Alan DraperSo your top employee has resigned. Now what?
When one of your best employees quits his job, expect that some people in your team will be all eyes and ears about how you would react. Some of them might also reflexively wonder if they themselves should get their traveling bags ready to seek for greener pastures. Or some may start to think if there’s anything wrong with the company. Others may get over the news quickly enough, but it still pays to handle sensitive matters such as these with care. Resignations from an employee, especially from someone who has positively contributed to the company, will usually be a downer for your other employees. Sequioa Capital founder Don Valentine says over at the RingCentral blog that “Disruptions can sneak up on you or any other company.” Any company must be prepared for any change that can impact their operations. Here are some things to keep in mind if a top employee hands in his resignation papers:
Accept and reflect
Many employees resign because of management issues. This is why it’s hard for some managers not to take resignations personally; the real reason for leaving might be the managers themselves! Of course an employee will usually never tell you right in your face that you or the company sucks, all in the name of not burning bridges. But you can find out the real reason by allowing the employee to talk freely about his reasons for leaving and reading between the lines. It may be a concern you can do something about to prevent future attrition – like bullying from other colleagues, salary issues, personal issues, stress, or others. Don’t throw a fit; rather, accept the resignation gracefully and do some self-reflection. Is there merit to his reasons for leaving? Is there anything you can do to improve company policies or your management style, so you can keep your other valuable employees?
Explore the merits of a counter-offer
There are several risks associated with making a counter-offer. A top performer who has resigned has probably already weighed the pros and cons of leaving. However, Lance Haun over at TLNT says that counter-offers can work if they are done right. You should be selective about who to give counter-offers to and let some of them go without a fight, since counter-offers could be used by some employees as a strategy to ask for a salary increase. Counter-offers are not a retention technique or salary negotiation tool. However, they are a last ditch effort to keep employees if the costs of them leaving are greater than allowing someone else to take the reins. You need to factor in what the impact will be on your team if the person leaves, how employee will be affected if the counter-offer is accepted (the loyalty of the employee who resigned might come in question), and all the non-monetary costs the employee will be taking with him if he leaves (product knowledge, strategies, etc.). That said, be prepared for your employee not to accept your counter-offer. Best policy is to identify and prevent possible problems even before your valuable employees resign. Also, make sure that your senior employees are mentoring other employees, so your company won’t be crippled if someone leaves.
Show your support
A good company will support and wish its employees well, especially if they know that these employees will be leaving for better opportunities. Don’t hesitate to give your recommendations and referrals if the employee deserves it.
Stay positive when you communicate the news
Of course, top management and other employees would have to be informed about important changes such as these. Show respect and be positive. Acknowledge the loss for the company and convey your appreciation for the employee’s efforts. Let your employee say his parting words and immediately get into action to put your team into transition.
Manage the transition phase
Never leave other employees hanging, especially when it’s about what they’re supposed to do next when a teammate leaves. Let the departing employee work with his colleagues and allow those left to volunteer for tasks. Don’t overload the employee on his last two weeks on the job, so he can efficiently help you with the transition phase.
All in all, it’s important that you handle changes such as this with grace. Have you ever had to handle a resignation from a top performer? Or have you ever had to resign from a job? How did the company handle your resignation? Share your comments and experiences below.
Read more: Ways to Ensure You Don’t Lose Customers When a Valuable Employee Leaves
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alan Draper.
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People tend to get feral when someone leaves, but good business is about empowering others. If someone feels empowered to move on, we should not act like we own them, but be grateful we had a part in their journey.
If one of my employees (who I hired) leaves for another job, that’s usually a testament to how well I and my team have prepared that employee to obtain a better position (more pay, more responsibility). It’s a pat on the back for us – that we’ve done such a good job with professional development and empowerment of the employee, that they’ve shown the initiative to improve their work situation. I’d feel differently if someone quit outright with no job lined up. But often young ambitious quality employees will grow faster than you can promote them internally.
that’s a great perspective Dan, and an important point if you want to gauge the experiences and opportunities you’re providing to employees.
I’ve seen a few cases where an employee literally gives the boss the bird and storms out. Thankfully those instances were rare, but they all occurred in highly dysfunctional organizations with really bad management and morale in the toilet. I doubt it’s any coincidence that the places where I saw that happen are no longer in business…
Dan, I agree that when employees leave for another job it can be a testament to how well the company has prepared them (and I have worked for companies where that certainly was the case), but more often than not I think star players leave because they need more (more support, more responsibility, more great projects). Sometimes star players leave because they aren’t receiving enough support or recognition for the value they are producing. That’s why I think communication is critical (on both ends) so that both the company and employee are giving and receiving value. Ambitious employees who hit a wall or don’t feel valued could very well be lining up another job. I think it is rare for people to leave without having something lined up. (To me that means that the managers have failed because the employee would rather have no work than to work for that company.) It’s very easy to under value those star players, but often those are the people who are influencing the company culture and could improve or deflate morale.
