
Ask HN: What are great examples of companies handling employees leaving? - joshdance
Let&#x27;s focus on voluntary departure right now. Someone is taking a different job, how do best in class companies annouce this, support this etc?
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EliRivers
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.

~~~
dmacedo
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 :)

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mooreds
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.

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arjunvpaul
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 :-).

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bsvalley
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.

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siegel
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.

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Angostura
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
This sounds vaguely like something I've heard in connection with Reid Hoffman
and LinkedIn.

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bbcbasic
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.

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

