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Exits

It is important to take the time to create a positive and honoring experience for an employee as they leave your team.

Respectful Exits

The resignation notice period is the last chance to make a positive impression about you, your department/unit and Cornell. This last experience may make the difference in whether an employee will be a promoter or detractor for others considering joining Cornell. It may also help keep the door open for Cornell to re-hire the employee in the future.

The following are some tips to help create a respectful exit experience:

  • Ask the employee to share what they would recommend changing about the position for the next incumbent and what could have made it better for them.
  • Discuss celebration ideas (going away party, etc.).
  • If appropriate, send out a note announcing their departure and acknowledge their accomplishments while at Cornell.
       Ask the employee to review it prior to sending it out.
  • Request any final feedback about you as their manager, the department/unit, or their colleagues.
       Listen and ask questions, but do not become defensive as it is their experience.
  • Thank them for any feedback they provide.
  • Be sure to say “goodbye” to the employee on their final day with Cornell. Stop by if you are in person or connect virtually with them if either you or they are working remotely.
  • For staff who voluntarily resign, encourage them to complete the university exit survey which will be automatically sent to their Cornell email.

Information pulled from Respectful Exits: Action Steps for Managers (PDF).


Video Transcript

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[Cassie] Thank you so much for joining us today, I'm Cassie Pierre Joseph. I lead Engagement Initiatives for  

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the Employee Experience team within the Division of HR. Today I'm joined by Nancy Martinsen. Hi Nancy!  

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[Nancy] Hi Cassie, it's good to be here. [Cassie] It's good to have you, please tell us more about yourself.  

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[Nancy] I am Nancy Martinsen. I'm the Kent G. Sheng, Class of '78, Associate Dean of Students and Director of the  

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Asian Asian American Center.
[Cassie] Could you share some 
of the experience you've had as a manager when  

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an employee decides to leave? 
[Nancy] I recently had to say farewell to my Assistant Director and  

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I think what was really challenging about that is this um... realization that I understood large  

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scale what my Assistant Director did, but I didn't know the detailed things that um he did. And so one  

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of the biggest challenges was recognizing that I still needed to do what I needed to do, and then I  

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needed to learn all the things that I wasn't aware of in regard to the Assistant Director position.  

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[Cassie] Wow that's a lot to take on. How did those things impact you? 
[Nancy] I think something that's really hard  

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about when you lose a staff member is is just recognizing the work still needs to get done, 

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and so it's going to fall on someone. Something that I think is fabulous about the Asian Asian  

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American Center is that we really do try to have a personal relationship with our interns and one  

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of the things that my Assistant Director did is, he met with them one-on-one and then he also met  

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with them as a team and to help them with their projects. Very time consuming but really important. 

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to the mission of A3C. So I didn't want to take away from the experience. That was really important  

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for me, for interns to have, but super challenging to now have to recognize that I now needed to be  

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the one to... to recreate and that experience and to make time for them. [Cassie] Yeah so you talked about  

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time being a challenge, how are you addressing that challenge and other challenges, and what do  

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you find works best? 
[Nancy] Something for me is, I'm really 
big on asking for grace and giving grace. And so I  

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think just... yeah just kind of recognizing that I'm new with this I'm trying to learn stuff and and  

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just to ask for grace, and I find for the most part people give it to me. Something that I'm grateful  

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for is I had a really positive relationship with my co-worker and so um... I was fully aware that he  

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was looking for a job so it wasn't anything that shocked me or surprised me, like just having that  

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positive relationship made it easier for me to ask for help from my Assistant Director before they  

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left. And so one of the things I had asked for was a Transition Doc. and in that transition document  

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it really was like a step-by-step, like this is how you do these things and then also a timeline  

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um... 'so heads up Nancy in April

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these are the things that you need to start

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considering or thinking  

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about or working on'. 
[Cassie] So as you know the resignation 
notice period is the last chance we have to make  

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a positive impression on the employee before they leave Cornell. And that impression could make the  

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difference between them being a positive ambassador,

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meaning that they go out and speak well about  

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their Cornell experience.

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Or they could become a detractor for others that might consider  

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Cornell, because they've left with a more negative impression. What are some tips you have for fellow  

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managers that they can start doing right away to ensure a respectful exit experience?
[Nancy] Really looking  

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back at my experience with my Assistant Director that I'm grateful for, is the honest and open  

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communication that we had. When it was time for him to depart there was no surprise. I know that  

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there were certain projects that he was so proud of and so just kind of recognizing like, 'hey these  

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were some great things, how can I make sure that I'm able to continue it' or 'what information do I  

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need to pass down to the new Assistant Director so that they can really continue it'. And I did ask him  

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to write a welcome letter and to the new Assistant Director. I know I got a letter from the former  

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um Director of A3C, and it was a nice touch. Like it was just kind of a way to... to say like,  

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'I had a great time in this role and these are some things to be mindful of and these are some things  

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I really hope you'll enjoy about this position and here's

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um my email in case you want to reach out'.

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I'm really really grateful for just that...

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that positive relationship that we have.

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[Cassie] Well thank you so much for

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sharing all of your experience with us today on how to create a respectful exit. Thank you  

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Nancy.
[Nancy] Thank you Cassie for this opportunity, this is fun.

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[Cassie] Here are some more tips on respectful exits.


Layoffs and Early Terminations

Review the Managers Guide to Preparing for a Layoff Notification (pdf). Importantly, as a people leader you should:

  • Consult with your HR Representative
  • Review the Layoff Policy. One of the best ways to reduce legal risk is knowledge of and adherence to relevant policies
  • Obtain a layoff packet and notification letter from HR to give to the impacted individual(s) and review in advance of the meeting
  • Understand the reason for the layoff/early termination and selection criteria

Addressing the Needs Remaining Employees

People leaders should:

  • Make clear how remaining work will be handled/reorganized to account for the reduction in force
  • Consult with FSAP about their own concerns/challenges and those of the remaining employees related to the layoffs
  • Help employees feel a sense of control over their lives by exploring flexible work arrangements
  • Model and stress to remaining employees the need to take care of themselves

Resources