How Can We Manage Key Resignations During Remote Work Due to Coronavirus?

Hi All, we are a small IT company with 25 employees currently. Due to the coronavirus, we have required all employees to work from home. However, one of our employees submitted their resignation just 2 days ago, and another employee resigned after we implemented the work-from-home policy. Both employees are senior resources, and their work is essential to the company. We are concerned about the dependencies on their work. Is it possible to extend their notice period?

Our standard notice period is two months, but with the next 15 days designated for remote work, the handover process, training junior candidates, and finding replacements may take some time. We are seeking advice on how to navigate this situation effectively.

Thank you for your assistance.

Notice Period and Resignation Acceptance

Since the notice period provided in the appointment letter/terms and conditions of service for these employees is two months, you can accept their resignation effective from the date after two months from the date of submitting the resignation. You can insist that once the situation improves within this period of two months, they will have to come to the office, hand over proper charge, and train their juniors on their tasks.

Regards, Shobhit Kumar Mittal
Industrial & Labour Law Advisor
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy-Reasons], [Phone Number Removed For Privacy-Reasons]

Hi Shobit,

Thank you for the response. I am concerned about how they will hand over the work in 1 month or 40 days. Being a senior resource, there is a lot of dependency on them. All three of them have resigned within one week.

Exit interview is done. What was the reason for their resignation?

Talk to your employees and help them understand the current situation. Ask if they can stay a little longer to assist the company. Also, check if your policy has a clause for extending the notice period.

Dear Sonalee, why are you linking the resignations of the senior employees with the "Work From Home" (WFH) requirement? This requirement came up because of the need to stop the spread of the virus. But regardless of whether the Coronavirus problem had erupted or not, the seniors would have resigned anyway. Your writing suggests that the seniors are leaving because of the WFH requirement, but that is doubtful.

It seems that the seniors became crucial to your company, or rather your company depended on them because it appears you did not develop a proper mechanism to reduce your reliance on them. This is where the importance of knowledge management comes into play. If Tacit Knowledge is promptly extracted from the minds of a few individuals and organized efficiently in the company's IT systems, this dependence would not arise.

Upon their resignation, you suddenly realized that the departure of the seniors would create a void in your company. However, this is akin to digging for water after becoming thirsty.

Retaining the employees can help your company maintain its continuity, but the company's dependence on them will persist. Therefore, view this disruption as a lesson and commence building the company's knowledge assets. The higher the level and quality of the knowledge assets, the lesser the dependence on individuals, whether seniors or otherwise.

For "Your Friend": The seniors have recently submitted their resignations; hence, it would be premature to conduct the exit interview. Additionally, while the company may request an extension of the notice period, exiting employees cannot be compelled to comply. Each company should develop the competence to arrange for the replacement of the departing employee within the notice period. Requesting an extension of the notice period will only expose the company's weaknesses and defeat the purpose of including the notice period clause in the Appointment Letter.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dinesh,

What about training and handover? Is it not mandatory before the exit interview? SMEs may face challenges in setting up processes; therefore, the dependency challenge is there.

Knowledge transfer does not happen from senior employees as they always have ego and seniority issues, regardless of the processes set by the company. It's just that in big companies, it's unseen due to the huge lineups of senior positions.

Anyways, thanks for the reply and information.

Managing Resignation During Remote Work

Sonalee, if I could suggest—15 days out of 60 is manageable. Since both are senior employees, the exit discussion is merely a conversation. However, if you are fortunate, you may retain them.

1) Understand the reason for resignation. Talk to your employer and see if they are willing to retain them.

2) Start looking for a replacement by using internal talent, such as the immediate next person in the organizational hierarchy.

3) In the meantime, request these resigned employees to share the knowledge transfer (KT) plan before the curfew is lifted.

4) If you don't find anyone internally, start looking in the open market. I am quite sure that with the current situation, you can find someone easily. This time, you should prefer immediately available resources.

I would highly recommend step 2 since it would increase employee morale, reduce business risk, and save time.