Whether someone put in his or her two-week notice or needs to be fired, the exit of an employee is not an easy process. There are a number of steps that need to be taken when an employee leaves. Proper procedures can be the difference between a clean break or a messy breakup that could lead to a claim by the former employee. Here are 10 steps to take during the departure process.

1. Issue a Final Paycheck

Employees need to be paid when they’re on their way out, and it may not fall in your usual payroll cycle. State laws dictate when a departing employee needs to receive their final paycheck, but each state differs on how long you have to pay them and if you need to include unused vacation time.

2. Reimburse any Expenses

Make sure that any potential expenses – whether from travel or training – that were paid for by the departing employee are reimbursed promptly.

3. Collect Company Property

You’ll want to collect any company property from the departing employee before he or she leaves. This can include anything from company files, computers, keys, or even a car.

4. Cancel Credit Cards

You’ll want to collect company cards from departing employees, but you’ll also want to cancel the account as well

5. Deactivate Passwords

Once an employee is gone, you don’t want them going back into their accounts (especially if they were fired). Deactivate all of their passwords and accounts where applicable.

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6. Arrange for Continued Benefits

Depending on the situation, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) may require you to offer continued health coverage for a specified period of time after an employee leaves.

7. Reallocate Departing Employee’s Work

You’ll need to have a plan in place to split up the departing employee’s work load when they leave. If the employee is leaving on good terms, it would be helpful to have them give the employees picking up their duties – whether short term or long term – a rundown on their projects and tasks.

8. Deal with Confidentiality and Noncompete Issues

Depending on what the employee had access to or what they worked on, you’ll want to sit down with him or her and have a discussion about confidentially agreements and obligations. You’ll also want to review how their noncompete agreement works if they signed one.

9. Delete the Employee’s Name from Documents

Once an employee is gone, that change needs to be reflected everywhere. Check documents on anything available to people outside the company and remove the departing employee’s name. Also, make sure that they are removed from the website.

10. Assign a Contact Person and Inform Key People 

You may know that your employee is leaving, but not everyone else does. Make an announcement to the rest of your office so that everyone is on the same page. You’ll also want to redirect any emails that went to his company account so that they don’t get lost. 

Assign a contact person to receive these emails – and answer any questions from the departing employee – and let key clients or customers know about the change if they’ll be directly affected.

Navigating the Departure Process with GMS

Employee turnover isn’t easy. That’s why GMS can partner with you to strengthen your HR needs, including protection from potential claims and a streamlined departure process.

You keep full control of your employees, but we can help you make those decisions – and everything that follows – easier for you and your business. Contact us today to see how Group Management Services can guide you through the departure process.

Employee performance reviews can offer useful insight into how your employees are performing if done well. An open, honest review can help motivate employees and provide employers with opportunities to improve internal processes. Here are four tips to making your employee reviews more effective.

1. Multiple Reviews

The end-of-year review can be a stressful situation for both employees and employers. With the time crunch created by the holiday season, the late-year review can add extra pressure with people’s minds on work deadlines and potential bonuses.

That’s why a mid-year review (or even a 30/60/90-day review) can help take some of the stress out of the reviewing equation. That way you can dedicate more time to setting up your employees for success than trying to cram in a whole year’s worth of work into a single review.

2. Focus on Everything, Just Not the Period Right Before the Review

If you’re doing a yearly review (or as we suggested earlier, a midyear review), make sure that you’ve been paying attention to your employees throughout the review period. You aren’t just checking in on how an employee performs when he or she knows a review is coming up; you’re tracking overall performance.  Tracking and measuring (positive & possible negative) performance indicators, coupled with a mechanism to track these indicators is a key.

Your employees want to know that you care, so come to a review prepared. Vague references or generalizations come off as though you don’t really notice what they do on a daily basis. Specific examples of how an employee has done show that you actually pay attention to how they are performing.

