5 ms·

Ask HN: What are great examples of companies handling employees leaving?

16 points by joshdance 9y ago

Let's focus on voluntary departure right now. Someone is taking a different job, how do best in class companies annouce this, support this etc?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
maxxxxx 9y ago
They say "OK" and let the person leave. Not a big deal. What else do you expect?
mooreds 9y ago
I can tell you about my experience. 1. Focus on transition asap. Give the leaving employee plenty of time to document knowledge. 2. Make sure to treat all parties involved with respect. 3. Have an exit interview with the founder where you can give final feedback (with the understanding that it may be ignored). 4. Treat everyone like you might work with them again.
EliRivers 9y ago
Their line manager makes sure the card goes round for everyone to sign, and spends what cash gets put in the envelope on something they'll appreciate. If anyone missed the internal eMail about this person leaving, now they definitely know. People get told a few hours ahead (internal eMail) where the short presentation is. Line manager says a few words, hands over card and present. If they've been there quite a while, someone bigger than the line manager may also say some words. Leaver says a few words, everyone claps. Leaver says when they will be in the pub (repeated in leaver's final internal eMail to the department) and leaver buys the first drink for everyone who turns up. That's how it's been in every company I've left. It's pretty much the UK standard. It's near perfect; everyone knows exactly what's expected and how it will work. No uncertainty, no mistakes, opportunity to chuck in a few pounds or not.
- kasey_junk 9y ago
  So much this. The one thing I wonder about is as our teams get more remote how do we do this.
- dmacedo 9y ago
  Indeed! This is perfectly familiar; I've moved to London in 2014 (already within engineering management) and very easily learned the ropes on this one. Each company does have it's (good) bits extra here and there in recognition of dedication and accomplishments (as much as gaffes and celebrate failures/lessons learned). For remote workers we actually ship farewell card with quick turn-around, on company mail, to ensure everyone can get a few nice words in writing. Cheers :)
- lgas 9y ago
  We don't have lines or line managers, so I guess we'll have to figure something else out.
- Andrenid 9y ago
  Exactly how my voluntary departure went from 2 major Sydney (AU) companies. Except at one the pub-lunch-with-drinks was paid for by CEO (although he didn't come personally).
bsvalley 9y ago
If the employee had a positive impact on the company, make sure to give a departure bonus as a form of "thank you for your service". The employee would most likely re-consider working at your company in the future. No matter what people say, in the business world, it's all about money.
Angostura 9y ago
There was an article on HN a few years ago, which spoke about a company that started planning for the employee leaving from their first day of employment. The firm explicitly discussed the fact that only a small percentage of employees would spend their entire work-life there and so mapped out a path whereby both employee and company could get the most out of their time together in terms of both productivity and career progression training. I've searched for the article of the years, but never could find it. Anyone know the piece I'm talking about?
- pmiller2 9y ago
  This sounds vaguely like something I've heard in connection with Reid Hoffman and LinkedIn.
bbcbasic 9y ago
The best thing they could do beyond EliRivers comment is, if the circumstances for, have an open conversation about what the company can improve. And then say let's keep in touch if the new job doesn't work for you maybe we can talk. Now you might think hey.. that is an exit interview. But exit interviews are formal form filling exercised done by a HR person that may or may not have a positive effect and there is not much incentive to be brutally honest. In fact the opposite.
arjunvpaul 9y ago
I started at this corporate in Liechtenstein, fresh off my MBA. But, realized a year in, that I would not be a good culture fit. Let my manager know, beginning of the 2nd year that I would like to transition out and my reasons for leaving. One thing the manager made me clarify is that if I was going to be working for competition. In that case, he felt it wouldn't be wise to have an extended transition. (I was not and considering starting my own startup) He let me keep my sign on bonus (clue: enough to buy a model-3 Tesla) that I was supposed to pay back if I left before end of 3 years and I agreed to stay until end of 2nd year so that we could have a smooth transition and handover. The departure was only announced to the wider team, 2 months prior to actual departure. Allowed the company to have a non-disruptive transition, know exactly why someone was leaving (not some bulls*t reasons) and me to validate and get started on my company right after I left. Of course, I had a going away party and the good folks even pooled some Swiss francs to put towards my startup too :-).
siegel 9y ago
Of key importance is making employees feel safe giving notice - that they will be treated well and won't be pushed out prematurely. The more notice an employer has of an employee quitting, the smoother the transition will typically be. If employees feel safe giving notice, they will not feel like they have to wait until the standard 2 weeks to give notice. One step further - really good companies (and managers) will make employees feel comfortable being open about being READY to leave (i.e. they are looking for a job or to go back to school or whatever). That gives the company even MORE time to plan. If an employee feels like they can say this before they have a job in hand, then they are more likely to be open about it.

