Normally one worker leaving isn’t a reason to panic. That is true unless that worker is the first in a series of dominoes that leads to a mass exodus. This phenomenon, known as “turnover contagion,” occurs when employees see one of their peers leave—voluntarily or otherwise—and decide to follow them out the door. People analytics firm Visier found that employees are 7.7 percent more likely to leave after a termination occurs on their team and 9.1 percent more likely to leave if their teammate’s departure was voluntary. “Humans have a tendency to imitate other people,” Andrea Derler, Visier’s principal of research and value said. “When a coworker’s intention to quit becomes obvious to others, their behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes about their job and the company can become a trigger for others to re-evaluate their own employment situation.” Smaller teams are even more likely to be susceptible, the report revealed. “Smaller teams may interact more frequently and get a better sense of each other’s shared experiences of the working conditions, the organization as a whole, or even management—and of course, each other’s turnover intentions.”