When an employee decides to voluntarily separate from an organization, whether for personal (relocation, study etc.) or professional (better role, salary etc.) reasons, s/he need to be extremely careful on how they conduct themselves during their notice period. Most companies have a mutually agreed notice period, based on an employee’s seniority and/or role in the organization, which are often clearly stated in the appointment letter or in the employment handbook. The separating employee needs to be extremely careful on how s/he plan to serve their notice period – serve it in entirety or negotiate an early relieving – and avoid getting into any confrontational mode, which will help in averting any negative emotions with the Manager/team or possible legal issues with the organization in future.
The right process to follow is to first have a one-on-one meeting with the reporting Manager and state the intent to separate and the cause behind that decision. It should be followed with an assurance to the Manager that any knowledge transfer or unfinished activity will be properly carried out prior to the person’s last working day in the organization. It is important that the reporting Manager is convinced that the reason for separation sounds convincing and is well deliberated. Even if the reason for leaving is due to an actual or perceived bad treatment by the Manager/Colleague or some organizational issue (Culture, Process etc.), it is not a good practice to state it as the primary reason for separation and “burn the bridges” with everyone concerned.
Once the Manager accepts the resignation in principle, discussions on serving the notice period (fully/partly), or buying out the notice period, or taking a garden leave (if agreed by the Manager) should be mutually and amicably settled. It then needs to be followed by a formal resignation letter and an announcement of this decision to one’s teammates, ideally by the reporting Manager. All such communications should be preferably done with minimum amount of emotions shown and under no circumstances should the Manager, teammates, or other colleagues feel that a person or particular incident was responsible for this decision to separate. This will help ensure that the person separating not only gets a good professional reference for the future but also is eligible for rehire at a later point of time – an ideal win-win situation. Leaving in a good note also helps a person to build a good alumni network with ex-colleagues, which is likely to ensure seeking a dependable source of professional help and advice on various issues/topics concerning one’s area of work in future.
After the employee has decided to separate and their resignation is accepted by the reporting Manager, the focus should shift to the following:
1) What is the current assigned tasks/work of the separating employee and what is its priority and importance to the team, department, and/or organization?
2) Is there any Knowledge Transfer (KT) required from the separating employee or not?
3) If KT is required, is there any identified candidate to whom the KT has to be given and what time does it require for the KT to be over?
These things typically determine till what time the employee is actively required to serve out his/her notice period. Unfortunately the biggest determinant to a successful KT is the level of motivation and interest demonstrated by the separating employee. Most people show a certain lack of interest or commitment while serving their notice period, as they are more focused on their anticipated new assignment than completing the current one. However an employee’s behavior during this time becomes detrimental on how s/he is generally perceived in the organization – either as a valuable and engaged professional, or an average (or below) performer. As it is always easy to recollect the most recent events, most Managers often remember these last interactions while giving their feedback as professional references in future. A separating person should be extra careful on what image (positive or negative) s/he carries while leaving the organization, hence they should focus on the following while serving their notice:
1) Active help in preparing a KT plan with timelines and getting it approved from the reporting Manager.
2) Giving regular updates to the reporting Manager to ensure that there are no last minute surprises for anyone concerned.
3) Being punctual to work and showing the same level of enthusiasm till the last working day.
4) Cooperating with the Manager and HR to ensure that all relieving formalities are completed on or before the last working day and there is nothing pending from their side.
