Q. I agree that people should be allowed to work for their last two weeks in most cases, but don’t you feel it’s necessary to walk someone out immediately if they’re going to a competitor? That’s what I’ve always heard.
A. No, of course not. When I ran HR for a greeting card company, people went to Hallmark or startup greeting card companies and we never walked anyone out. When I was at US Robotics, they went to Cisco or Juniper Networks. Same thing. No one got walked out
Why on earth would you switch in an instant from treating someone like a valued contributor to treating them like a criminal? That makes no sense at all. The worst argument in the world is “Well, now that they’ve given notice they could steal trade secrets.”
What? They were jobhunting for weeks or months BEFORE they gave notice. They could have stolen trade secrets during that time if they wanted to. Why would they? Don’t we as leaders trust ourselves to hire trustworthy people? If not, why not?
When somebody leaves a company where I am a leader to go to a competitor, I want to stay friends with them. Maybe they will come back. Maybe we will work together somewhere else in the future. Why would I antagonize them on their way out the door –
and send a signal to every other employee that I am a fearful manager who automatically assumes the worst of people? That would only encourage other people not to give notice. Stupid! There is so much stupidity in management practices these days
When someone quits, whether they’re going to a competitor or moving to Alaska we’re going to throw a party for them and thank them for everything and wish them well.
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