"One of these days, I'm going to kick down the manager's door and slam my resignation papers on their desk."

This is a common phrase uttered in water cooler chats at offices today and, when acted upon, is known as revenge quitting. Specifically, revenge quitting is when someone quits their job without sufficient notice as revenge for dealing with a toxic workplace or unfavorable work conditions.

Why the rage?

Fifteen years ago, revenge quitting wasn't common—if a person quit their job hastily, their family would suffer a financial blow. Today, with an abundance of jobs, revenge quitting has become normal. People are confident that they will find a new job if they quit their current one without another job lined up.

The incentive to quit is higher with social media acting as tools to scratch the itch. The problem is, people only show the extremities of their experiences online. A story is either extremely employee-centric and career-friendly or highly toxic and derogatory. Our opinion of other workplaces is always skewed because we never get to see the true situation.

People romanticize revenge quitting just to see the engagement and remarks of approval from strangers in their rage-filled LinkedIn post.

Price to pay

Honestly, nothing feels better to an employee than slamming the door shut on a bad chapter of their professional life. It gives a sense of power over their life and supreme satisfaction. However, the companies aren't as satisfied with the experience.

Occurrences of revenge quitting is a sign that bad culture has been left unnoticed for a long time. Companies face bad consequences like:

• Losing top talent
• Damage to the employer brand
• Unrest within teams in the organization
• Disengaged employees

Revenge quitting is such an extreme reaction that you need to be prepared in advance in case it happens. How should HR leaders handle revenge quitting?

Mitigating a revenge quit

Feeling anger is a healthy way to let out emotions, but it's not the best time to make decisions when you're angry. A hasty and anger-filled resignation burns bridges and permanently closes some doors with their colleagues.

The moment you see an employee walk in red with rage, calm them down. Ask them to take a few deep breaths. Listen to them without interrupting and identify their problems. Here is a brief outline of how to approach the issue:

1. Narrow down the problem. What's bothering them? How would they prefer things to work?
2. Once you have those down, organize a meeting with their manager. Explain the problems with cause and paint a picture of the desired outcome if things were better for the employee.
3. It's also important to ask, listen, and understand the manager's expectations.
4. Take a fresh look at the problem and think as an outsider. Come up with a mutually agreeable action plan. Bring it to action.
5. Give enough time for new processes and mindset changes to settle. Politely ask the employee to patiently wait for the changes to reflect. Even if the progress is slow, it is still progress.

After trying everything, if the employee is still dissatisfied and decides to move on, you can walk away knowing in your heart that you tried your best. You now have discovered the cause and effect of a culture or management problem to work on.

Preventing revenge quits

HR professionals are the most equipped to prevent revenge quits. They are the torch-bearers of work culture and healthy management styles. Here are a few pointers to prevent revenge quits from happening.

• Catch it early on. Build strong relationships with people from all hierarchy levels so you have markers of how people feel about working in their teams. You can catch signs of distress early on and act on them before they escalate.
• Build a healthy work culture. Talk to employees about their career goals and workload expectations to keep them aligned with business goals. Start early by talking about expectations during hiring and onboarding.
• Keep your doors open. Listen to employee concerns and genuinely care about them. Employees should feel heard and understand that you are working towards solutions.
• Promise (and offer) career growth. The best leaders are the ones who inspire people and help them learn and grow. Hone the management skills of leaders consistently with regular leadership training and summits.
• Give importance to change management. Revenge quits are most common when there are structural or process changes, resulting in temporary slogs that put employees in a difficult spot.

To employees, revenge quitting might be a privilege they can afford, but it damages an organization's reputation. No one should have to go through such an extreme reaction to course-correct their career. Build happy workplaces; prevent revenge quits.