What to do if an employee is not doing any of his job after he resigned and on notice period?

If an employee is not performing their job duties after resigning and during the notice period, which is 60 days in this case, it can be a challenging situation to address. In this scenario, where the employee is refusing to participate in interviewing potential replacements and is simply present at work to browse the internet, take tea and food breaks, and then leave after regular work hours, it is essential to take appropriate action.

Firstly, it is crucial to have a conversation with the employee to understand their reasons for not fulfilling their responsibilities during this transition period. Clear communication about expectations and the consequences of not cooperating is necessary. Documenting these discussions is important for record-keeping and potential future actions.

If the employee continues to neglect their duties despite discussions and warnings, it may be necessary to escalate the matter to higher management or HR for further intervention. Depending on company policies and the severity of the situation, disciplinary actions or termination of employment may be considered.

Overall, addressing such behavior proactively and professionally is essential to maintain the smooth functioning of the workplace and uphold standards of professionalism and accountability.

Dear member,

Each employee must devote to his/her duties wholeheartedly until his/her last working day. The clause of the notice period is inserted in the appointment letter so that the company gets breathing time to arrange the replacement. Nevertheless, it is incumbent on the employee to meet his deliverables. If the employee is falling short of his/her duty, whether during the notice period or otherwise, the administration of the company reserves the right to initiate disciplinary action.

Therefore, you may counsel the employee to continue with his contributions toward the development of the company. Tell him that at the fag end of his tenure, the company does not expect any unsavoury incident that could leave bitter memories.

However, you also mentioned in your post that the resigning employee has refused to interview the job candidate. Is conducting interviews part of his Job Description (JD)? If not, then some senior authority could have taken the employee into confidence and asked him to involve himself in the recruitment of his replacement. There appears to be a communication gap. This communication gap could be a result of the mental gap also. Possibly malaise lies there.

Is the employee doing his primary duties or not? If the employee is not performing his primary duties, it also merits strong action. It will send the right signal to all other employees who may quit in the future.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

You may issue a show-cause notice for his dereliction of duty and ask him to explain why he should not be dismissed from service for his misconduct of not doing any work, insubordination, dereliction, etc. Tell him that if he is not cooperating with the selection and induction of a new candidate to his place, a smooth handover will not happen. That will certainly be included in the relieving order and background verification.

Dear Colleague,

Such scenarios are common in today's working world when the talent is in a "goodbye mood" and submits their papers, then they stop working. This is not correct unless there are some serious health issues. If this behavior is a result of attitude, the management has to assign all pending work that the employee needs to complete before being relieved and state that the relieving is subject to the completion of the reasonable list of pending tasks. This process can be documented, and a review should be conducted every two days to track progress. If no progress is made within two days, issue a fresh letter outlining the pending work to the employee and document it.

We had a similar case where we documented the employee's lapses, and by the relieving date, the work had not been completed. Consequently, we decided to relieve the employee at the end of the notice period, stating that no work had been done during that time, and therefore, three months' salary would be adjusted in the full and final settlement based on the principle of "no work, no pay." We successfully recovered the amount and relieved the employee as planned. Despite filing cases, the employee could not establish any wrongdoing and ultimately lost credibility in the job market. This shared experience may provide you with insight to help you decide on your next steps in similar cases.

With all respect to the very good advice given by members above, my approach would be slightly different.

Where the employee is in a "Goodbye Mood" and is not doing any work, then he/she is no longer an asset to the company. Therefore, you can ask that all pending work that cannot be transferred to another employee must be completed, under strict supervision, during the notice period. Upon the completion of the work, the employee can be placed on "Garden Leave".

Garden Leave means that the employee does not need to come into the office and can stay at home. However, the employee must make themselves available either by phone or personal attendance. During this time, the employee is not allowed to work elsewhere. If they do, they will lose their notice period pay. The Garden Leave can be from day one or partial.

This approach ensures commercial viability without incurring avoidable costs and allows HR to continue their daily work. In any case, the employee leaving should never be allowed to interview their replacement!

I appreciate that this approach is not suitable for all employees in all sectors, but I hope the above gives some food for thought.

Regards,
Harsh

Yes, "No work, no pay" is a sound principle in dealing with such cases of mischief. It cannot be said that any employee has a vested right to earn without doing any work. In public service, "dies non" is statutorily recognized and could be adopted even when one does not perform the work allotted, even though present in the office.

As such, it shows that the employee is completely negligent and not responsible towards his duty and that of the company. In such a situation, the company should accept the notice period given by them with immediate effect and relieve them. Because the notice period means that the employee is informing the company that he will not be available in the company after the stipulated notice period, but it does not mean that he will not work.

Second notice periods mean working for the number of days shown in the notice period or the salary paid for that period and is applicable to both. Meaning if the company thinks that it would be right for the company to sack the employee immediately, then it pays him a salary equal to the notice period because it is believed that the longer the notice period will take for the employee to find a new job. Conversely, if the employee gives notice, it means that he will work with full responsibility for that period and he is informing the company that during that period the company should find another person for that work. But you get paid only for the work done and not for the behavior shown by you. That is, in both cases, the notice period will be followed responsibly by the company or by the employee.