This Houston expert shares what could be some red flags indicative of possible employee turnover. Photo via Getty Images

Although managing employee turnover is one critical element of operating a successful business, the "Great Resignation" has created mayhem in the workplace, as employers struggle with a staggering number of employee resignations and the difficulties associated with filling open positions.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a total of 15.5 million workers quit their jobs during a four-month period, April to July in 2021.

One way for employers to be proactive and help combat employee turnover is to be aware of the warning signs. If employers can address situations before it is too late, they have a greater chance of retaining top talent, along with the institutional knowledge employees possess.

Some of the red flags indicative of possible employee turnover are discussed below.

Exhibiting low engagement levels

Employees' level of engagement can indicate whether they are connected to the company and its mission or might be planning to leave the organization. When employees stop committing to long-term projects, fail to contribute during team meetings or seem disinterested in career advancement opportunities, they are displaying low engagement levels and could signal an impending resignation. A lack of enthusiasm, doing just enough to get by and appearing to be checked out can mean their loyalties lie elsewhere and they are just counting the days until their exit.

Elevating professional brand

When employees become more active on social media, especially LinkedIn, they might be elevating their professional brand in order to secure new career opportunities. Although updating their profile, making new connections and posting thought-leadership articles might be part of a push to boost their presence on social media platforms, it could easily be an indicator they are trying to grab the attention of recruiters and industry competitors. In addition, if employees suddenly start volunteering to attend industry conferences/conventions, they might be trying to identify new employers in the field and establish those relationships for the future.

Decreasing productivity

A decrease in productivity from top performers is a telltale sign that the end is near. When employees who were typically counted upon to produce at high levels suddenly have a decline in output and quality, such as failing to meet goals, missing deadlines and making more mistakes, this can mean they are no longer invested in the company. This productivity risk can have a negative impact on the company and its external relationships.

Requesting more time off

If employees start requesting more time off or call in sick frequently, they may be using the time to interview for other positions outside of the company. In addition, coming in late, leaving early and dressing better can also be signs of external meetings with potential employers. When employees stray from their normal routines and seem to spend less time concerned about how they are viewed by their existing employer, their eyes are on a bigger prize.

Displaying negative behaviors

There is nothing more damaging to a company than employees who display negative behavior. This not only has an impact on co-workers and overall employee morale, but it can also affect the company's reputation with clients and vendors. When emails and phone calls are not returned, employees fail to participate during meetings, dissatisfaction about their job is expressed and there is a general lack of respect for management and supervisors, the odds of them leaving the company are great. Unfortunately, when situations reach this degree, they may be unsalvageable and in the company's best interest to move forward without these employees.

Trusting a bad feeling

Many successful business leaders know the standard behaviors, habits and career goals of their top performers, so they should be in tune with what is going on in their professional lives. However, there are times when something just doesn't feel right – a gut feeling – when employees don't appear to be themselves. They may seem disorganized, withdrawn or disappointed for some reason, which leaders should quickly investigate. Getting to the heart of the matter and taking action can reverse the course and lead to more engaged and loyal employees.

Of course, it is always best to retain employees both from a cost and skills perspective because turnover is expensive with regard to attracting, hiring, onboarding, training and replacing the knowledge drain with new employees. When valued employees exhibit the warning signs, it behooves employers to take some extra steps to address the situation and convince workers to remain with the company.

For example, have one-on-one conversations to determine the reasons why employees want to leave and request input from them about ways to resolve the situation before it is too late. However, in an effort to help avoid employee turnover in the future, open and honest communications should occur on a frequent basis to establish strong relationships between employers and employees, which results in a more connected and engaged workforce.

While the business landscape has shifted from an employer- to employee-driven workforce that is dictated by employee needs, leaders should be extremely cognizant of the warning signs of employee turnover, keeping them on their radar during daily interactions with employees. Sometimes, all it takes is employee recognition and thoughtful conversations that demonstrate employers care and have compassion toward employees, which can turn potential resignations into long-term dedication to a company and its mission.

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Jill Chapman is a senior performance consultant with Insperity, a leading provider of human resources and business performance solutions.

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Greentown Labs names Lawson Gow as its new Houston leader

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Greentown Labs has named Lawson Gow as its Head of Houston.

Gow is the founder of The Cannon, a coworking space with seven locations in the Houston area, with additional partner spaces. He also recently served as managing partner at Houston-based investment and advisory firm Helium Capital. Gow is the son of David Gow, founder of Energy Capital's parent company, Gow Media.

According to Greentown, Gow will "enhance the founder experience, cultivate strategic partnerships, and accelerate climatetech solutions" in his new role.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Greentown at this critical moment for the energy transition,” Gow said in a news release. “Greentown has a fantastic track record of supporting entrepreneurs in Houston, Boston, and beyond, and I am eager to keep advancing our mission in the energy transition capital of the world.”

Gow has also held analyst, strategy and advising roles since graduating from Rice University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Lawson to our leadership team,” Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO of Greentown Labs, added in the release. “Lawson has spent his career building community and championing entrepreneurs, and we look forward to him deepening Greentown’s support of climate and energy startups as our Head of Houston.”

Gow is the latest addition to a series of new hires at Greentown Labs following a leadership shakeup.

