How Should We Handle Crucial Tasks Left by a Departing Employee with Attitude Issues?

Hi, this is my first post. I hope to receive positive responses. I am working for a start-up company. We have an employee who is more qualified in her field than the other team members in the department. She has an ego and attitude about it. She is not a team player and feels that the other team members are not as qualified for their roles. Instead of training and guiding them, she believes differently.

A month ago, she resigned for some reasons. When we tried to retain her, she demanded flexible work hours, an enriched job role, and a salary hike. We agreed to the first two but informed her she would need to withdraw her resignation to be eligible for a salary increase during the upcoming appraisals. She was expecting a 50% raise and threatened to quit if she didn't get it. The company accommodated her other requests and offered her the option for a salary increase, but she did not accept.

During discussions about retaining her, almost a month passed. In the last week of her notice period, she decided not to withdraw her resignation. However, her pending tasks and projects were left unfinished. We asked her to complete them, and she agreed. One day, during an exit interview with the CEO, a colleague, who was a friend of the employee, was asked by the CEO to talk to her about her attitude. This led to a heated reaction from the employee. She expressed her displeasure to her manager, HR, and the CEO, stating she could not work there and didn't need her salary or a relieving letter. She made it clear she would keep her attitude and ego, and the company could keep their letters. The CEO accepted her decision, and she left.

Now, the issue is that she was handling crucial tasks, and there is no replacement. Should we approach her to complete the pending tasks, or should we inform the other team members about the situation and proceed with the tasks? The concern is how the other team members might react. Please suggest the best way to handle this situation to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Team Collaboration and Task Management

The team should take over the task and carry on. One should not be overly dependent on any individual. It is always better to share the task at hand with other members at various stages to avoid such a situation again.

Regards.

Please take this as a lesson learned and cut the losses as soon as possible. Here are my suggestions for your consideration:

Task Management Strategy

- Divide her tasks with high and low escalation levels. Let the client-end tasks be managed by the seniors in the firm, and the repetitive ones be taken care of by juniors.

- Let her seniors handle the tasks for now. Even if they have not been managing that, they would have the maturity to take up the pieces and put them together.

- Train the juniors and have them work alongside the seniors so that they are equipped to work independently later.

- Backfill will take time, so plan the tasks for the next 3-6 months.

Cross-Skilling and Process Refinement

- Take this as the first step to cross-skill the talent in your firm and keep refining the process at regular intervals.

Confidentiality and Communication

- Finally, please keep exit procedures confidential within the organization. Do not let the employee talk and gossip spread stories about it. As a management team, make no mistakes by informing or sharing information with any employee. Even as a startup, no matter how close-knit your firm is, value individual space and respect one's decision to leave. As an employer, your brand is best built when your employees leave as your ambassadors to the talent industry.

- Address the situation in a team meeting and clearly divide responsibilities. We cannot avoid human tendencies to manipulate emotions. Manipulation comes easily under pressure. The best we can offer to stabilize such a situation is patience! Avoid fueling any gossip based on uncertainty or what the management is thinking. Remain open to answering any questions raised. Identify the influencers and communicate regularly with them. Transparency is the best measure to build trust. The sooner doubts settle, the stronger the foundation will be.

Wish you all the best.

Regards

Thank you, Nabonita. There was no handover from that lady. Should we ask her to come over and hand over? If yes, should we give her the relieving letter? She mentioned while leaving that she would not need it.

Knowledge Transfer and Exit Process

A knowledge transfer is essential for every release. However, the way she left may not enable you to retrieve all the information from her. If necessary, mend the ties and arrange the handover during a meeting with just one or two high-level executives in your firm. Ensure she provides a valid contact number to be reached later. Her hotheadedness should not cost your firm. Remain stable and focused on the result. Regardless of any drama that may arise, stay above those human reactions.

Service Manual Submission

A service manual is what one should submit when resigning, including the following details:

- List of the tasks managed
- Processes followed for each task
- Current status with due dates
- Complete details of escalations, including information on involved members
- People to be contacted, with old communications and contact details
- Hand-holding through technical and business knowledge required for task delivery
- Any obligations offered to the client with specified conditions
- Legal information, if applicable

Professional Sign-Offs

In other cases, plan for professional sign-offs with both the departing employee and the one being trained by them.

Finally, regardless of how an employee behaves, issue a clear set of documents on the release and follow the relieving process. This way, you will establish a strong and stable exit process in the long run. Treating your employees as ambassadors will likely result in them becoming your future re-hires.

Wishing you all the best!

