How to handle an employee who keeps threatening to quit
Employees often use repeated quitting threats as leverage to secure unearned pay raises because past compliance taught them it works. This behavior forces managers into endless pay negotiations and prevents them from establishing stable, performance-based compensation.
Overview
People affected2 accounts across 1 forum
Workarounds found3 items attempted
Community agreement4 total upvotes
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
3 items+ Contribute
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Giving into demands and offering additional raises to keep the employee from leavingDid this help you?
- 2Calling their bluff, accepting their resignation, and letting them leaveDid this help you?
- 3Refusing to negotiate further and offering a good reference to move onDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
r/humanresources2 people · September 2026
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7What to do when a student threatens or assaults you at school
- 4How to deal with an unqualified employee who is impossible to fire
- 2How to manage an older employee with more experience who undermines you
- 9Why is handling employee relations so overwhelming?
- 3How to handle vague employee complaints about attitudes and disrespect
- 2Why are employees still complaining after positive changes?