Tip 9

Part on good terms with ex-employees

"Everyone has to deal with IT staff moving on, for whatever reason, but it can be useful to make sure that you part on good terms. If they speak highly of you, your image will be enhanced and their new colleagues are more likely to join you. Ex-employees also provide a potential recruitment pool of people who know exactly what it is like to work for your organisation and you will find that when they come back they are likely to stay for good. You may find that it is worth trying to stay in touch and ensure those ex-employees get information on the vacancies available and know how to apply."
Karen Geary, Human Resources Director, The Sage Group plc

Nobody wants to face it, but employees do move on. They always have done, whether leaving to have children, change career, due to some kind of disability (through sickness or injury), relocate or simply retire. Of course, these days this situation is far more evident, with employees perceiving career progression as being linked to job changes. This is an issue that companies have been reluctant to take on, but some are now benefiting from keeping in touch with their ex-employees who have often left the company for personal reasons, but want to keep their options open to returning some day.

Whatever the reason for leaving, these employees are a valuable resource that does not completely diminish when they walk out the door. Companies invest a lot of money ensuring that their employees understand their organisation and the role that they play and are, understandably, becoming more reluctant to let that get away.

Ex-employees have provided a potential recruitment pool of people for companies that have found themselves needing to recruit in numbers and quickly. The company have the benefit of knowing what kinds of skills and experience those people can provide and the staff know exactly what it is like to work for the organisation and can get back up to speed far quicker than some completely new recruits.

Setting up a newsletter or club for ex-employees to stay in touch with one another and what the company is doing, can provide a useful way of staying in touch. A personal contact within an organisation can also be a useful way to ensure when you are recruiting, make sure that ex-employees get information on the vacancies and know how to apply.

Even if the employee does not return, the efforts made to keep in touch will not be in vain. Word of mouth is a very powerful thing and the impact of how an ex-employee refers to your company cannot be underestimated. Organisations who invest in maintaining good relationships with staff who are leaving or have left the company, stand to benefit greatly from a positive image of their organisation being made by the ex-employees. A positive endorsement from a member of staff that has left an organisation is something that is hard to put a price on but, let us just say that, it is a very valuable commodity indeed.