One thing to consider when an employee leaves is the reaction of the rest of the team. Depending on the company culture and the state of morale, rumors may begin spreading. Especially if that person was fairly senior or had been there a long time, people may ask, “What does he know that I don’t? Are layoffs or cutbacks imminent? Did he jump or was he pushed?” If not handled properly, worry can escalate to full-blown panic, and suddenly your entire team is headed out the door! When addressing the departure of a senior or long-serving employee, be honest and as open as you can be with the rest of the organization. If the employee is leaving on good terms, make sure that is communicated… as a lack of communication can imply that the departure is less than cordial, and the rest of the team will try to read the proverbial tea leaves for the truth.
When I resigned from my company under the consistent reassurance that I’m a star employee, the manager gave me a horribly bad attitude and refuse to acknowledge that I have to depart a week earlier from my 1 month notice despite I already said I am willing to pay the company for the early departure. He threw a fit on me, completely refused to listen to my reasons for departure was because I was being bullied by the person I report to, and was even on her side and refuse to acknowledge the problem. By the time he extends a counter-offer, after hearing all his rude and insultive words of how I did not tell him ahead of my resignation (who would of?! With common sense) I was just even more proud of my decision to depart. A good manager should have the willingness and humbleness to listen when the employee gives feedbacks as to reason(s) to leave. It was a bad experience and the manager even gives me a hard time and somewhat hinted to threaten my life during my remaining weeks in the office. Hope this article serves as a wake-up call to some managers out there to be humble in hearing-out why the good employees gotta leave!
I worked for a company that had a good culture and good morale. I guess you could say I was a star employee in my department. I consolidated all the desktop and laptop imaging aspects into a universal image. I simplified software installation by writing my own script to automate installation processes so that literally anyone could perform a remote installation.
Anyway I was approached by a recruiter who was recruiting for a large tech giant. The pay was 20% more than what I was currently making, have a lot more responsibilities, huge opportunity for personal growth and have a lot more consistent projects.
I resigned my position letting my boss know why and was basically told don’t bother coming back into work the next day.. He tried hiding behind that it was department policy, while my first 3 months on board another guy left and was able to finish out his 2 weeks. So I already knew it wasn’t a department policy and if it was, was selectively enforced. During the conversation it felt like my former boss was taking my departure personally. I felt bad, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity that I was given.
I am apologizing in advance for the length of this. After being with a nice and ethical small company for almost 10 years (two years employee and 8 contract), I decided to turn in a month long resignation in after contemplating it for several months. I was in a crucial administrative roll that impacted the financial payments ($1,000,000 / yr). The owner and I never had a cross word; however, the spouse of the owner would belittle me and other people heard it. The spouse didn’t do it to anyone but me. I wanted the company to succeed without me , so the person working with me understood how I did my job. Even though that person was a contractor for me and a no-compete clause was signed, I knew s(he) would be able to carry on and perform job duties and encouraged the Contractor to work for the company so that they would be ok from a financial aspect and the company would have someone to carry on without missing a beat. My resignation was a professional attempt at wanting to ensure a smooth transition and leave on good terms. Because of our close personal relationship, I assumed he might be sad and miss me but never contemplated any other reaction (mistake # 1).
When I gave the notice, the boss asked was it a joke and became very, very angry and lashed out at me. I did not intend on giving the “real” reason for leaving, but his anger caught me off guard (mistake #2). I stated it was time for me to leave. The owner kept “digging” and I stated the spouse had spoken to me in a way others working there had heard multiple times even referring to a term that I had been called. The owner didn’t believe me, and why didn’t I bring this to their attention. I told him that I couldn’t because I didn’t want to come between them and felt it was for the best. The immediate concern was who was going to do my job. I told that the Contractor knew how I did my job and could help. I was then told the Contractor was my employee. I replied that I had given a 30 day notice like I was giving him. I was then told that I had fired the Contractor, and the reason the spouse was like they are is because of depression. I stated that I too had depression and my anxiety meds had been increased and that my anxiety wouldn’t allow for me to do the job anymore and that if I didn’t I would either have a heart attack or stroke and had to make change. I was told that it was obvious that I had made my mind up, to which I replied that I made my mind up a couple months ago and wanted to see them through a major change in the industry that would impact their cash flow. (The change was more or less a Y2K hiccough with everything going fine.) I was called a backstabber. The owner then said they didn’t know what else to say to me and said to leave. I turned and walked out. There was an employee within 10-12 feet that heard this (not by my choice & I ‘thought’ mistake # 3).
