent is getting increasingly scarce.