Resignation policy

When an employee resigns, in most cases you’ll
want to know the reason why so it’s useful to conduct an exit interview or ask the employee to complete an exit questionnaire. In addition, it’s important for the employee to know the arrangements for their departure, including how their resignation will be dealt with. Our resignation policy covers all of these issues.

A happy exit

Whilst you may be glad to see the back of some employees, with the majority of your staff it will probably be unfortunate for the business when they resign because you have not only lost a good employee but also you have to incur time and money in securing and training a replacement. Exit interviews and exit questionnaires are good ways of obtaining honest feedback from departing employees. They can help you to spot where you might have gone wrong with an employee so that you can take steps to improve things for the future. In the odd case, they might also enable you to resolve problems with the particular employee to the extent that they may actually agree to stay and to withdraw their resignation. Our Resignation Policy envisages using exit interviews and questionnaires.

Tying up the loose ends

Once an employee resigns, they will also want to know as soon as possible what their leaving date is (or that you agree with the leaving date they have specified) and what they will be paid on leaving, for example, will any deductions be made from their salary to cover excess holiday taken, training costs, etc. Using our resignation policy means you can set a procedure to ensure the employee’s resignation letter is acknowledged and that all these matters are addressed in writing. First ensure though that the employee’s resignation letter is unambiguous and clearly states their intention to terminate their employment; if the wording used is in any way unclear or ambiguous, take steps to clarify the employee’s intentions. Finally, we’ve included a paragraph setting out confidentiality requirements relating to the employee’s resignation.