Employees leave their jobs regularly. Perhaps they found a role that’s better suited for them or closer to their dream job. Perhaps they wanted pursue being their own boss and star their own endeavor. Or maybe they’re moving to Belize.
Whatever the reason, most people leave on a positive note. They work their notice, you give them a good reference and everyone’s content.
But sometimes you come across someone with a grudge. For whatever reason, they’ve decided they want to ruin all relations and cause as much damage as possible, both before and after they’ve left.
Even if the connection between you and the employee is beyond mending, here are five ways to minimize the risks to your business.
- Arrange an exit interview with the employee
Once your employee has handed in their notice letter, arrange an exit interview to understand their thoughts and reasoning.
Remind them of their contractual duties while they work their notice. These could be clauses connected to confidentiality and accessing company information.
If their contract mentions things they aren’t allowed to do after they leave, let them know how the business will deal with any breaches.
- Manage them during their notice period
Does your angry employee have access to private information, such as customer lists? If they wanted to cause you harm, they could use this data against you in the future.
How would you feel if all your organizations most important clients suddenly left you for no obvious reason?
To avoid this from happening, give your employee tasks that don’t encompass private or sensitive data. You could also include a clause in your contracts of employment that allows you to give some of their responsibilities to another employee during their notice period.
- Stop your employee from coming into the office
If you have major reservations and believe that your employee could be disruptive during their notice period, you could prevent them from coming into work.
One option is that you still employ the worker, but they get to stay at home. This will ensure they can’t come to work and cause trouble.
You can also end their employment straight away, with the employee receiving the pay they would have got at the end of their notice period.
The downside of doing this is that the employee would immediately be free to take their knowledge of your business to a competitor. Or they might even set up on their own.
One way around this to include restrictive agreements in your contracts. This could be a clause that prevents an employee from competing with you for a certain period of time after they’ve left.
Your employee’s file should include all important documentation, such as their resignation letter and any note you take at the exit interview.
This may seem like an unnecessary measure, but the employee could make a claim against you. The chances of this have increased over the years.
Your disgruntled employee may not have a rock-solid case against you and may just be trying their luck. But if you have thorough documentation to back you up, you’ll increase your chances of winning the case.
- Keep an eye on Glassdoor
Glassdoor is a website where your current and former employees can review your business. Many people check it before applying to work for a company.
Anyone can set up a page for your company and leave comments and ratings. And if you’ve ever looked at Amazon or Tripadvisor reviews, you’ll know that people with negative feedback are usually the most outspoken.
It’s worth signing up for an employer account. This gives you more control over what appears on your profile, and lets you reply to any undesirable comments with your side of the story.