Treatment of Departing Employees
The following is written by Dave Murray, Senior Customer Experience Consultant for The DiJulius Group
On a recent Linked-In post, Fred Reichheld wrote a very entertaining and insightful article about the right way to treat employees when they quit your organization. The article titled, “Four Reasons Not to Be a Jerk When Employees Say Goodbye,” focuses on how you should treat departing employees, along with some pretty compelling reasons as to why. For those of you who do not know, Fred is the creator of the Net Promoter System, as well as an author and sought after speaker on the subject of loyalty.
Related- The Employee Experience Model
My personal experience with organizations’ treatment of departing employees has typically been pretty shortsighted, in my humble opinion. Many times, managers, HR departments, and others can become pretty defensive about someone’s choice to leave one organization for another. Is it because of the lost cost spent on training and development that is now walking out the door? Is it a feeling of betrayal of the loyalty and commitment the organization thought existed? I am sure that there are many reasons for an employees’ departure being handled in a less than cordial manner.
Fred gives some great reasons as to why this should not be the case. It got me thinking immediately about the hundreds of organizations out there that are not looking at the long-term reasons to treat departing employees differently. The reasons that Fred gives are as follows:
- Word of Mouth – positive or negative – Just check out glassdoor.com, if you have not before!
- Growing revenue – They could be future clients or great referral sources.
- Possible re-hire – I alone have been hired back by a former employer twice. The numbers are probably higher than you think.
- The message it sends to those remaining with the company!
My challenge to you today is to take a look at what happens in your company once someone gives notice. How does your company culture treat these folks during their final two weeks? If this is something your organization has never officially reviewed, perhaps you better start soon!
Related- Building your Relationship Center with Dave