Flatter was named as the organization's new CEO in February, replacing Kevin Dutt, Greentown’s interim CEO, who replaced Kevin Knobloch after he announced that he would step down in July 2024 after less than a year in the role.

Greentown also named Naheed Malik its new CFO in January.

Timmeko Moore Love was named the first Houston general manager and senior vice president of Greentown Labs. According to LinkedIn, she left the role in January.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Houston foundation grants $27M to support Texas chemistry research

fresh funding

Houston-based The Welch Foundation has doled out $27 million in its latest round of grants for chemical research, equipment and postdoctoral fellowships.

According to a June announcement, $25.5 million was allocated for the foundation's longstanding research grants, which provide $100,000 per year in funding for three years to full-time, regular tenure or tenure-track faculty members in Texas. The foundation made 85 grants to faculty at 16 Texas institutions for 2025, including:

  • Michael I. Jacobs, assistant professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department at Texas State University, who is investigating the structure and thermodynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins, which could "reveal clues about how life began," according to the foundation.
  • Kendra K. Frederick, assistant professor in the biophysics department at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who is studying a protein linked to Parkinson’s disease.
  • Jennifer S. Brodbelt, professor in chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, who is testing a theory called full replica symmetry breaking (fullRSB) on glass-like materials, which has implications for complex systems in physics, chemistry and biology.

Additional funding will be allocated to the Welch Postdoctoral Fellows of the Life Sciences Research Foundation. The program provides three-year fellowships to recent PhD graduates to support clinical research careers in Texas. Two fellows from Rice University and Baylor University will receive $100,000 annually for three years.

The Welch Foundation also issued $975,000 through its equipment grant program to 13 institutions to help them develop "richer laboratory experience(s)." The universities matched funds of $352,346.

Since 1954, the Welch Foundation has contributed over $1.1 billion for Texas-nurtured advancements in chemistry through research grants, endowed chairs and other chemistry-related ventures. Last year, the foundation granted more than $40.5 million in academic research grants, equipment grants and fellowships.

“Through funding basic chemical research, we are actively investing in the future of humankind,” Adam Kuspa, president of The Welch Foundation, said the news release. “We are proud to support so many talented researchers across Texas and continue to be inspired by the important work they complete every day.”

New Houston biotech co. developing capsules for hard-to-treat tumors

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Houston company Sentinel BioTherapeutics has made promising headway in cancer immunotherapy for patients who don’t respond positively to more traditional treatments. New biotech venture creation studio RBL LLC (pronounced “rebel”) recently debuted the company at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Rima Chakrabarti is a neurologist by training. Though she says she’s “passionate about treating the brain,” her greatest fervor currently lies in leading Sentinel as its CEO. Sentinel is RBL’s first clinical venture, and Chakrabarti also serves as cofounder and managing partner of the venture studio.

The team sees an opportunity to use cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) capsules to fight many solid tumors for which immunotherapy hasn't been effective in the past. “We plan to develop a pipeline of drugs that way,” Chakrabarti says.

This may all sound brand-new, but Sentinel’s research goes back years to the work of Omid Veiseh, director of the Rice Biotechnology Launch Pad (RBLP). Through another, now-defunct company called Avenge Bio, Veiseh and Paul Wotton — also with RBLP and now RBL’s CEO and chairman of Sentinel — invested close to $45 million in capital toward their promising discovery.

From preclinical data on studies in mice, Avenge was able to manufacture its platform focused on ovarian cancer treatments and test it on 14 human patients. “That's essentially opened the door to understanding the clinical efficacy of this drug as well as it's brought this to the attention of the FDA, such that now we're able to continue that conversation,” says Chakrabarti. She emphasizes the point that Avenge’s demise was not due to the science, but to the company's unsuccessful outsourcing to a Massachusetts management team.

“They hadn't analyzed a lot of the data that we got access to upon the acquisition,” explains Chakrabarti. “When we analyzed the data, we saw this dose-dependent immune activation, very specific upregulation of checkpoints on T cells. We came to understand how effective this agent could be as an immune priming agent in a way that Avenge Bio hadn't been developing this drug.”

Chakrabarti says that Sentinel’s phase II trials are coming soon. They’ll continue their previous work with ovarian cancer, but Chakrabarti says that she also believes that the IL-2 capsules will be effective in the treatment of endometrial cancer. There’s also potential for people with other cancers located in the peritoneal cavity, such as colorectal cancer, gastrointestinal cancer and even primary peritoneal carcinomatosis.

“We're delivering these capsules into the peritoneal cavity and seeing both the safety as well as the immune activation,” Chakrabarti says. “We're seeing that up-regulation of the checkpoint that I mentioned. We're seeing a strong safety signal. This drug was very well-tolerated by patients where IL-2 has always had a challenge in being a well-tolerated drug.”

When phase II will take place is up to the success of Sentinel’s fundraising push. What we do know is that it will be led by Amir Jazaeri at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Part of the goal this summer is also to create an automated cell manufacturing process and prove that Sentinel can store its product long-term.

“This isn’t just another cell therapy,” Chakrabarti says.

"Sentinel's cytokine factory platform is the breakthrough technology that we believe has the potential to define the next era of cancer treatment," adds Wotton.