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Employment ideas for Exit Procedures and Interviews: First, it is extremely important to first review the exiting person’s status on benefits. It is required by law to inform the person of his/her rights under COBRA (continuation of health insurance.) It is redundant, but you also mail this notice post employment. And, the notice needs to go the spouse, if any. Information on this, should you not be aware, can be obtained from the Internet. You should have on hand the letter, with the correct wording, spelling out these rights. In this same letter, you can include the person’s pay status…when final check will be issued, where it will be sent, and what it will contain (paid through, any leave included in the pay, etc.) This information needs to be documented, so the same letter is a good place to put it. Develop a "form" letter that you can personalize to fit the situation. You also need to include in this exit letter the person’s participation or lack thereof in any other benefit plans that you might have. Status of vesting rights in pension, if any. Whether the person was contributing to 125 plan. This can be touchy if a layoff or termination. Depending on regulations, funds deposited may not be retrievable. Expenses incurred through the last day of employment are eligible for recovery. Check with your administrator of this plan. c. Status of participation in a 401K, self or matched. Status of vacation pay due and any other payable leave. When your health insurance coverage will end for the departing employee. (Add to this your statement on COBRA benefit eligibility and costs.) Finally, if commission is due, how will it be paid and based on what commission plan through what period of time. If there are non-compete issues that are LEGALLY valid, you may want to include them in this same letter or detail it in another. Check with your lawyer on this one. Finally, the letter needs to be signed by the employee after reading it in your presence. Give a copy to the departing employee and keep one for his/her personnel file. You next need to have a checklist, prepared ahead of time. The list should, at a minimum, include all issues that should not be left hanging. Building and other keys have been retrieved. Credit cards have been handed in. (Cancel immediately.) Phone charge cards have been handed in. (Cancel immediately.) Passwords for any software programs and/or log-ons have been given to you. (Close down access immediately.) All company property has been returned or leave a space on your form to detail how it will be returned and when. (Laptops, other computer equipment, cell phones, etc. (Cancel service.) Think hard and add items that relate to your company. Both parties need to sign and date this document. Again, give a copy to the departing employee and keep one for the file. Don’t forget to collect the items documented above. You need a letter, if one has not already been written, detailing why the person is leaving your company. You need this letter even if the person has resigned. Of course, if it is self-termination, request a letter of such for the file. Your letter needs to confirm this self-termination. If the termination is involuntary, be sure to state whether it is a layoff due to downsizing or some other reason. If a termination for performance reasons, reference the accumulated, documented lapses in performance or failures to follow a company required procedure. If it is termination "for cause", state the cause, the date(s), etc. "Cause" is a serious violation of company policy (drinking on the job, use of drugs, violence, theft, etc.) Finally, INCLUDE in this letter a reminder that the employment was "at will", hopefully your company is in a "right to work" state, where employment "at will" is standard. Again, make sure to keep a copy for your file. NOTE: Your company really does need to have a policy and procedure (employee) handbook that covers all of the various employment issues, including an "at will" employment statement. Inventing policies and "rules" on the fly to suit an occasion or a specific employee is far from good management and can lead to legal wrangling. Putting one of these booklets together is not difficult. Simple to follow and inexpensive software is available that practically writes it for you. Be sure to get a version that is "state appropriate" and can be updated from time-to-time with new regulations. Make sure to have an acknowledgement form included in the booklet that states the person has read and understood its contents and that the person understands and agrees that employment is "at will." All employees, even upper management, need to be given this booklet and sign the acknowledgement statement. You also need to include in the acknowledgement that the company reserves the right to modify the policies, procedures and benefits as it deems necessary. You may also want to consult an attorney on including a document/statement that spells out how disputes will be handled through binding arbitration rather than the courts. Once again, this acknowledgement/agreement form needs to be signed and kept on file. This is something relatively new in the HR field and you need to verify how to handle such with an attorney in the HR field. Once all of the necessary paperwork has been gone over with the exiting employee, you should engage in an exit interview/conversation. Obviously, if the termination is for "cause", there is no real need to do so. Under a "for cause" situation, you should consider having another management person in the room with you. Exit interview conversations serve many purposes and can be a learning experience for both parties. The interview allows the exiting person to discuss, with or without strong emotions, how he/she viewed your company, management, policies, etc. Yes, this conversation is likely to be uncomfortable. Make sure YOU do not become defensive. The objective is to listen and to learn or at least hear the person out. It is an excellent idea to take notes. This shows the person that his/her comments are important and are being listened to, and you will have a record for the file. It may come in handy post employment. It is especially important if problems arise post termination or should the person re-apply at some date in the future. Whoever is hiring at the time will have a record of the departing person’s attitude toward the company. A few exit interview questions to consider: Self-Termination: Why exactly are you leaving the company? (If not relocation or family issues)- was there anything that we could have done differently that would not have resulted in your decision? If a career change: What about the new career do you find attractive? What skills did you learn from your position with us that helped with this decision? What was the most challenging part of your position with us? What was the one task in your job that you least like to do and why? Which of our policies did you find most beneficial? Which of the policies do you believe to have a negative impact on employees and why? What did you best enjoy about the department in which you worked? What did you find most difficult/discouraging in your position within your department? Describe your views on how well you were trained and on our overall training opportunities. What is the one top recommendation that you have for improving the work environment for employees in this company? Are there any questions that you have concerning the exit process we have reviewed? Are there any other comments you would like to make? Involuntary Termination: Are there any questions that you have concerning the exit process we have reviewed? Depending up the circumstances, of course: What was there about your position, and/or the company that you were not able to find a match with your skills and personality? What have you learned from experience with us that will assist you to select a more suitable position in the future? What overall comments would you like to make concerning your position with the company? Is there anything, in your opinion, that we could do differently that would have made your performance/attitude/ability to follow procedures more feasible? Download as a Word document Back to Personnel