16 points by joshdance 9y ago

Let's focus on voluntary departure right now. Someone is taking a different job, how do best in class companies annouce this, support this etc?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

maxxxxx 9y ago

They say "OK" and let the person leave. Not a big deal. What else do you expect?

mooreds 9y ago

I can tell you about my experience. 1. Focus on transition asap. Give the leaving employee plenty of time to document knowledge. 2. Make sure to treat all parties involved with respect. 3. Have an exit interview with the founder where you can give final feedback (with the understanding that it may be ignored). 4. Treat everyone like you might work with them again.

EliRivers 9y ago

Their line manager makes sure the card goes round for everyone to sign, and spends what cash gets put in the envelope on something they'll appreciate. If anyone missed the internal eMail about this person leaving, now they definitely know. People get told a few hours ahead (internal eMail) where the short presentation is. Line manager says a few words, hands over card and present. If they've been there quite a while, someone bigger than the line manager may also say some words. Leaver says a few words, everyone claps. Leaver says when they will be in the pub (repeated in leaver's final internal eMail to the department) and leaver buys the first drink for everyone who turns up. That's how it's been in every company I've left. It's pretty much the UK standard. It's near perfect; everyone knows exactly what's expected and how it will work. No uncertainty, no mistakes, opportunity to chuck in a few pounds or not.

kasey_junk 9y ago
So much this. The one thing I wonder about is as our teams get more remote how do we do this.
dmacedo 9y ago
Indeed! This is perfectly familiar; I've moved to London in 2014 (already within engineering management) and very easily learned the ropes on this one. Each company does have it's (good) bits extra here and there in recognition of dedication and accomplishments (as much as gaffes and celebrate failures/lessons learned). For remote workers we actually ship farewell card with quick turn-around, on company mail, to ensure everyone can get a few nice words in writing. Cheers :)
lgas 9y ago
We don't have lines or line managers, so I guess we'll have to figure something else out.
Andrenid 9y ago
Exactly how my voluntary departure went from 2 major Sydney (AU) companies. Except at one the pub-lunch-with-drinks was paid for by CEO (although he didn't come personally).

bsvalley 9y ago

If the employee had a positive impact on the company, make sure to give a departure bonus as a form of "thank you for your service". The employee would most likely re-consider working at your company in the future. No matter what people say, in the business world, it's all about money.

Angostura 9y ago

There was an article on HN a few years ago, which spoke about a company that started planning for the employee leaving from their first day of employment. The firm explicitly discussed the fact that only a small percentage of employees would spend their entire work-life there and so mapped out a path whereby both employee and company could get the most out of their time together in terms of both productivity and career progression training. I've searched for the article of the years, but never could find it. Anyone know the piece I'm talking about?

pmiller2 9y ago
This sounds vaguely like something I've heard in connection with Reid Hoffman and LinkedIn.

bbcbasic 9y ago

The best thing they could do beyond EliRivers comment is, if the circumstances for, have an open conversation about what the company can improve. And then say let's keep in touch if the new job doesn't work for you maybe we can talk. Now you might think hey.. that is an exit interview. But exit interviews are formal form filling exercised done by a HR person that may or may not have a positive effect and there is not much incentive to be brutally honest. In fact the opposite.

arjunvpaul 9y ago

I started at this corporate in Liechtenstein, fresh off my MBA. But, realized a year in, that I would not be a good culture fit. Let my manager know, beginning of the 2nd year that I would like to transition out and my reasons for leaving. One thing the manager made me clarify is that if I was going to be working for competition. In that case, he felt it wouldn't be wise to have an extended transition. (I was not and considering starting my own startup) He let me keep my sign on bonus (clue: enough to buy a model-3 Tesla) that I was supposed to pay back if I left before end of 3 years and I agreed to stay until end of 2nd year so that we could have a smooth transition and handover. The departure was only announced to the wider team, 2 months prior to actual departure. Allowed the company to have a non-disruptive transition, know exactly why someone was leaving (not some bulls*t reasons) and me to validate and get started on my company right after I left. Of course, I had a going away party and the good folks even pooled some Swiss francs to put towards my startup too :-).

siegel 9y ago

Of key importance is making employees feel safe giving notice - that they will be treated well and won't be pushed out prematurely. The more notice an employer has of an employee quitting, the smoother the transition will typically be. If employees feel safe giving notice, they will not feel like they have to wait until the standard 2 weeks to give notice. One step further - really good companies (and managers) will make employees feel comfortable being open about being READY to leave (i.e. they are looking for a job or to go back to school or whatever). That gives the company even MORE time to plan. If an employee feels like they can say this before they have a job in hand, then they are more likely to be open about it.