As a follow up to my last post, https://steemit.com/story/@willsling/i-m-leaving-my-job-after-6-years I am going to cover what I've learned over the past two weeks actively off boarding with my current employer.
Be respectful
Regardless of the conditions for leaving the company or client, put aside any personal feelings and take a moment to realize until it's after your last day... this is still your job. You should treat off boarding and your availability with your utmost respect and attentiveness. Not only do you want to avoid burning bridges, your reputation is still on the line.
First steps
These first steps which you should do immediately are to protect yourself from liability as soon as you send in your official notice of resignation. There is no telling when you access will be revoked.
- Download your signed agreements from any HR application.
- Download your last 6 months to a year in pay statements.
- Inform HR and IT departments, despite your official letter, not all parties in the company may have been informed.
- Prepare and make a note for yourself what your final payout should be.
First week
During the first week it's assumed you will have a lot of information to share but not enough time to speak with everyone that is necessary. In some circumstances if you can afford it and you had a lot of responsibilities it may make sense to provide a month notice instead of two weeks. If not this plan is focused on the fastest effective method to pass on everything you can so your soon-to-be employer can be successful in your absence.
- Ask your IT department or resource managers to provide you a unique fileshare folder with shared access to the management team AND a documentation space for sharing your notes.
- Pull any digital and physical files you may have private and begin sharing them with management team in your company's fileshare space. This includes resources you've accumulated during your job that you required to do your job effectively; notes, whiteboard images, images, development files (zip archived).
- In the shared documentation space, begin building a hierarchy of pages for yourself based on project or responsibilities. The upper level pages should include high-level information like resource links and contact information. As you create deeper pages include more technical information that is in your head that would be required by anyone taking over your job.
- Another note on project documentation, it's very helpful to share project details for delivery if your workstream must be picked up by someone. This might include delivery dates, links to work tasks in project management platforms, requirements and notes on the current state of your progress for all of this.
Second week
By this week you should have effectively documented everything you know, shared everything you have. Now it's time for show and tell.
- For each project or responsibility schedule time to have someone shadow you.
- First walk them through the documentation over a live meeting.
- Schedule additional separate time after covering documentation to have a formal QA.
- Time and access permitting, schedule another time block to assist that person with on boarding to the project.
- Unless already communicated, begin talking with your colleagues. Inform them of your resignation and end date and give them time to ask you questions that might help them after your absence.
- Ask for feedback. Feedback can come in many forms so take it with some humbleness and consideration.
- Inform your management of all the tasks you have performed over the last two weeks and ask for confirmation.
- By the end of your second week you will notice your access slowly being shut down. Work diligently with HR and IT to return any resources/hardware/etc to the company to ensure a clean exit.
After all these steps you should have covered all bases, helped your colleagues in future success and removed yourself from any liability! Best wishes on the next chapter in your career!
Thanks for reading! If you have other tips for making a clean exit please share them in the comments.
Image source: pexels.com
Cheers, Willsling
Thank you very much Willsling, or Stuben. Good post. I hope to come back to this by the end of the year. I read your introduction. I also have wanderlust. I am not in tech. About every couple of years, I quit and move to a different locale. Now, I have four children and it is a bit more difficult to move on a whim. But, I hope to be smart this year. I would have to give a month notice. However, my first and most important discussion would be a heart to heart conversation with my supervisor. I would count on that person to help guide me through the process as well help train someone to take over my duties.
Some job markets and companies will allow you to work remote from anywhere. I'm not sure what your career field is but something to think about if possible if the company has multiple office locations or you can complete you tasks from home. If these are options talk with your supervisor if you enjoy your current employer. I have no doubt they will be flexible. A good company will be flexible for it's employees needs. It can sometimes cost the business a lot of time and money to replace workers. Best luck in your future endeavors!
thanks for the post. in a perfect world when leaving that is the perfect exit strategy. In my life last year, I ended up finding out whie in Vegas, visiting Zappos, that my 2 managers were fired. It didn't take long for the rest of our team including myself, of being let go 2 weeks later. Perfect memo from me, A leader always eats last. Not to mention, A leader at the top has to know how to steer the ship. Good luck on your future endeavor. Your blog sounds like you had a perfect exit. Doesn't always occur these days. Matt, Chicago
Thanks Matt, it wasn't a perfect exit. Some of the core team had strong emotions about my notice to leave, but ultimately it's the best for me and my family. As a manager I've watched too many get let go and I've done my due diligence to right the ship. Those above me fight against every instinct to do the best for it's employees over profit. Managers leaving; especially being let go, can be a signal that it's time to go. Stay vigilant. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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