The Great Resignation of 2021 had many employers worried about their turnover rates and how they would achieve strategic objectives with so many employees in search of other opportunities.
Though quit rates have seemed to settle down since then, data from Gallup suggests that 50% of employees are still actively seeking new opportunities.
Other data indicates that 60% of workers are planning to look for new jobs, and one-third may quit even without a new role.
Is your company ready for potential departures? If you’re not sure, discover how you can use exit interviews, transition planning, and genuine support to prepare for resignations without negatively impacting your company and culture.
The Importance of a Professional and Respectful Exit Process
A professional exit process not only mitigates legal and compliance risks, but it can also help you preserve your employer brand. Remaining respectful during employee exits signals to employees that you care deeply about maintaining a positive culture.
When people leave to work for a different employer, part of good employee resignation management is ensuring you treat it as an opportunity to gather feedback and provide support. You can take the following steps to ensure the process is a positive experience for all.
Conduct Exit Interviews
Exit interviews can provide you with valuable insights into the employee experience and what may have led the employee to leave your organization. Though it may not lead to an employee deciding to stay with the team, this information can help you improve employee retention and satisfaction and reduce future turnover.
Provide Support
Do what you can to support departing employees. This may mean writing them a letter of recommendation (if you can comfortably and accurately do so) or even offering flexibility in their schedule to help them meet onboarding demands for their new employer.
These actions can help you maintain a positive relationship with the employee, which can lead to candidate referrals or entice employees to come back in the future.
Maintain Confidentiality
Employees resign for many different reasons, including the need to take care of personal issues or meet their professional goals. Whatever the reason, ensure you aren’t sharing sensitive or confidential information with others.
Even if you’re not doing it intentionally, it can be harmful to the outgoing employee and foster a mistrust of HR among remaining team members.
How to Ensure a Smooth Transition
It’s important to recognize that an employee’s departure can significantly impact both the employee’s team and your company. They are taking their knowledge and experience elsewhere, which means they will no longer be available to help you meet strategic goals and objectives.
This is why it’s essential to implement processes to ensure the resigning employee’s knowledge and responsibilities are handed over to others. Take the time to meet with the employee and their manager to decide which teammates can comfortably take on the tasks they used to be responsible for.
If possible, ask the outgoing employee to train those employees to ensure continuity and efficiency once the departing employee is gone.
Supporting Your Departing Employees
Don’t hesitate to ask resigning employees how you can support them and respond favorably to reasonable requests when possible. If the employee doesn’t yet have another position lined up, consider offering job search assistance, especially if you can put in a good word for them with another hiring manager.
If they have shared their professional goals, you can also offer career coaching. This can help employees craft a viable path for career progression and figure out what skills will help them advance in the field.
Supporting all employees – even those who are leaving – is crucial to maintaining a positive relationship. It creates a lasting impression that can sometimes lead to surprising future opportunities and make it more likely that they’ll be an ambassador for your company.
Tips for Addressing Remaining Team Members
Resignations can be challenging for everyone. As you consider your strategy for employee resignation management, make sure to address those team members who will be staying. Encourage open communication about the changes that are happening and provide reassurance about the future and direction of the team and company.
Additionally, find ways to keep the team engaged and prevent dips in employee morale. This can be as simple as acknowledging and rewarding employees’ contributions and providing opportunities for fun team-building activities, which can promote team bonding and remind remaining team members that they are a valued part of your company.
Finally, don’t shy away from conversations about burnout and overwork. Redistributing a departing employee’s work tasks to others can lead to overwhelm, especially if there have been multiple resignations.
Make sure work redistribution is done fairly, and do what you can to support employees, including offering flexible work arrangements and deadlines where possible or offering more benefits that promote work-life balance.
Build Supportive and Compliant Exit Strategies
Employee resignation management is challenging, but maintaining a positive culture and attitude can ensure you get it right.
VirgilHR’s automated compliance platform can help you create employee exit strategies that are not only supportive but also aligned with regulatory requirements. Schedule a demo today to see how easy access to legal information and advice can help you with employee resignation management and other essential tasks.
Sources:
1. https://www.gallup.com/467702/indicator-employee-retention-attraction.aspx2. https://www.newsweek.com/great-stay-quit-rate-may-go-experts-believe-2008935#