Thanks a lot, (Cite Contribution) . There was a case where a lady completed her 2-month notice period. However, since discussions regarding her retention were ongoing, she made a final decision just a few days before her last day. Her handover was not complete, and tasks assigned were unfinished. She committed to working from home and coming in over weekends to complete the tasks. Although we released her salary, which was on hold, we did not provide her with a relieving letter due to the incomplete handover.

Now, she has sent an email stating that she will not be able to participate in the event she had committed to and is demanding a relieving letter. Please suggest how to handle this.

You cannot release her documents without signing off on the Knowledge Transfer. Please send her the documents she needs to fill with all the task details. She won't work on the project, but information sharing is entirely her professional obligation.

Mail her, mentioning her agreement to complete the handover and that her release remains subject to that. Stay focused and avoid getting bogged down by these long interactions.

Regards

I have gone through your query and the subsequent views posted by Ms. (Cite Contribution). I apologize for interrupting your discussion. I have a query for you.

1. At the time of joining, did you deliver HR induction to this employee explaining all applicable policies, specifically pertaining to the exit interview, knowledge transfer, etc., to secure a relieving letter?

2. Did the employee accept and sign the respective policies, binding herself (willingly) to follow company rules and regulations?

If yes, please proceed further with your formalities and follow the process as explained by Ms. (Cite Contribution).

If "NO," kindly arrange for HR induction and ensure that the company has completed all its formalities by educating its employees about various processes/policies applicable. Without educating your employees, you will fail to accomplish tasks, regardless of their position in the hierarchy.

At the time of joining, a company must discuss everything with new joiners, and the same should be recorded in black and white. There is no point in blaming or complaining about an employee if the company failed to fulfill its formalities or norms. Please communicate clearly with your employees.

I would like to present my suggestions to you.

1. Kindly develop a habit of providing information either in point (bullets/numbering) or paragraph form.

2. Kindly sign your name below (if possible, include your designation) to help readers address you appropriately.

Since you are in HR (if I am not mistaken), regardless of your experience, you must possess relevant skills (functional/soft skills/business writing) and act as a role model. I hope you are not offended by my suggestion.

With profound regards,

"You cannot release her documents without signing off the Knowledge Transfer. Please send her the documents she needs to fill with all the task details. She won’t work on the project, but information sharing is entirely her professional obligation.

Mail her, mentioning her agreement to complete the handover, and her release remains subject to that. Stay focused and avoid getting bogged down by these long interactions."

I hope our members have provided you with maximum inputs, but I would like to add the following points:

1. Always ensure proper screening, psychometric tests, and other stringent HR selection processes, especially when hiring critical talents.

2. If you adopt and follow the above point meticulously, I hope you won't encounter issues like this in the future.

3. HR induction should be strong enough to coach employees on HR policies and procedures consistently.

4. Set a code of business conduct principles and mentor your employees on integrity. If you lay the groundwork correctly, you won't face these kinds of issues. Today you faced one; tomorrow, ten critical talents may turn up in the same style. So, it's better to fine-tune your recruitment process.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,
Sivakumar

It is a pity that your employee is leaving. Most times, HR just goes by what the managers say and actually implicates their employees falsely.

If the task cannot be done by anyone else in the company, it would be even harder to manage it. So, try to understand what she was doing from her manager and ask him/her the exact details of the skills that are currently not available in the organization. It might very well be that her manager has the skill, but her subordinates do not have the skill. So, now, for a moment, think like the employee. She is given staff who 'cannot' (read 'do not wish to') do that task and a manager who doesn't want to do it. I think this employee was not given the right environment to work. And the employee doesn't have the right incentive to continue. Needless to say, you will find a big 'hole' to fill... but the bottom line is that your employee must not be at fault.

Before you start wielding the wand of HR, try to fairly evaluate the situation. I think there is more to the story than what you are presenting...

Regards

Thank you, Nikhil. I completely agree that there are loopholes. However, the situation is loose at both ends. It is the management's fault as well as the employees'. As suggested, I am trying to understand who could take over the handover charge, and whether we would need that employee to come down to the office or not. Since she upfront said that she does not need a relieving letter, she has no obligation now.

Regards,
Nisha

Handling Employee Resignation and Task Handover

Nisha, there is not much freedom for you to think. You will need to assign her responsibilities to her manager/boss! I don't see much room for discussion. He has to ensure it is done.

As far as the handover is concerned, he surely knows the situation. He has to find a solution because he has to meet his assigned business objectives.

I don't think you should entertain the idea of calling back that employee and 'discussing' or 'putting pressure' on the employee. It is not going to be a healthy meeting. Like I said, you might quickly make things worse for both sides.

Regards,
Nikhil