When a Key Employee Resigns: Is Missing an Email Copy More Important Than Retention?

It was a late evening; I was on the development floor for seat allotment and discussing with the concerned Project Leader. A well-known guy on the floor (name not mentioned), who was in the maintenance project, came to me and said, “I put in my papers” due to some reason. I was quite shocked, and my mind was thinking about something else; suddenly, the “Project Lead” interfered and said, “Have you marked a copy or cc to me when you sent the resignation? Since my inbox is not showing your mail.”

The incident took place, and I have relieved the candidate as per the employment terms and company policy, but it raises a lot of questions in my mind. For a Project Lead, which is more important: not having a copy of the resignation email, or a competent resource leaving the organization? The resource was so important until yesterday; since he put in his papers today, he was just a “Substance” who fulfills the final rituals of the company's relieving policy. The entire scenario was masking all his contributions that he had made to the organization.

For a Project Lead, not having a copy of the email is more important than doing something to retain the competent resource. I hope in every organization, the policies and procedures are important to have the right operations in place. But beyond that, there should be something in place at an individual level inside the organization that should make people connect with the organization during their period and even after they leave.

When I retrospect on who could be the reason for this: Manager, Company Philosophy, or HR?

Regards,

I feel the person who resigned was one of your close friends there in the company, right? Well, I have a few more questions for you. Please consider and answer:

- Are you an HR there?
- Was the resignation accepted by his reporting manager or not?
- To whom did he present his resignation?
- To whom was he reporting? Project Leader, you, and whom?
- If the Project Leader who interfered and asked about the email copy of the resignation was one of his reporting managers, then why didn't he mark the copy to him?
- Do you feel he was right in this action?

Second, you noticed that he was a resource to your company but forgot his mistakes and the reasons that forced him to go away. With great pain, you want to know why he was not retained, but have you tried to inquire why your Project Leader or his reporting manager accepted his resignation if he was an asset to your company?

You had to relieve him as per the company procedure, which was one of your duties, but without any findings or inquiry about the reasons for his resignation and what forced him to take this action, neither you nor anyone can blame HR. However, there is something wrong that you have to find and bring to light.

He had to leave by his own choice/reasons; it was his job. He wasn't asked to leave. Moreover, by not marking the copy of the resignation email to his reporting manager (if he was the direct reporting manager), he certainly made a mistake, which was not acceptable and was not a professional act by him. Therefore, the reaction of the Project Leader was obvious.

So, neither you nor anyone else can blame the PL/Manager for his leaving.

If you are an HR, you must have knowledge about the procedure of resignation, where an employee has to put forward his resignation to his direct reporting manager or head of the department. But he ignored or disobeyed the rule, which deserves appropriate action, and you also have to accept this as an HR Personnel if you are.

In addition, you must have knowledge about his performance, impression, and work relations with his subordinates and reporting. You must inquire about what and why this happened with him.

Perhaps you missed something here, which requires your attention. So please consider my above-posted questions and reply because I found your query is not clear.

Lastly, I would like to know what comes under Company Philosophy in your words, please.