Amidst growing uncertainty and frequent restructurings, the impacts of employee exits are becoming one of the central concerns for organizations. Using rich communication data from a large holding company, we examine the effects of employee departures on socialization networks among the remaining coworkers. Specifically, we investigate how network metrics change among people who historically interacted with departing employees. We find evidence of ``breakdown" in communication among the remaining coworkers, who tend to become less connected with fewer interactions after their coworkers' departure. This effect appears to be moderated by both external factors, such as periods of high organizational stress, and internal factors, such as the characteristics of the departing employee. At the external level, periods of high stress correspond to greater communication breakdown; at the internal level, however, we find patterns suggesting individuals may end up better positioned in their networks after a network neighbor's departure. Overall, our study provides critical insights into managing workforce changes and preserving communication dynamics in the face of employee exits.

翻译：在日益增长的动荡与频繁的重组背景下，员工离职的影响正成为组织关注的核心问题之一。利用一家大型控股公司丰富的通讯数据，我们研究了员工离职对留任同事社交网络的影响。具体而言，我们探究了曾与离职员工有过历史互动的人群中网络指标的变化。我们发现了留任同事之间沟通“断裂”的证据：在同事离职后，他们倾向于变得更加孤立，互动次数减少。这一效应似乎受到外部因素（如组织压力高峰期）和内部因素（如离职员工的特征）的调节。在外部层面，压力高峰期对应着更严重的沟通断裂；然而在内部层面，我们发现了一些模式，表明个体在网络邻居离职后可能最终在自身网络中处于更有利的位置。总体而言，我们的研究为管理劳动力变动以及在员工离职情况下维持沟通动态提供了关键见解。