Practice Management Tips

Your Employee has Resigned Now What?

Losing your organization's best people can be devastating - to productivity, to morale - and to your own piece of mind. Even losing marginal employees disrupts the operations of your company and means hours spent searching for and training a replacement that may not work out. Managers look upon the last two weeks as a challenge and a potentially negative experience, but it may be an opportunity to build those all-important relationships that serve to strengthen the organization over time.

When an employee leaves an organization it has an impact on the company, the department, the manager, the departing employee and the remaining employees. A positive transition can help maintain morale and preserve the reputation of the company as being "employee-friendly." A negative transition can be detrimental to morale and productivity and lead to negative word of mouth -ultimately impacting a company's ability to attract and retain employees.

The manager must handle the administrative issues, and also in terms of the emotional and organizational issues. Each company will vary in terms. Developing and communicating guidelines to managers can ensure a positive experience for everyone involved and add to the organization's positive reputation.

There are three stages to a voluntary termination: hearing the news, managing the transition and saying good-bye. We'll take a look at each of these stages:

Hearing the News
The supervising manager is most likely the first person to be notified of an employee's intent to leave the organization. While most organizations have well developed processes for managers who are hiring employees, few provide the same level of support for managers faced with a termination notice. When a manager is given notice by an employee, s/he should: Find out why the employee is leaving. Is there anything the manager or the organization could have done to retain the employee?

Get the employee's commitment to working productively and efficiently during the remainder ofhis/her time with your organization. The manager or supervisor should be direct and specific about expectations. A high level employee, or an employee with a particularly complex position, might be encouraged to give a longer notice. On the other hand, there may be reasons to ask for - or accept -a shorter notice. In some cases a decision may even be made to pay the employee in lieu of notice, if there is concern about the employee's attitude having a negative impact on other staff members, or a reason to believe that the employee will be unproductive during the leave period, or if the organization is concerned about the security of competitive or proprietary information.

Should you ask employee to stay - or make a counteroffer? Every situation is different and the organization 's unique culture will direct these decisions. However, after s/he has already made the decision to go it is not always a good idea to keep them.

Managing the Transition
The notice period provides a transition period for both the employee and the organization. During what is often a very short timeframe, a number of important activities should take place.

Notification of Staff
The grapevine in most organizations works rapidly. Notification of Staff that the employee will be leaving should take place as soon as possible. Involve the departing employee in this process. There may be individuals that the employee would like to notify personally before news is shared generally with the entire staff. Staff may be departure on the organization. Express thanks to the employee for years of service and positive contributions and wish the employee success in his/her next position.

Exit Plan
The exit plan is a formal plan for the transition of work from the departing employee to other staff members. It should include a list of all outstanding projects and their status as well as supporting ma- terials such as contact people and other resources. A formal, written plan can help streamline the transition and ensure that everyone involved in the transition process clearly understands expectations and timelines.

Job Description
Review the job description for the position to determine if it is accurate or if it should be updated. The job description will serve as an important planning document to guide the replacement process.

Planning for Replacement
During the transition period the manager should also be considering replacement issues. Should the employee's position be replaced or can responsibilities be effectively allocated to other employees? If a replacement is required, can the position be filled internally or will it be necessary to look externally? What has been learned during this employee's tenure that might be helpful in restructuring the position or modifying selection criteria? An important issue to consider is whether the departing employee should be involved in this process and to what extent. It can be disheartening for a long-term employee's input to be overlooked when the manager is making replacement decisions. While the manager has a high level perspective on the structure of the position and the department, the employee who has actually held the position has insights that should not be overlooked.

Training
While it is unlikely that a position could be filled during a two week notice period, you may wish to have the departing employee provide training to existing employees who may be temporarily taking
on certain job responsibilities.

Customer Contact
If the departing employee had regular contact with customers or vendors, these individuals should also be notified as soon as possible. Determine, with the employee, how these contacts could most effectively be handled. If the numbers are small, direct contact by the employee may be appropriate. If the numbers are larger a letter from the employee, the manager or the organization may be most appropriate.

Saying Goodbye
The administrative logistics of dealing with a departing employee are generally straightforward and often dictated by federal and state law. The social aspects of saying goodbye are far less prescribed.

A process for conducting exit interviews can be a good way for the organization to gather information to improve its employee relations practices. Exit interviews can also help the organization spot any
developing trends in employee departures - for instance high levels of dissatisfaction with individual management style, an increase in departures to a competitor, wage and benefit concerns, etc.

The departure of an employee represents a loss for the organization, and a change in work relationships. A certain amount of grieving is not at all unusual. Allowing employees the opportunity to express their feelings can help to ease the transition. Many organizations have traditions that are followed when employees leave the organization due to voluntary termination or retirement. Be consistent from an organizational standpoint. While individual departments may follow different trends and may have more personal recognition events for departing employees, and while practices may vary due to length of service or position in the company, the company should be consistent in its practices. You never know when or how you may interact with a departing employee in the future - as a client or customer, as someone who influences your customers, as a future employee or as a future coworker at another organization. Maintaining a positive relationship during the last weeks of an employee's tenure can reap rewards for all involved.

Printed courtesy of The Hamilton Group of Companies