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3 ways to deal with an employee who just gave notice and is checked out

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Have an employee who responsibly resigned but is now checking out in her last few weeks on the job? Here are some ideas from another post about what to say when an employee resigns that may prevent her from getting checked out. However, if that doesn’t work, here are a few tips for how to handle her and the situation.

  1. Protect your other team members from losing morale. I’m putting this one first because the most important thing you should be doing is making sure that your team continues to shine after your employee leaves. Whatever toxicity or laziness your recently resigned employee brings to the office must be contained. In a few weeks, she’ll be gone and you don’t want your team to be feeling down. Check in with them individually. Be transparent about your knowledge of your departing employee’s behavior and attitude. Thank your other employees for maintaining their professionalism and focus during this transition.

  2. Remind your resigning employee that her final weeks are enough time to burn a bridge with you and your company. It’s important that an employee recognizes that she is still working for your company, and as long as she does, she’ll need to act like it. Even if she resigned responsibly and on good terms, tell her that it would be silly to waste the solid experience she has with your company on these last weeks.

  3. Get whatever knowledge you need from her as fast as possible. Have her train you or someone else on what she knows that is valuable to you. If she is the only one with an account with a vendor or to hold passwords, make sure you acquire those. As her last weeks go on, delegate smaller tasks, especially ones that don’t need much attention or focus since she may be lacking that. But do this only once she’s adequately trained someone else on the unique parts of her role.

Have more ideas on how to handle someone who is checking out in her last weeks on a job? Share them in the comments below.