Episode 101: Leaving a Company - Employee Experience Series, Part 4

Our final episode in our series on employee experience is about helping people who are leaving the company have a positive experience as they move on. Helping someone leave gracefully, providing a great last few days, and transitioning their work smoothly does just that. (If you’re the person leaving, listen to RJT Episode 55: The Art of Quitting)

When someone gives notice unexpectedly, what do you do? First, talk with them and understand their why. This is an opportunity for learning- could you have prevented it? What you learn could help you in retaining the rest of your people and recruiting new ones. Come in with curiosity, remorse, and ZERO defensiveness. This is a time to learn, and you need to calmly be wishing the person well.

As the person leaving, you want to be consistent in your why- you’re going to be asked why you’re leaving by your manager, HR, upper management, and peers- have your story consistent so that others aren’t caught flat-footed when learning about your reason for leaving.

If the person talks about things you could have prevented (for example, they were bored or felt stunted), sincerely apologize. Promise them that you will be better for the folks left behind. This helps with the leaver’s employee experience, but also they will help you by telling others things will improve (and you need to follow up on your promises!).

Once you’ve learned, talk about how THEY want to transition. Do they want a party celebrating their time on the team? Have they thought about transitioning the work? What and who do they suggest to take on different tasks? You will learn even more from that conversation and understand the inner workings of the job and team which will help with managing the group moving forward.

How you communicate the change to the rest of the team is important too. Talk about how the transition will work; if you’re recruiting, ask for referrals or interest; and make sure the messaging is consistent and clear for the team to know how to work together to move forward without this person. If the person doesn’t want people to know the real reason they are leaving (for example, a health issue), put together a clear and consistent message that the person is comfortable with.

For HR and leadership, make sure that your processes for leaving are clear. Where do computers, badges, and other equipment go? What happens with benefits? Paychecks? Vacation? Make it easy for the person to leave by having clear processes. For HR folks, if you learn from a leaver that the manager is nasty, look into it and see if there are things you can learn and do to improve the team’s experience moving forward.
While we’re against guilt trips for people who are leaving, we’re all for telling them that you liked working with them and making a plan to keep in touch. You don’t need to lose a friend because someone has left.

And as a company, a big source of hires are bounce-backs - people who leave a company and then later return. Every person who leaves (either voluntarily or involuntarily) needs to be treated with dignity and respect and clarity for company reputation (unhappy people LOVE posting Glassdoor reviews), open the door for future hires, and putting good messaging out in the community.