Hello Graham
In agreement with Ranjit, Runa and Kunal, I too would say that if the employee has resigned, a company cannot make him work against his will.
Having worked in the BPO industry which has the highest attrition, particularly job abandonments, I would like to share a few of my observations with respect to job abandonment cases.
- The resolution that had reaped us most +ve results till date is sending across a firm but non aggressive show cause notice asking the absconding employee to get in touch with the personnel dept (and not the prod. or Operations dept.!), followed by an HR personnel calling up and determining :
a) Reason for not reporting to work
b) Has information about his absence been conveyed to any one in office(which later needs to be validated).
c) (refer to his letter of appointment for this..) Remind him about the 'termination of employment' clause stated in the letter of appointment.
d) if employee isnt ready to serve notice (95%) :), persuade him to buyout his notice period(worked in 5% cases), offer to adjust his leave balance (if policy permits), ask him to handover all docs and office proerty/assets, and tempt him that he would be able to leave on a clean note, relieveing letter & all. "One should never burn down their bridges".
e) if he/she does not agree, do not suggest about the company taking legal actions. Most employees are adequately educated about the flip side the company faces in such cases, and also know that how adversely it affects the company's reputation. Your legal advisors and finace depts. to would agree :)
And like Runa mentioned earlier, its best to close these files without issuing any further letters.You may want to make a mention of "full and final settlement pending for employee initiation" on these files for your internal records.
Adoption of such measures dont exactly build 'patrons' but they do avoid mushrooming of 'talkers'
I am keen to know how you finally would get yourself out of this sticky situation. ;)
Warm regards