Leaving - A Talent Management Opportunity

I left my company today having worked there for nearly ten years. Obviously this was a major decision for me and something that I thought about a lot.

The whole leaving process wasn't a good experience and I am therefore leaving the company with a few negative feelings. It reinforced my belief that I have made the right decision to leave. Of course I will move on and am already excited about my new job which I start on Monday.

In the current climate there will be a lot of people leaving companies, many of them involuntarily. However if handled correctly organisations have an opportunity to leave a professional image with the departing employee. Why is this important? Well it is entirely possible that the person leaving now might well be on your 'shopping list' in the future. What simple things can organisations do better?

• Make sure that at least all the adminstration takes place correctly. Arrange for them to return company property etc. Don't just leave it up to the individual and hope for the best.
  
• Have a proper exit interview. Encourage the individual to be frank and honest about why they are leaving.
  
• Take some time to plan a handover. Make the process as easy as possible with enough time for someone else to pick things up. Where possible get things out of their brain and into a document of some sort.
• Communicate with all parties concerned. Don't try and brush things under the carpet and hope no one will notice.
• Make sure you provide easy ways to maintain links with the individuals. Well run alumni schemes can be a gold mine for future talent.
  
• Be civil and professional - try not to let emotion and feelings cloud the process.

I'd be interested to know other people's experiences - what did 'good' and 'bad' look like?