How to Respond to Someone Quitting

Coming from an emotional angle highlights the fact that teams are family style groups that spend most of their waking days together, which is nice in a way. Having said that - It feels that even after many of these conclusions in this article are made, a lot of the offboarding process is still tangled up with that emotion - Which isn't beneficial for any party.

> Never take them back

I have examples of team members returning once or even twice and adding great value each time (both permanent and contract). Some examples of people returning and spending 4+ (and counting) years in a new or the same position. "You are welcome back any time" is uttered many times to departing team members. They are welcomed back with open arms. (re)Onboarding is a breeze. If neither party burns bridges and has a graceful transition, then the relationship can be picked up again later.

> should respond to this unwelcome news

Perhaps it doesn't need to be viewed as 'unwelcome news', and instead viewed more pragmatically. It's all part of the Personnel lifecycle. Personal Life > Work Life... That employee shouldn't view your organization as their highest priority. A business owner has a responsibility to help someone transition out of the firm. If they're leaving, it's for a reason. Good luck to them. Perhaps there is something that the business can do to facilitate. That person has provided value over their tenure - And if not, then that's just data for the business to improve it's employment processes (role design, forecasting, responsibility assignment, recruitment, interviewing, contract finance).

> "Do an exit interview...If your company has a dedicated HR team, they will have this baked into their process

I think this touches on the best takeaway - The process should be codified (not just the exit interview). An employee shouldn't have to drive this, and it shouldn't be made difficult for them. They shouldn't have to ask for pay slips, final payments, references etc. - The business should ideally have done this all proactively. This is all part of employee welfare, and even if the employee is leaving they are still owed that welfare.

When a team member triggers a transition (inter or intra organization) by handing in their notice or request for transfer, a templated job should immediately be created in the business's system with tasks for

- handovers

- exit interview

- contract end procedures

- recruitment / forecasting triggers

- A prompt, nice, diplomatic email to the business (or business unit) that says 'J Smith is leaving' (without giving away personal information), and 'thanks for what they have done' (a genuine message of thanks).

It's not taking the heart away from the team/process by automating this, it's just ensuring that a proactive checklist is generated for due diligence in offboarding and replacing the team member. And it's about abstracting this away from emotion and ad hoc reaction, and doing right by people.

If the news catches you unaware, it may indicate that there is room for improving team communication (depending on the reason for leaving). In plenty of close-knit organizations, team members feel comfortable discussing their discontent with their line managers (whether it's salary related or otherwise). And those line managers then help the employee to resolve them (often by changing role in the team/org, or helping them adjust their employee roadmap/development path), or help them transition away (with more notice in which to recruit). On occassion, businesses have actually lined up the employee's next job for them.