Once an employee has determined that he or she is going to leave, the mind begins to wander. Casual conversations that used to last 3-5 minutes around 1 topic turn into 15-20 minute conversations spanning multiple non-work-related topics such as a recent trip to lunch, the state of the economy, or New York Times articles recently read.

When trips to the coffee shop turn into hour-long absences with one or two other employees then you can be pretty sure that the exiting employee has checked out mentally and already told his buddies. Now they’re saying the long goodbye and possible discussing the next company and whether jobs will be opening at the new work place.