photo: courtesy of http://www.hospitalitymagazine.com.au
I heard of one of the worst ways HR ought not to behave sometime ago. It’s about someone who had been with a consulting firm for almost 2years, and suddenly had everything change when she received an offer from another firm.
Uncertain about how exactly it happened, but somehow HR got hold of the information and resorted to stopping her monthly salary and benefits, even before she was able to tender her notice of resignation. Not due to any infraction, but merely because of the existence of a competing offer.
Just as any rational thinker would, she also decided to put in her notice of resignation and give herself a month unpaid leave.
Some managers/employers get overly emotional when staff hand in resignation letters. Losing your best talent or any talent at all isn’t delightful news but surely, what makes a whole lot of difference is the manner in which such situations are handled.
I would have expected a more professional reaction from the HR department, but like many one-man businesses here in this part of the world, they acted otherwise.
The exit of a staff shouldn’t be perceived as all bad. Ofcourse, it does mean added costs for the company in terms of R& S as well as L & D.
More importantly, nothing is as good as building a sound relationship with outgoing staff such that they feel welcome to rejoin the company at a later time (if they so choose & if the company still requires their expertise and service).
Poor choices on the part of managers/firms such as this cause much more damage to the firms’ goodwill than the employee who was unfairly dismissed. Similarly, such practices could also translate into a drop in the engagement levels of existing staff.
Rather than acting in such an unprofessional manner, the organization could have used the exit as an opportunity to gather feedback on how it can further improve its work environment as well as better engage employees.
Companies face legal action by engaging and continuing in unethical/illegal practices. This makes me wonder if any of it was worth it in the end.
TheHRprofessionalNG 