What to do when a staff member resigns
The gut wrenching email or call from an employee “can we talk” always seems to conjure up all kinds of thoughts but generally the strongest one is that of an impending resignation. Not all resignations are a surprise and not all are bad news. However it’s important to be incredibly professional when it happens. Below are some tips on handling a resignation and getting through it.
- Remain calm, maintain an even temper, and keep your cool.
- Listen to their reasons why and avoid butting in, just allow them the floor to talk and get things off their chest.
- Ask about what their plans are and where they are moving onto.
- You can ask if there is anything that can be offered or done to change their mind.
- If it’s not already in writing, ask them to formalise their resignation in writing.
- Ask them to allow you the courtesy of communicating their departure to the team, you need to be the one that delivers this news and the plan for moving forward.
- When you address the team do it in person and follow up with an email, inviting any questions be directed at you and not discussed amongst the team to create gossip.
- Work with the employee on structuring a hand over, work out notice periods and who will be taking over their workload and then communicate that with the team so everyone is on the same page.
- Keep the door open, don’t be bitter about this. People come and go from jobs all of the time, and this person may come back one day and they will also continue to represent your company well into the future when they talk about places they have worked and, managers they have had so keep it professional and remove the emotion.
- Learn from this employees reasons for leaving, and look at why they are moving on and how you can avoid it happening for a similar reason in the future.
Most important of all, call your favorite Recruit & Consult, recruiter and get them to help you find a suitable replacement!
