Keeping young Seychellois talent: the three exits, and what closes them

Every employer in Seychelles has the same story: a promising young employee, trained for a year, who leaves just as they become useful. The usual explanation is that this generation is not loyal. It is more useful to ask where they went, because in Seychelles there are only three doors, and each one opens for a different reason.

Door 1: the competitor down the road

A receptionist leaves one resort for another ten minutes away. A junior accountant moves to another firm in Victoria. The salary difference is often small.

What drives this exit is almost always the daily experience: a manager who only speaks when something goes wrong, a rota that always lands on the same people, a supervisor who takes credit upwards. In a market this small, young employees know precisely how their friends are treated elsewhere, and a better atmosphere at a competitor is visible within weeks.

This is also why the counter-offer fails. By the time someone resigns, the decision has been forming for months. Matching a salary addresses the reason given at the meeting, not the reason the search started.

What closes this door: the direct manager. Feedback every two weeks, ten minutes, on the work rather than on the person. Credit given by name, in front of the people who matter. Difficult tasks shared fairly rather than always given to the same reliable person. None of this costs money. All of it takes attention. The friction between generations that often sits behind this exit is described in the founder and the returning graduate.

Door 2: another sector

A young waiter becomes a bank clerk. A trainee chef joins a government department. A housekeeping supervisor retrains in IT.

This exit is usually about the path. Tourism is the largest employer in the country, but young Seychellois often cannot see what comes after the job they are doing. A receptionist who cannot picture the next step after reception will start looking at sectors where the steps seem clearer.

What closes this door: describing the next step, concretely. Not a career grid in a drawer, but an answer to a simple question: “What could my job look like in two years, and what do I need to show to get there?” Most managers have never said it out loud. The employee concludes that no answer exists.

Responsibility given early helps as much. Let the junior run the morning briefing once, even if it is imperfect. Put them in charge of training the next recruit. Give the stretch task to the person who is almost ready, because that is the only way anyone becomes ready.

Door 3: abroad

Some young Seychellois leave to study in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia or India, and some leave to work there. This exit is not always a failure. Often it is a sensible plan, and trying to prevent it creates resentment.

What keeps this door open in both directions: a clear offer for the return. Support the departure, stay in touch, and say explicitly that there is a place if they come back. Seychellois who return after a few years abroad bring skills and networks that are hard to recruit locally, and they remember who supported them when they left.

What does not work, whichever the door

Perks. A staff party, a new uniform, a well-being day. Their absence generates complaints; their presence rarely keeps anyone who was leaving.

Values posters. A mission statement on the wall of the staff room is read, correctly, as marketing. Meaning matters, but it is found at a much smaller scale: knowing that the guest who complained wrote back to thank you, that the report you prepared was used in the decision, that your idea changed the procedure. Pass that information on. It costs one email.

One practice worth adopting: the stay interview

Exit interviews come too late and ask the wrong people. Twice a year, ask the people who are still here three questions, in private:

• What would make you consider leaving?
• What would you change about your role?
• What would you like to be doing in two years?

The answers arrive while there is still time to act. They also tell the employee something important: that their manager has noticed they could leave, and cares about it.

For managers who want to work on the levers they control without a budget, Motivating without a budget covers them in detail, and the coaching posture that makes the fortnightly conversation work is at the heart of The manager-leader toolkit.