How do you celebrate your team members?
On their birthdays? Sure. Big life milestones like graduation, marriage, babies? Of course. Do you celebrate when they leave you? Probably not. Outside of retirement, the leaving of a job is not normally celebrated by the company getting left.
The employer/employee relationship mirrors a dating relationship. There’s the initial excitement of the interview and hiring process, both parties adventuring out into something new together, not knowing what the future may hold but very hopeful. And when that relationship comes to an end, it doesn’t feel so good. From the employer perspective, it’s often disappointing. There’s been a lot of time and effort put forth for training, anticipating that the employee will stay. From the employee perspective, there can be a lot of disappointment as well, frustration that the job wasn’t as advertised or didn’t fit their lives the way they hoped it would. And waiting those two weeks after giving notice? Pure torture on both ends.
But do you ever celebrate someone leaving your company? Why would you? Someone leaving just creates more work for the employer – they have to put out an ad, screen applicants, schedule interviews, conduct interviews, extend offers, wait for the new employee to give their two weeks before starting with you, go through training to gauge where they’re at – months before they’re fully acclimated and operating autonomously. Meanwhile your former employee just skips off into the sunset on towards their dreams and goals. How irritating.
We had an employee that just left us. She almost left us a year ago, but after providing her support and flexibility, she was able to stay on with us in a part time capacity while pursuing education for other career interests. I could see the writing on the wall – this relationship wasn’t going to last. Some employers might cut their losses and let her go, but that was absolutely not an option for me. She was an incredible asset to our team. Clients, team members, leadership all loved her.
Employers let their ego get in the way of their hiring decisions. We take far too long to admit when someone isn’t a good fit because that would indicate that we made a bad judgment call in hiring them. We take it personally when someone no longer wants to work with us because can’t they see we’re doing the best we can? Do they think they’ll get the same opportunity for the same pay elsewhere? Forget about it.
Just because you’re an employer does not make you a leader. Leaders are able to acknowledge their ego and set it to the side when making decisions. Leaders care about the individual, as a whole person, not as a cog in the company machine. And if you care about the individual, and what’s in their best interest, instead of being disappointed when that individual moves on, a leader is supportive and excited for what’s next for that individual. Easier said than done.
But it was easy, at least with my employee. You couldn’t help but be happy and hopeful for her. It was also easy to see, with her, that whatever was best for her was also what was best for the company. I’m grateful for the four and a half years we got to work together, and I’m very happy she’s following a career path she’s passionate about. It’s a rare feeling and it’s worth celebrating.
