What happens during that emotional upheaval? An employee leaving voluntarily has some reason for doing so, and will likely share that information with friends, family and coworkers during the transition. A few of those reasons…
- Better hours – spin that into “I had to work too many hours, I didn’t have flexibility, I couldn’t take off for my child’s school program, …”;
- More money – the story is your company didn’t pay enough to meet needs;
- More supportive environment – turns into “I never felt valued, my boss didn’t listen to me…”
Whatever the reasons they have, even employees leaving under their own power can cause bad PR among their friends and acquaintances. If that is the case, imagine what damage a fired or laid-off employee could do! Given the digital world we live in today, the bad news can spread from friends to acquaintances to friends of friends and beyond in the blink of an eye. Stories will be embellished, small incidents magnified, misunderstandings become truth. Trouble!
Be ready when you need to separate an employee with a good career transition coach or outplacement provider. An objective third party can help ease the transition pain and refocus the negative energy into something positive that will help them travel forward into a new position that will hopefully be THE job they were meant to have. Finding THE job will help fade the memories of the past and open new and exciting highways to the future, limiting the trouble that could be caused during the search.
The bottom line is that separated employees who have career coaching or outplacement assistance move on to the next opportunity faster and more positively than those who don’t. If you must separate from an employee, do it in the best way possible – help them travel, not trouble!