I completed my work that evening as I always do. Because of how upset the boss was and not wanting to cause more problems and after being told to leave, I sent a text asking if they wanted me there on my next scheduled day or my contractor. He said to leave it as it was. I went back into the office on my scheduled day. The spouse spoke to me and said they didn’t know I (me) felt this way (and I was always considered a friend). I gave instances of the people seeing the behavior that was inflicted on me and was told they were sorry. They knew it took a lot for me to come back to the office. I stated I just wanted to help with the transition and would do my best to help them. It seemed like I would be able to finish my time out and continue doing my job for the next four weeks (mistake # 4).
The next day a copy of my resignation (not a negative word in it and wished everyone the best) was given out to all employees. The employees were told I quit and fired my contractor (not that I gave a 30 day notice) and the main reason was because of the spouse (definitely didn’t see that coming). The worker who overheard the resignation told the owner if there was a problem they had with the spouse, they wouldn’t come to the boss either. He asked why and was told that you can’t go to someone who is sleeping with the person causing problems.
I received a text from the owner…they had no idea what they could have done to me to deserve this and no idea what anyone else did to deserve it. They didn’t know what I perceived as real, what’s misunderstood, and more likely miscommunicated that I allowed to fester unknown but the grief and grudge I accumulated was unreal. The owner never imagined that they would be in a book of grudges and they had always tried to help, encourage, motivate me. Also, that I had a long history or burning bridges and never in a million years thought I’d set fire to them. Of all the people that screwed the wonder in the past, I hurt them the most. They hoped one day I could explain it or better realize my anger was not based on a shared reality in any way and that the owner had defended me more times than they could count over the years and to more people that I would ever know. After reading this, I really wanted to talk this out to end everything on good terms.
Not wanting to cause any more pain, I texted to ask if they wanted me to finish the remainder of my 30 day notice. There was no reply, but the spouse said they wanted me to finish my time out.
I decided to go ahead and pack my personal belongings (employees were there, but they were not). I hadn’t said anything negative about either one of them during this time and actually shed many tears over the situation. I completed a few days of work, but was out of the office on a day that was a normal off day for me. During that time, I showed how I did a few of the complex computer things and gave all user names and passwords to them freely. I also went through and deleted my personal files (at least I thought I did, but the recycle bin didn’t show, so I didn’t permanently delete them).
I get another spiteful text that said I stated in my last text that I didn’t want to finish the 30 days and they agree it’s not in anyone’s best interest to continue. I had caused irreparable damage on so many levels. They had supported and trusted me too blindly over the years and that was obviously their mistake as I was considered a friend. Whatever I thought anyone here did to me like that, shame on me. We all have flaws, but one of the owners biggest flaws was trying to see the good in everyone. Thanks to me, the owner was working on that. Let’s just call that day my last working day and move on. I was then asked to return my badge and key. Looks like I had already cleaned my things out and let them know if there was anything else.
I was in shock (mistake #5) and have prayed over the situation a lot. Even after all of this, I still don’t have any bad words. I don’t want to be angry, just move on in a positive way. I sent my coworkers a text that thanked them all for the time we had shared together and wished them all well. I received similar replies or in person responses from everyone.
A meeting was held on the next business day. He told everyone that I decided to leave and didn’t want to finish my notice out. The owner tried to cast a shadow on me and said he found some stuff on my computer (my tax form and a few other things). He also told some other half-truths during the meeting. He had been combing through all of my files and instant msgs. This by far is the worst experience that I have had with anyone. I would have told people that it would never end badly because of our mutual respect for each other. We both helped each other’s business. No matter how much I wish that none of this would have ever happened and was considered a star employee. It hurts me that I am deeply hated by the owner, but I can’t change things. Everyone keeps saying how much he is hurt and I don’t want him to hurt but I also realize there is nothing I can do to rectify the situation.
My advice to star personnel is to prepare for all possible situations, even unthinkable ones (sadness happiness, and anger). I was caught off guard with the reaction I received during the resignation but I really wish I would have stayed calm and told him that we could talk after he had calmed down and left immediately. No matter how well you are liked and your praises sang, resignation can change things instantly.
My company never even made any exit interview. I worked for them 6 and half years and always working extra mile. On the department I used to work I was the only one who know how to do everything, all other colleagues are new including my Manager whom I showed how we do things. So, I send them an email around 7pm in the evening, the next day around 10am was told, “have you made up your mind?” Then I said yes then she said, it’s fine. The next morning she said, we have accepted your resignation.
I didn’t think it would be as it is as I resigned because I was unhappy, but never for a moment I was asked why?
But anyways… it hurts but then I realized I don’t deserve them.