The Voluntary Employee Exit Process: The often ignored part of building the relationship
By | Gautam Ghosh | Digital HR and Employer Branding Expert | XLRI-Distinguished Alumnus awardee
It is a scene that plays out every day in many organizations across the world. An employee walks into his or her supervisor’s office (or emails him or her in the age of remote working) and lets them know that they are tendering their resignation after serving the notice period specified in the offer letter when they joined.
How the supervisor responds then shapes the employee experience to a large extent.
And, how the supervisor responds is dependent on the relationship they shared and the conversations they have had until this point.
It is often said when employees join they join organizations, but when they leave they leave managers. While that may not always be true, it cannot be denied that the immediate manager or supervisor plays an outsized role.
The importance of having an exit process that is empathetic and treats every employee as a human being is critical. When a person is heard and acknowledged on their way out they can act as ambassadors and share their positive stories with prospective candidates who reach out to them. When a person is treated with disrespect or when the supervisor or Human Resource representative lets the process take precedence over human factors it can lead to an irreparable damage to the relationship between parties
According to research by Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg:
