How to reduce stress due to attrition for new mangers

A single person leaving in a 10 member team is a loss of 10 percent of your team. Projects can get delayed. Developing the following point of you view and doing two critical things can help you deal with the stress.

Regular attrition is good. When you backfill the role with a new hire, lots of good comes with it. They come with new energy, perspectives, technology exposure, morale improves and your onboarding docs get better.

To benefit from attrition, you should do two things rigorously.

Always be hiring (even if you have no headcount)

You should always talk to potential candidates, route them to peer teams. Keep in touch with the recruiting team even if you do not have available headcount. Actively help in interviewing for other teams. When a slot becomes open in your own team, you can always hire them quickly.

Knowing that you can find a new replacement will drop your stress by half

Assume 90% capacity from the team

Assuming a 10% attrition for the year, you should work with your manager to either reduce the workload and timeline to accommodate a 90% team size. If there was no attrition for the year, it is a bonus. This means that the moment someone leaves, you are truly at capacity but not under capacity. Hopefully, your hiring machinery kicks in to bring the capacity back with the buffer quickly.

Good luck managing your stress.