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The risk of losing a key employee: how to protect the business

When critical knowledge and relationships rest on one person, their departure, illness or holiday turns into a crisis. We break down the "single person risk" and how to reduce it.

Updated: June 28, 2026 · Author: Evgeny Telenkov · ≈ 6 min read

"Everything rests on one person"

This is a classic risk concentration point (in IT it is called the bus factor): if a key employee leaves, falls ill or is simply on holiday while decisions, contacts and knowledge depend on them, the business loses control. We cover a real example of such a failure in the case "What a day of downtime costs".

How to reduce the risk

  • Document knowledge. Key processes, contacts, access — not in someone's head but in a shared base.
  • Duplicate competencies. Every critical function should have a second person able to pick it up.
  • Separate access rights. So that one person leaving does not block systems and accounts.
  • Plan succession for critical roles.
  • Add the scenario to the continuity plan: what we do in the first days after a key person leaves.
Quick check: write down 3 people without whom the business would "stop". Next to each — who backs them up and where their knowledge is stored. The empty cells are your risk.

FAQ

What is the bus factor?

It is the number of people whose loss would stop a project or process. A bus factor of 1 means everything rests on one person — the most dangerous case.

Where to start reducing the risk?

With documenting knowledge and duplicating competencies for critical functions, so that the departure or absence of one employee does not block work.

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Evgeny Telenkov
Evgeny Telenkov
Director, business continuity practice · PhD in Economics · Academic Director & Chief Examiner
Risk Manager of the Year in Russia 2020 (RusRisk). Built business continuity from scratch at Nornickel, more than 20 plans; led risk functions at Beeline, Rosneft and EY. Chief risk officer of a 20 billion dollar petrochemical megaproject. Deputy chair of Rosstandart technical committee 010 "Risk management", co-author of six national standards. Author of the ERGP and SAFE programmes.
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