Retaining the laptop by the Resigned employee

Hi Friends,
We have issued Laptops for Business development executives, But some of them are not returning laptop when they resign, instead, they tell release my FnF then we will return the laptop. Until and unless they finish their exit formalities company cannot release their FnF, This is causing a lot of problems. Please suggest how to handle the situation or any other precautionary measures.

Dear Ranju Ranjith Kumar,
In your case there appears to be trust deficit. Employees who have resigned are looking at your company's administration with suspicion. Cause of the trust deficit could be the past cases wherein company put on hold the legitimate dues of the employees on some invalid grounds. Now the situation is so bad that employees want a filmy style trade-off, take it by one hand and give it by another.
Many IT companies clear dues of the employees well after a month. Whether this practice is right or wrong is a different matter however, employees deposit the company property under their possession and quit. They quit without scepticism because of the unshakeable belief that their company will not take them for the ride.
You cannot look for solution to this challenge in isolation. Your company needs to build a culture of trust. To create this culture, your boss has to play a major role. It was he who must have shattered trust and rebuilding the trust is as good as collecting broken glass pieces and joining them together. it is time taking process but some time you have to start this process.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Hi Dinesh,
Thanks for your valuable reply. Till date, we haven't kept employees salary on hold and make them run around the office, I personally call the resigned employee and I will talk with him in a polite manner and explain him the process. once the employee resigned and complete his exit formalities we will process his FnF within 15days, but still, I am unable to find the reason why the employee does this. Please suggest

Dear Ranju Ranjith Kumar,
If you are clearing their dues in defined time frame and still they are retaining the laptop then there has to be some other reason. What about their petrol allowance? What about their sales incentive? Are these paid timely or there is inordinate delay in the payment?
As written in previous reply, the major cause is trust deficit and you need to find out the causes of it. Talk to them and find out why they feel to retain the laptop. Retention of laptop is not an isolated case but there is pattern to it. You need to identify the cause of the pattern.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Hi Dinesh,
All their incentives, salaries, Reimbursements and Allowances are paid on time without fail. Thanks for the suggestion I will start working on to find what is the reason.

You can handle this issue legally if you have well framed company policies regarding such issues.