How Can We Prevent Employees from Leaving Without Proper Notice? Let's Discuss Solutions

Dear All,

Kindly suggest how we can reduce the percentage of employees leaving the company with only one day's notice.

Recently, we encountered two incidents:
One of our software engineers, working on a live project, informed us a week in advance that he wanted to be relieved after a week. In his appointment letter, it was clearly stated that he needed to serve a one-month notice period. During a personal meeting, we reiterated this requirement to him and informed him that failing to serve the notice period would result in us withholding his relieving letter and dues. He agreed at that time, but the day after, he stopped coming to the office.

The second incident involved an employee from the Business Development department who also left without serving the required notice period.

Please discuss this issue and provide suggestions on how we can prevent such cases in the future.

Thanks,
Payal Gade

Hi,

This is one kind of absconding wherein they won't even inform the HR. Firstly, to prevent this kind of situations, generally:

1. We can retain the original certificates/relieving letters from the previous employment at the time of joining the candidate, so at least for that, some employees will stick to our terms.
2. Or in another case, you can make him aware of the F&F Settlement, like how many days he has to serve and when he resigned, and explain to him that he has to pay the amount back to the company as he couldn't serve the notice period to have clearance from your company.

In your case, if you have any original certificates of him, retain them with you so that he will come back to you for them. Then you can do F & F for him. So hereafter, at least you can retain the original certificates to avoid this kind of issues.

Regards, Navya
Email: navya.anu@gmail.com

Hi,

I agree with Navya's point, but nowadays, many companies do not prefer to keep the original certificates of the employee due to potential incidents in the company that could result in significant costs to protect such important documents. If an incident like a fire or any other natural disaster were to occur, it could lead to substantial losses for both the company and the individual employee. In such cases, in my opinion, an employer should be vigilant while hiring any employee.

1. Employees should be allowed to use their complete PL until it reaches a zero balance or a negative balance. Some balance should be retained to address such situations.
2. You can adjust any owed amounts from their current salary, as well as their balance of PL/CL/SL leaves, medical, and LTA amounts. All these accounts will be reconciled in the final settlement (F&FS) money.
3. Salary certificates should not be issued until the complete settlement is done.

These are the only ways to recover the money in case of any issues during the notice period.

Thank you,
Jayshree

Hi Payal,

Following steps can be resorted to in case of employees leaving without notice:

1. Hold back all separation-related documents such as relieving letter, experience certificates, salary certificates, etc., until the notice period issue is resolved.

2. If the employee stops coming to work, treat the absence as unauthorized. Any unauthorized absence beyond 7 days is considered abandonment of employment. You can send a termination letter to the employee's residential address.

3. To prevent such acts, make this a point during induction itself so that everybody is aware of the consequences.

Thanks,
Giridhar

Dear HR friends,

In a post I read recently, it was mentioned that it is unethical to collect original certificates of employees. Here, you are seemingly promoting this illegal, unethical, and harassing process.

SHAME ON YOU.

Dear Payal,

You can't do anything except deduct his pay. Calculate his notice period and collect pay as dues.

Ravi

Dear Friends,

Thank you very much for your suggestions. I told the guy that if he does not serve the one-month notice period, we will not clear his dues, nor will we provide any relieving letter to him. However, the guy stopped coming from the next day, and we marked him as terminated. For us, I believe it is acceptable to fill it as terminated and look for other options. The real problem arises when a person is working on a live project where they are responsible for an essential part, and then the technical team starts creating a drama, claiming that HR does not take any action to prevent such cases.

Could you kindly advise me if there is any way to remedy this situation?

Thanks,
Payal

The issue discussed is relevant in today's scenario where job opportunities are plentiful. In this case, since the ex-employee had given a week's notice, there is no point in terminating his employment. You should complete the full and final settlement in due course of time and recover the notice period amount from the same.

Dear Friends,

I know we can get the amount deducted from his/her Full and Final settlement, but my worry is when a person is working on a live project, we are losing a ready resource. Even if a new resource joins in that period, they will not be as useful as the ex-employee, and even clients are least bothered about the resources. So, what can be done in this situation? The technical people blame us for not retaining the guy as they have to suffer at the ground level.

Has anybody faced the same problem? Any recommendations to solve this issue?

Kindly reply.

Thanks,
Payal

I would like to tell you that you better keep that guy working for the number of days he is ready to work on account that it was a live project. In the meantime, find a suitable candidate for the same position and give both guys a two to three-day overlap so that the new person gets acquainted with the conditions. After this, you can let go of the old guy, and then it's up to you.