The last day should ideally be kept for completing the final separation formalities like exit interview, handing over company issued assets (id/access cards, laptops, cellphones, credit cards etc.) and getting a written signoff from concerned departments. To ensure that things happen smoothly, at no point of time during the notice period should the separating employee show their anger or frustration on petty things like filing reports on time or some delays happening from HR/other functions etc., and ruin all the good work done till then. How s/he conducts themselves will ensure what kind of reference they get in future and how fast their remaining things like F&F payment cheque, PF transfer/withdrawal etc. gets processed – yes, having a cordial relationship with your ex-colleagues always helps. Taking some close colleagues out for a farewell party, a good farewell note to them with future contact details and/or giving a high-tea/lunch to your immediate team can all help in cementing and ensuring the professional relationship endures post separation.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://www.itsmyascent.com/web/itsmyascent/career-advice/-/asset_publisher/t3Gn/content/quitting-do-so-on-a-good-note
The right process to follow is to first have a one-on-one meeting with the reporting Manager and state the intent to separate and the cause behind that decision. It should be followed with an assurance to the Manager that any knowledge transfer or unfinished activity will be properly carried out prior to the person’s last working day in the organization. It is important that the reporting Manager is convinced that the reason for separation sounds convincing and is well deliberated. Even if the reason for leaving is due to an actual or perceived bad treatment by the Manager/Colleague or some organizational issue (Culture, Process etc.), it is not a good practice to state it as the primary reason for separation and “burn the bridges” with everyone concerned.
Once the Manager accepts the resignation in principle, discussions on serving the notice period (fully/partly), or buying out the notice period, or taking a garden leave (if agreed by the Manager) should be mutually and amicably settled. It then needs to be followed by a formal resignation letter and an announcement of this decision to one’s teammates, ideally by the reporting Manager. All such communications should be preferably done with minimum amount of emotions shown and under no circumstances should the Manager, teammates, or other colleagues feel that a person or particular incident was responsible for this decision to separate. This will help ensure that the person separating not only gets a good professional reference for the future but also is eligible for rehire at a later point of time – an ideal win-win situation. Leaving in a good note also helps a person to build a good alumni network with ex-colleagues, which is likely to ensure seeking a dependable source of professional help and advice on various issues/topics concerning one’s area of work in future.
After the employee has decided to separate and their resignation is accepted by the reporting Manager, the focus should shift to the following:
1) What is the current assigned tasks/work of the separating employee and what is its priority and importance to the team, department, and/or organization?
2) Is there any Knowledge Transfer (KT) required from the separating employee or not?
3) If KT is required, is there any identified candidate to whom the KT has to be given and what time does it require for the KT to be over?
These things typically determine till what time the employee is actively required to serve out his/her notice period. Unfortunately the biggest determinant to a successful KT is the level of motivation and interest demonstrated by the separating employee. Most people show a certain lack of interest or commitment while serving their notice period, as they are more focused on their anticipated new assignment than completing the current one. However an employee’s behavior during this time becomes detrimental on how s/he is generally perceived in the organization – either as a valuable and engaged professional, or an average (or below) performer. As it is always easy to recollect the most recent events, most Managers often remember these last interactions while giving their feedback as professional references in future. A separating person should be extra careful on what image (positive or negative) s/he carries while leaving the organization, hence they should focus on the following while serving their notice:
1) Active help in preparing a KT plan with timelines and getting it approved from the reporting Manager.
2) Giving regular updates to the reporting Manager to ensure that there are no last minute surprises for anyone concerned.
3) Being punctual to work and showing the same level of enthusiasm till the last working day.
4) Cooperating with the Manager and HR to ensure that all relieving formalities are completed on or before the last working day and there is nothing pending from their side.
The last day should ideally be kept for completing the final separation formalities like exit interview, handing over company issued assets (id/access cards, laptops, cellphones, credit cards etc.) and getting a written signoff from concerned departments. To ensure that things happen smoothly, at no point of time during the notice period should the separating employee show their anger or frustration on petty things like filing reports on time or some delays happening from HR/other functions etc., and ruin all the good work done till then. How s/he conducts themselves will ensure what kind of reference they get in future and how fast their remaining things like F&F payment cheque, PF transfer/withdrawal etc. gets processed – yes, having a cordial relationship with your ex-colleagues always helps. Taking some close colleagues out for a farewell party, a good farewell note to them with future contact details and/or giving a high-tea/lunch to your immediate team can all help in cementing and ensuring the professional relationship endures post separation.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://www.itsmyascent.com/web/itsmyascent/career-advice/-/asset_publisher/t3Gn/content/quitting-do-so-on-a-good-note
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