Getting off to a great start is important in any job, which is why managers and human resource professionals understand how important those first few weeks on the job are. But in the lifecycle of an employee, there is another period that is also crucial; it just happens to be on the opposite end of the employee’s tenure.
Many companies squander the time after a team member puts in a two-week notice, incorrectly assuming that this is time the employee will essentially coast through until the final day, tying up a few loose ends with a general lack of engagement. Instead, this time should be seen for what it is: an essential opportunity to transition responsibilities and download institutional knowledge that might otherwise leave with the employee.
Tying Up Loose Ends
Companies definitely want departing employees to wrap up any projects they can or at least leave instructions for others to do so after they leave.
Making a Transition
Often, an employee resignation comes as a complete surprise, meaning there isn’t another employee that’s been selected as a replacement and been given an opportunity to get up to speed. Two weeks is a short amount of time to find and internally onboard a replacement, but it’s better than nothing, and companies should get started on the transition process as soon as they receive that notice.
Capturing Institutional Knowledge
Employees accumulate a lot of institutional and job-specific knowledge in their time with a company, and they certainly don’t write it all down. The last two weeks of an employee’s tenure is a crucial time to capture as much of that knowledge as possible for his or her replacement, as well as others with whom the employee works closely.
Case-by-Case Evaluation
It should be noted that not all employees are created equally, and there may be legitimate situations in which it makes sense to terminate an employment relationship before a two-week notice period is up.
These situations need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, weighing the benefits of keeping the employee on board to help with the transition versus the potential negative impacts of having the employee stick around—e.g., impact on morale of other employees, lack of productivity, even sabotage.
It’s foolish to think that any employee will remain with the company forever. Sooner or later, most employees will leave a company for another opportunity, and the standard notice is two weeks. That’s not a great deal of time, but it’s enough to avoid disaster if managed properly.
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