No matter your industry, company size, or product, there’s one experience that’s universal to all functioning businesses.
A quitting employee.
When employees quit, it’s easy to get in our emotions and make things personal. But people leave their jobs for all kinds of reasons, and it’s more important to focus on your game plan than to sit around feeling bad.
Before you get hit with an avalanche of “what-do-we-do-now”, take a deep breath and create a procedure to follow for every exiting employee. That will help you stay focused, calm, and forward-thinking.
Here are four steps that should be done as soon as possible in order to facilitate the transition in a way that’s least disruptive for your business.
Create an Exit Plan
First and foremost, create an exit plan with your employee. Did they give two weeks notice, or are they leaving tomorrow? Are they willing to stick around as long as it takes to fill their role, or are they able to stay the summer?
Figure out when, exactly, they’d like their last day to be. Although you may have had a previously agreed upon length of time (like telling employees you’d appreciate a two weeks notice), at will employers can’t really force people to show up for work.
So figure out quickly just how long you’ve got your employee for.
In some situations, you may actually want the employee to leave quickly, like if you’re about to start a huge project with sensitive information. That’s something that can be discussed with the exiting employee as well. Try and find a length of time that will work for both of you so that the employee leaves on good terms.
Coordinate Employee Communication
The last thing you want is an uncontrollable flow of information. The other employees in your company, especially the ones in this employee’s chain of command or on his or her team, should be told simultaneously about the exit. That way, there’s no rumor mill or whispered gossip chain.
That kind of thing can be really detrimental to a workforce culture—people will be wondering why they weren’t told earlier, or what the plan is moving forward.
Panic can also spread like a wildfire if this employee is someone who had a lot of roles or responsibilities. People might start worrying about their own workload and how it’s going to be impacted before you’ve even had a chance to decide how the exiting employee’s tasks will be covered.
The best way to manage the communication flow is to have a conversation as soon as possible with the exiting employee and plan, together, how you’re going to inform the rest of the company.
Evaluate Any Sensitive Information
Depending on your industry and the employee’s role, they may have access to sensitive information like trade secrets or customer data. Make sure that their access to that information is limited for the remainder of their work with you, and then terminated as soon as they leave. You’ll also need to make a plan for any company hardware that they’ve utilized, like an iPad or monitor.
These products will need to be wiped for the next person to use them. Get any project plans that they’ve been working on so that you have all of that information for your new hire, and change passwords that employee had access to.
Contacting employees after they’ve already left can be difficult or awkward, so it’s important to go over everything you need from them before their last day.
Ask Them For Their Responsibility List
You might have a good handle on what your employee does on a day-to-day basis, but nobody knows the ins and outs of their job like they do. You might be surprised just how much this particular employee brought to the table, and what small tasks they completed that went unnoticed.
Before they leave the company, ask them to write up a specific list of the tasks they did in order to accurately represent the position when you post it.
You also might realize that some tasks they were doing would be better suited in other departments, or with different employees. Its’ a great time to reevaluate the position as a whole and make sure it’s working well for your business.
Schedule an Exit Interview
Lastly, don’t forget about the importance of an exit interview. In the hustle and bustle of transition times, your focus may be on filling your open role and ensuring your exiting employee leaves smoothly. But an exit interview can be an incredibly important time to understand what an employee’s experience was like at your company when they have nothing left to lose.
Employee surveys are great, but those people still work at your company—there’s always going to be some unavoidable trepidation about sharing the truth about how they’re thinking and feeling. An employee with one foot out the door is likely to be 100% honest with you about anything within your workplace that isn’t working.
Some questions to consider asking:
- What do you think about your manager’s management style? Did you receive enough feedback on your job progress?
- Do you feel like you were adequately compensated for your work?
- Would you recommend our workplace to someone applying for a job?
- Did you feel as if you had access to the HR department? Access to your manager?
- What did you enjoy about your time here? Did you find your work rewarding or fulfilling?
- Do you feel as if you had clear goals and accountability for those goals?
- What parting advice would you give to your team or chain of command?
Exit interviews don’t need to be uncomfortable or awkward. Make sure you set enough time to have a real conversation so that you can get a holistic view of the position before you fill it.
In fact, an exit interview might be the most valuable time you spend with this particular employee—and the most enlightening.
Claire Swinarski is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.