How To Smoothen The Exit Process

Dear All,Our organisation is facing a problem in the exit process of an employee. Our organisation is a small enterprise having just 40 employees in total. The problem that is being faced is that almost all employees leave the organisation without any prior intimation that means that they do not serve the notice period and exit without a proper handover. And this behaviour of an employee hinders the smooth functioning of any particular department.Our director has always been liberal in making policies or behaving with the employees, so he has never ever given any kind of wrong message to the employee that would result in a an unprofessional behaviour of any employee.To tackle this problem we thought of asking for original documents like qualification certificate at the time of joining of employees. So that we can retain these certificates with us until they handover their responsibilities or work done to the organisation at the time of their exit.Kindly guide if this policy would help or worsen the situation. And also suggest how can we solve the above said problem.Regards,Tandeep

Instead of doing this, you can follow any of the below:
1. Review the clauses of the Appointment letter regarding the notice period.
2. Redesign the salary structures; include the variable component; that can be retained by the company in case the situation arises.
3. Sign agreement with the employees and if possible to keep the a certain amount as security or make arrangements from salary.
4. Do not give the feedback to the future employers of these employees.

Thanx for the reply Anurag
And I would request you to kindly throw some light on the 2 point mentioned by you. What can be that variable component of salary that can be retained by the compnay if the employee doesn't handover his work properly or leaves without notice.

Dear Tandeep,
In continuation to what Anurag said, you can have a process whereby

1. Paid leaves that get accumulated in one's account should be reimbursed only at the time of separation.
2. Service/ Experience letter should not be issued unless necessary documentation is done.
3. Variable payouts could include bonus, to be considered only after completion of a specific period of service. However the final payout could be disbursed at the time of separation/ Financial yr end.
4. Notice period clause is followed. 15 days/ 1 month notice (depending upon the nature of business) to be served. Failing which one month basic salary would be recovered from the full n Final.
5. Moreover, PF, Medical reimbursement, LTA could be certain components that could form a part of sal struc. Also u may reimburse medical on a quaterly/half yearly basis.

However try to kp the exit process simple. I would suggest the following few steps:

1. Take resignation in hard copy, duly approved by the reporting manager
2. Intimate accounts to stop any payment if resignation date is close to the payroll date
3. Design a Final clearance form whereby the employee is supposed to take signatures of different deptt. heads after handling charge. Eg. IT for desktops and deletion of email ID, Admin for stationary and cabinet keys, visiting cards, Finance for any kind of dues, Reporting Head for Files, documents, etc. The list goes on.
4. Exit interview form.

Once you get the resignation letter, final clearance form and exit interview form, duly filled in and signed by the employee; you may send necessary details as attendance, leave records, etc. to finance deptt. for full and final processing.

Make sure you define processes as to who does what.
Also design a simple template for exit interview and Final clearance so the employee jst browses through the list and gets it signed by respectives concerned.

I blv this wud solve ur prob to a certain extent. Feel free to revert if u seek further help. I wud b more than happy to help u out.

Regards, Miti

Thanx Mitiam for your valuable inputs!

You see the problem that we are facing is quite common and I believe that many of us would be facing the same.

We have been already following the steps that u have listed, but our problem is that usually the employees leave the company after getting the salary for the month, though the salary cheques are provided on every 4th of the month, they collect the cheques and work normally. But as soon as the salary gets credited, they leave without handing over the responsibilities to the concerned person. So, the company doesn't have anything to hold on.

The other thing you had suggested was, not issuing the experience letter. But the employees who exit the company without following the proper exit prcoess, don't really need the employment certificate. Because generally you can get a duplicate copy of the same made in the market. Or the employees inform thier new employers before joining them that since they are not serving the notice period in the company so they might not get the employment certificate and the related documents.

Regarding the PF, our organisation is a small one, having just 18 employees on role, so we don't have the PF part in the salary.

If we talk about the paid leaves part, what if the employee doesn't have any paid leave in his kiity as he has availed all the paid leaves. Then again we are left with nothing from where we can adjust the damage or loss.

Regards,
Tandeep

In that case, if at all the handover is of high importance, get back to the base, i.e. the prejoining and joining of the employee. Where it is very necessary to have all the details of the employee e.g all contact nos., address, references get in touch with the person legally. If you have a Salary account for the Employee's, You can ask the concerned person in the bank handling your account for the reversal of the amount as it is on hold.

I totally Agree with your views.. I appreciate your efforts for writing all the.. very helpful to those who dont know the proper process.
Regards
Rajni Nagpal