HR Basics – Departures

It happens…people will leave your business or company. How you deal with those who leave your employ will speak volumes about you and your company.

You don’t want good employees to leave. However, you can’t wait until the negative attitude employee walks out of the door. Dealing with a person’s departure from your business can be a mixed bag of reasons and emotion. Regardless of how you feel personally about the employee – dignity and respect is key. Let them keep their dignity and respect, in turn you will have earned even more respect in their eyes.

How do you to that? here are some tips.

It starts will treating the employee well while they are working for you. This does not mean letting them do what they want, it means being fair, coaching and clear communication. Think back to you favorite boss. Did they always let you have your way? Did they let you wander around aimlessly? Probably not. Your favorite boss was probably very demanding, coached you along the way, and let you start to sink in the deep end before tossing you the life saver.

If you don’t treat your people well while they are working for you, treating them well when they exit will cause confusion, a disconnect and make them wonder what you are up to (in their mind it will mean you are up to no good).

People leave your company one of two ways, voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary is when the employee resigns. Involuntary is when you ask an employee to leave.

When an employee resigns you may be angry or disappointed. You will need to set these emotions aside in order to handle the resignation professionally. You will need to have a conversation with the employee who is leaving. To gain insight into your business, discuss the following:

• Did they actively look for a new position? Why?
• Were they contacted directly? What about the new position was of interest to them?
• If the employee is one you would have been interested in keeping: What could you have done to keep them with the company?
• What do you and/or the company do well?
• What do you and/or the company need to improve?
• Would the employee recommend a friend to work at the company? Why or why not?

You may want to ask about clients, supervisors, peers, etc. all of these are good questions to ask about. The objective of the conversation with the departing employee is for a day-to-day view of your company. Before you start to talk to the employee make sure they understand what your objective is and how this conversation will NOT affect the time the have left at the company. Employees will usually be more open about their feelings about the workplace once they have decided to leave.

How you treat people who you are asking to leave can be harder – both mentally and emotionally. People may have gotten themselves fired by violating policy, by being poor performers or you are reducing staff. Regardless of why you have asked an employee to leave, the same rules apply – respect and dignity.

A couple tips to keep in mind:

• Clearly explain why the employee is being asked to leave
• Discreetly ask your IT person/department to disable the employees email and computer access
• DON’T escort your employee to their desk or the door – it’s demeaning
• Allow the employee to say good-bye to their coworkers
• Ask employee if they would prefer to clear their desk today or would they rather schedule another day or would they prefer their personal items sent to them

Remember when an employee loses their job it is traumatic – be gentle and firm at the same time. Allow some flexibility and allow the employee to leave with their head held high.

How you treat an employee upon their departure speaks to your character and your company’s values. The employees who still working for you, will gain a new respect for you as well.

Get assistance in handling employee departures by contact us: [email protected]