IT turnover isn’t just an HR problem—it’s an operational and security risk.
The demand for IT talent is still strong. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects hundreds of thousands of openings each year across computer and IT roles, driven by both growth and replacement needs. That means leadership teams should plan for change, even if they like their current IT team.
What matters most isn’t preventing every departure—it’s making sure your business doesn’t lose control, continuity, or security when a key IT person transitions.
Why IT turnover hits harder than most roles
When a salesperson leaves, you lose relationships.
When an IT administrator leaves, you can lose:
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Institutional knowledge (how systems actually work, and what’s “fragile”)
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Privileged access (admin credentials, cloud tenants, firewall access, vendor portals)
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Continuity (monitoring, patching, backups, renewals, “silent” daily tasks)
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Security posture (misconfigurations and gaps that don’t show up until an incident)
This is why IT turnover can feel calm on Day 1 and catastrophic on Day 30. The departure doesn’t always break things immediately. Instead, it removes the person who knew how to prevent small issues from becoming major outages—or who knew which “temporary fix” was actually holding something together.
There’s also a measurable security connection: research presented at ICIS 2024 found a positive correlation between IT employee turnover and the likelihood of a firm experiencing data breaches. Whether it’s missed patching, poor access control, or simple handoff gaps, turnover increases the chances that something gets overlooked.
The biggest risks happen during the handoff
1) Orphaned accounts and lingering access
Departures often expose messy access realities: shared admin accounts, undocumented service accounts, and accounts that never get disabled.
That’s why security frameworks emphasize account management and disabling accounts when they’re no longer needed. CISA also provides separation guidance focused on access removal, remote worker considerations, and post-separation vigilance.
The business risk here isn’t theoretical. If access isn’t cleanly controlled, you can end up with:
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critical systems that nobody can administer
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vendor portals that still belong to a former employee
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accounts that remain active longer than they should
2) “Tribal knowledge” instead of documentation
If the only person who understands your network is the person leaving, you’re one resignation away from blind spots: unknown dependencies, mystery firewall rules, undocumented vendors, and unclear ownership.
This is where leadership teams get stuck in a frustrating loop:
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something breaks
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nobody knows where to start
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the business burns time and money while you re-discover your own environment
3) Backup and recovery uncertainty
Backups might be “running,” but if nobody can confidently restore critical systems under pressure, turnover can turn a bad day into extended downtime.
A lot of businesses don’t learn this until the moment they need recovery—and by then, the clock is running.
4) Vendor sprawl and renewal surprises
Turnover commonly leaves a wake of overlapping tools, unclear contracts, and “we don’t know who owns that relationship.”
This tends to create two expensive outcomes:
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you pay for tools you don’t use
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you lose coverage on tools you do use because nobody caught the renewal
The readiness test: if your IT person left tomorrow, would you be locked out?
A simple way to gauge your risk is to imagine your IT administrator resigns today—no drama, just gone. Would your business still have control?
If you can’t confidently answer “yes” to the questions below, IT turnover isn’t just inconvenient—it’s a real business risk:
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Do we know every system that runs the business (cloud tenants, line-of-business apps, servers, network gear)?
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Do we have documented admin access to all of it (not “it’s in someone’s head”)?
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Can we confirm who has privileged access and remove it immediately if needed?
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Do we know where backups live and who can restore them?
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Could we recover critical systems without the departing employee’s help?
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Do we have a clear owner for vendor contracts and renewals (so nothing lapses unexpectedly)?
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If something breaks after hours, do we have coverage—or are we waiting until the next business day?
If any of those are unclear, turnover becomes a multiplier. It increases downtime risk, security risk, and cost—right when your organization can least afford disruption.
Why “we’ll figure it out when it happens” is the expensive path
A lot of organizations assume the risk is manageable because “our IT person is responsible” or “we’ve got good people.”
But turnover isn’t always predictable. It can happen because of:
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a better offer
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burnout
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relocation
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health issues
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leadership changes
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acquisitions or restructuring
And even with a cooperative departure, the handoff window is rarely long enough to rebuild what should have been documented and structured all along.
The most painful part is this: when IT turnover turns into an incident (outage, access lockout, ransomware, failed recovery), the cost isn’t just IT cost. It becomes business cost—missed revenue, delayed operations, reputational damage, and executive time pulled into crisis mode.
When outsourcing helps (and when co-managed is the better fit)
Turnover is one of the clearest reasons businesses move toward managed services: you’re not depending on a single person for coverage, documentation, security hygiene, or continuity.
Outsourcing isn’t niche anymore—Deloitte’s Global Outsourcing Survey 2024 reports 80% of executives plan to maintain or increase investment in third-party outsourcing.
But outsourcing only works well when it’s governed. CISA’s MSP customer guidance lays out risk considerations and practical oversight expectations (visibility, access control, and accountability).
Common operating models:
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Fully managed: we run day-to-day IT end to end
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Co-managed: your internal IT stays in control; we provide depth, coverage, and specialized support
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Hybrid: you keep certain systems; we own defined functions (security, backups, identity, etc.)
The point isn’t to “replace people.” It’s to make IT a documented, repeatable system with coverage, so one resignation doesn’t become a business emergency.
How MSG helps
At MSG, we help businesses reduce the operational and security risk that comes with IT turnover by building IT as a documented, repeatable system—not tribal knowledge.
That typically starts with a free network assessment to map what you have, what’s vulnerable, and what needs to change. From there, we stabilize and support the environment with scalable coverage (including co-managed options), security support, and continuity planning.
And because vendor risk is real—especially when third parties hold privileged access—SOC 2 Type 2 assurance matters when you’re trusting a partner with your environment.
If IT turnover is already happening (or you want to be ready before it does), contact us today and we’ll help you build a plan that keeps operations steady through the transition.