How to Get the Most Out of an Employee’s Final Two Weeks

Employee turnover is going to happen. No matter who you hire or how well you treat them, there is always a risk that, at any moment, one of your employees is going to give you a piece of paper or send you an email that announces their resignation. When that happens, it can cause problems that reverberate throughout the company.

Some companies continue with “business as usual” when an employee is leaving, doing nothing more than start looking for the replacement. But with only two weeks left, there are ways that you can use those last two weeks to do some tasks that will help improve productivity and revenue in the future.

What to Do in Those Final Few Weeks

The more you prepare for your employee’s exit, the more you’ll be prepared for the next person that comes in their place. Consider using some or all of the following strategies with each employee that has resigned from your company.

Have Them Review the Job Description

When there were hired, there was presumably a job description that they read over in order to learn the tasks they were expected to complete. But while they were there, their tasks were likely to have changed and evolved. How often has the job description been updated?

By having the current employee review the tasks on the description and update them accordingly, you not only can train the incoming employee – you can also make sure that you know what skills you need for the next hire.

Create a Job Manual

Ideally, the outgoing employee will have time to train the next staff member. But few companies are able to hire someone that quickly. So instead, have the outgoing employee complete a brief training manual that introduces the incoming staff member to the job, the tasks, the people, and more. By leaving behind a training manual, the new employee can get some degree of training from someone that actually spent time in the role.

Have Them Complete an Exit Survey

The best way to gain insight into how your business operates and what it needs to continue thrive is to ask the only people that have little to lose by giving you an honest answer – those that are leaving your company. Exit surveys are an excellent way to learn about what the company can do to prevent employee turnover, what issues have caused them to see out employment elsewhere, and more.

Surveys should be completed anonymously and ideally reviewed by a third party (to prevent any anonymity issues). But the information they can provide can be invaluable for improving your company.

Training Management

It’s one thing to train the next employee that comes into your office. It is quite another to make sure that management also knows how to help those people with their tasks. Having the employee train the managers on their role can help give management greater understanding of what the job entails, how to manage it, and what kind of support the next employee may need to succeed.

Make the Most Out of 2 Week Notices

No one wants to lose an employee. But you still have two weeks left to get as much from the employee as possible. While you could theoretically simply have them complete the same tasks they were completing previously, and milk every last bit of productivity out of them, there are other specific strategies that may help you improve your onboarding process in the short and long term.

It may be best to consider these strategies instead, because a bit less production now can mean much more production in the future.

Author: Sia Mohajer is the founder of Online Resume Builders and the founder of several online business ventures.