As with embarking on a job searching journey, preparing for your job interview or starting a new job, resigning from your job has its own set of procedures as well. Whilst the journey may be hectic and emotional, one can reduce this impact by coming up with a checklist for employee resignation as a guide. In this article, I am going to share with you readers my checklist for resigning from a job.
READ: HOW TO AVOID GETTING RETRENCHED
Calculate your remaining days of Annual Leave/ Off in Lieu
Although this is Human Resources responsibility to do so, it never hurts to perform some calculations on your own to know what you are expecting. With this information, you are able to decide if you want to use these remaining annual leave to bring forward your last day with the current company. Personally, I used this method because I wanted to take a break before I embark on a new journey with the firm that I am joining. Another benefit of using your remaining leave to bring forward your last day is that you are able to start with your new firm earlier. Assuming your new job is a higher paid one, you will be able to start earning more money earlier.
Review any outstanding benefit claims and employee benefits
Any employment benefits that are entitled to you such as flexi benefits, health checkups and parental benefits during the tenure of your employment with the company are encouraged to be fully utilised before you leave.
As for the outstanding claims, do take note of the contact details and the details of the claim in case you are not able to receive the claim amount while you are still with the company. For my case, I had an outstanding dental claim that I had to take a screenshot of the details, as I will most likely lose access to the employee claims portal when I leave the place. Also, the employee benefits is outsourced to an external vendor to be processed and the local Human Resource may not be able to help should I require assistance with the claims.
READ: HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR JOB’S SALARY RANGE
Check with Human Resource on your last pay date
Do confirm with the Human Resource before you leave on the expected date to receive your last pay cheque and the contact details to follow up with. To be on the safe side, it never hurts to calculate the expected amount to receive, just in case.
Gather contacts for Reference Check
Recommended to give Human Resources contact for reference check. As per industry practise, the Human Resources will only confirm the start date, end date and your last held position. It is entirely up to your discretion if you prefer to put down your Hiring Manager’s contact. Depending on your reasons for leaving, your Hiring Manager may or may not be a good source of reference check for you. Hence, in order to minimise your chance of screwing up at the new job, it is preferred to provide the Human Resources contact.
Handover your work to your team-mates
Do take time to draft a checklist of the ongoing projects that you are part of, and update your colleagues of the current status before you go. To facilitate the handover, offer to train your colleagues so that they can perform your tasks when you leave. Take time to update the standard of procedures or any documents if they are outdated. Your colleagues will thank you and appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Inform your colleagues of your departure
This is entirely up to your discretion when to inform your colleagues about your impending departure. I personally wanted my colleagues to know as soon as my end date is confirmed because I need to arrange for handover and also I want things to be as transparent as possible. I would rather inform them personally than for them to hear about my news of departure from someone else.
Prepare your farewell message and the list of intended recipients
Save a draft copy of your farewell message in your outlook. Prepare a list of recipients to send your farewell message to. You can give a general one, or prepare individual farewell notes for your closer colleagues. For my case, I opted to write a general message for my stakeholders to inform them of my departure and also to let them know who to look for in my absence.
Clear any personal documents on your desktop computer
Sure, the IT will perform a reset on your profile before passing the computer on to the next person to use. However, it is always safer to err on the side of caution by deleting personal documents from your computer before leaving. The best is to do so as soon as you tendered as your boss may want you to leave soon, without giving you time to remove the personal documents from the desktop.
Transfer any personal files to your personal email
As soon as you have tendered, do remember to transfer any personal documents to your personal email. Do note that there is a difference between your personal documents and the work created while working with the company. Any work created while working at the company belongs to the company, taking it with you and passing it along as yours is considered stealing. If you want to use it as a reference for your portfolio, be sure to seek approval from the company before doing so. I am sure you do not want to risk it and be charged for stealing and letting it affect your future career opportunities.
Clear your personal belongings off your desk/ pedestal
Arrange for time to clear your desk and pedestal of your personal belongings. This is only fair to your replacement as I am sure you would prefer a clean desk when you join.
Prepare for your exit interview
Let the Human Resources personnel be aware of any feedback that you may have to benefit the future of the team. It is entirely up to your discretion how honest you want to be as some may be wary of repercussions. However, do not take it as a complaint session, you are still required to be professional and impartial when giving feedback as it will not reflect well on you as an individual.
Serve the notice period
During the period where you are serving your notice period, perform your tasks as per normal. No matter how much you dislike this job, do not intentionally sabotage the work here as it will not leave a good impression on you. If you are going to be moving around the industry, you may have a high chance meeting your ex-colleagues or someone who knows or has worked with them before. Certainly you do not want to spoil your reputation, or worse still, cost your new job just because you want to take revenge on your ex-boss/ colleague. Be a better person, rise above and your soon to be ex-colleagues will remember you for who you are.
Inform the new company on start date
Once your Human Resources team has confirmed with you on the end date, it is time to inform your new company when you are able to join so that they are able to prepare for your arrival.
I hope that by writing this article I am able to benefit you when you are preparing to resign. Know that you are not alone in this and there is online community to help you out on this. Are there any more pointers which you think should be added to this checklist? Feel free to leave a comment below!