When employees want to leave: best practices and practical tips
Boss, I quit!
Sooner or later, every manager will inevitably encounter such words, regardless of the constellation in which they are spoken. However, no one should shrug it off. his is true even if the employee giving notice appears to be determined. In fact, there are several things to do.
Make inquiries and offers
Why do employees generally resign? Why is this particular employee in front of me quitting? These are both questions that every manager should have in mind at some point. Admittedly, there are cases in which the reason for termination has nothing to do with the company at all. For example, if someone does it because they want to move in with their partner or care for a relative. Similarly, someone may have a desire to become self-employed or have received the typical “great offer”.
But the statistics are very clear on this. According to a McKinsey study from 2022, the hit list of reasons for resigning is made up entirely of things to do with the previous job. The top 5:
- Insufficient remuneration (not necessarily just monetary).
- Lack of career or professional development opportunities.
- Indifferent, uninspired managers.
- Unacceptable performance requirements and expectations.
- Lack of meaningfulness in work.
The observant may recognize it. These are all things that can certainly be changed; at least for the employee who wants to resign. In view of this, the dismissal should always be followed by a counter-question:
"Why are you resigning and what could we do
to dissuade you from your plans?"
This should by no means only be done with “important” employees, but with every employee. It should also not be a rhetorical, polite phrase. Because:
- Years of experience and routine are leaving the company with this employee - if not customers.
- Their work has to be done by others, at least some of the time. This increases pressure and the error rate, reduces performance and turnover.
- Recruiting is always expensive, time-consuming and tedious. In addition, the rampant shortage of skilled workers can make it difficult or even impossible to find adequate replacements, depending on the position.
- Every newcomer, regardless of their experience, always needs a certain training period before they are a fully-fledged replacement.
All of this should be reason enough to make a serious attempt to avert dismissal. Even an exceptionally large salary increase can be the more favorable option in the long term - indeed, even replacing managers.
Good entrepreneurs should therefore take the time to find out why this team member wants to leave and try to dissuade them. A surprise resignation is also often a sign that something may not be right in this department.
Even if the dismissal cannot be averted, an attempt should be made to investigate the reason as thoroughly and honestly as possible. Simply to prevent a deeper cause from possibly causing even bigger problems. For example, a “difficult” employee from lower or middle management whose behavior towards their “subordinates” has not yet been noticed in their position.
Be generous with your reference
Everyone has a legal right to a reference. And one that is favorable. In view of this, every employer should be aware of a few things:
- No matter how annoying or badly timed the resignation is, “back-pedaling” is not just very bad style, but can have very wide repercussions - up to and including court cases and shitstorms. Always remember: employers are rated in countless places online.
- Anyone who has brought the company good sales deserves to be visibly praised in every respect - even if another employer, perhaps even a competitor, will benefit from this person in the future.
- You always see each other twice in life. Perhaps this employee will return one day or be asked about their experience by a potential applicant.
Managers should therefore be very judicious when it comes to the grading system for writing references. In the case of a particularly valued employee, it would even be possible to leave the wording to them and then just sign it.
Give at least a small gift
No matter how big a company is, you can always find out what kind of person the departing employee is by asking their closest colleagues: what their interests are, what they like to do in their private life, what they like to eat and drink - even the smallest hint is enough.
Such information should always be used to put together at least a small gift package - or even a larger one, depending on the employee's standing and “value”. Sometimes colleagues may want to participate in this - although in this case it should always be clear that it is not just a farewell gift procured by them, but one that is also a physical thank you from the company.
Many (unwritten) rules regarding employee gifts do not apply here. For example, the rule that it should not be anything that directly touches the body. Such a gift may also exceed the usual tax calculation values.
However, the overall presentation should be somewhat more elegant. And: depending on what it is, the most suitable packaging solution should be chosen - this applies not only to the general type, but also to details such as a logo and other inscriptions.
The message of such a gift could not be more diverse:
"We value you as a person and employee, we thank you
for your work and personal contribution to the corporate community and we deeply regret your departure."
Another piece of good advice: if it is something that will not be used, then the company logo should be used sparingly and unobtrusively at most. For example, engraved on the back of a wristwatch.
No celebrations without consultation
Anyone who resigns of their own accord and cannot be persuaded to change their mind has reasons for doing so. Every manager should regard this fact as irrevocable - after all, an attempt was made to change the departing employee's mind.
However, this brings up two important facts:
- Reasons for resignation vary widely.
- Every person imagines their departure differently.
In practice, this means above all that a farewell party should never be planned without further ado, even for perhaps the most popular employee the company has ever had. Not even a small champagne reception.
Why? Quite simply, even someone who is leaving on good terms may not want to make a big fuss about it for one reason or another. Perhaps such an employee is afraid of reacting too emotionally at such an event. Perhaps he has to “digest” this departure himself, even though it was his decision.
In fact, there are plenty of people who would like to call it a day on their final working day, just without returning the next morning - and they have every right to do so.
This leads to an important piece of advice: both the announcement of the termination and any farewell event should never take place without detailed consultation with the person giving notice. They should set the rules here, as it is their departure.
The gift mentioned in the previous chapter can therefore only be presented by the manager himself if the person does not want a celebration. It is also worth taking a look at an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on this topic.
Settle the issue of remaining leave amicably
Depending on when the termination takes place, an employee may still have a certain amount of residual leave available. It is understandable that managers would like to make the most of their work performance right up to the last day. On the other hand, residual entitlements in this regard do not end with the announcement of termination.
It should therefore be discussed with the employee as soon as possible how they would like to handle vacation days and overtime. It would be possible to arrange both in such a way that the final working day is long before the official end of the employment contract. It is also possible to have the days paid out.
Once again, the advice is to give the employee a right of co-determination.
Carefully offboard the employee
As already written: Valuable knowledge leaves the company with every employee. This includes knowledge that only years of professional experience can teach - one reason why it can sometimes take years for a team member to be completely replaced by a successor.
In view of this, at least one day should be scheduled before the employee leaves to allow for offboarding. The aim is to absorb as much valuable knowledge as possible. For example, which customer would like to be treated how, according to which scheme the employee distributed their work priorities.
In other words, everything that a successor needs to be taught so that they can deliver the same quality of work as quickly as possible.
Important: This offboarding should also consider the issue of IT. Namely the withdrawal of rights, changing passwords and similar things. Please always bear one thing in mind: even a company member who is apparently leaving on good terms may harbor a deep resentment that is invisible to everyone and may be anxious to cause damage after his or her departure.
In this regard, every manager is recommended to read a comprehensive study by the Federal Criminal Police Office on the subject of internal offenders. It is not always current employees who can cause particular harm. It can also be former employees who still have access to digital systems due to negligence.
Sources for images:
stock.adobe.com © Svitlana | stock.adobe.com © JustLife | stock.adobe.com © nfuru