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3. Focus on the Conversation

Inevitably, there is paperwork involved in the review process. Don’t make the conversation all about that. Use the review form as a guide to help the flow of the conversation. Your employee will feel less like they are being graded on a series of check boxes and actually for content/performance over the past year.  

4. Review Both the Employee and the Employer

Performance reviews aren’t just meetings to gauge how your employee is doing; they’re opportunities to set them up for success. Allow the employees to assess themselves and suggest ideas to improve performance in the future. 

Also, don’t be afraid to ask them what you can do as an employer to help them continue to build their skills. Asking them for feedback and inquiring about what their goals are can lead to your employees becoming motivated to succeed.

Improving the Review Process with GMS

It takes a lot of effort to handle reviews for all of your employees. GMS specializes in employee performance management and can help you perform effective employee reviews. Contact us today to see how partnering with a Professional Employer Organization can benefit you and your business.

Once you’ve hired a new employee, there’s a lot of work to get them up to speed with the rest of the company. The training process is an important part of the employee lifecycle. An effective program will allow your new hire to make an impact as quickly as possible.

Preparation and in-person teaching are key elements of training, so use the following tips to help your new employees learn the ins-and-outs of your office.

Prepare for Your New Employee’s First Day – “You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression”

Your new employee is going to need to know a few things before they even walk through the door on their first day, including:

• When and where to arrive

• Where to park

• Whom to report to

• What is the appropriate dress code (seems simple to most, but proper communication can ease some stress) 

You will also have some things to take care of internally, such as: 

• Letting the rest of the staff know about the new employee, and when he or she is starting

• Getting the new hire’s work station, office materials, and other equipment ready

• Preparing their computer and telephone, where applicable

• Create an employee handbook, if one isn’t already in existence

Some of these details may have been covered during the interview process, but it’s always good to provide a detailed list just to make sure that the new hire’s first day starts off on a good note.

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First-Day Fundamentals

Your new employee will be learning a lot on his or her first day, but it won’t necessarily be about job duties. The first day is an introduction of sorts – welcoming your newest staff member to the basics of your workplace. These include:

• A tour of the facilities, including their work space, lunchroom, and bathroom

• An introduction to everyone the new employee will work with and other key staff members

• A brief explanation of the employee handbook

• An explanation of work hours and breaks

• A rundown on pay days, vacation time, and sick leave

• The company policy on dress code and grooming

• Any other company policies that every employee should follow

Your new employees will also have to fill out all of the necessary paperwork to get them started. They’ll need to sign up for payroll and company benefits, while making sure that all of the required tax information is completed.

Job Training

Once all of the office basics have been taken care of, you still have to train your new employee about specific elements of their job. 

It’s important to create a training list that will cover everything your new employee needs to learn, from how to use specific tools or programs, to getting used to company systems or processes.

Patience is a Virtue

While it’s not always easy to do, it’s also important not to overload a new employee with too much information. In fact, it can take up to six months until a new employee reaches full productivity. There’s only so much a person can absorb in a short period of time, especially when you factor in the basics of the office. 

Don’t be afraid to spread out training sessions instead of cramming everything in a span of a few days. In-person training and actual work exercises will also be helpful so that the new hire can ask questions throughout training.

Streamlining Your Training Process with GMS

A lot of time and effort goes into training new employees. GMS can help you through the process. GMS can assist with all phases of an employee on-boarding program.  

Contact us today to see how partnering with a Professional Employer Organization can help you and your business with employee training and more.

Once you’ve recruited some potential candidates, you’ll want to meet them. An interview is usually the first chance you’ll get to meet a potential employee, giving you the opportunity to see just who might be the newest member of your team.

When it comes to the interview prospect, you’ll have to make a judgement call for your business. Here are some suggestions to help you optimize your interviews.

Research the Candidate

You’re hiring someone to help you meet a business need, so thoroughly reviewing their resume, calling up references, and looking for any other pertinent information can help you see if they can not only do the job, but also excel at it and solve your needs.

Don’t be afraid to check a prospect’s social media profiles. This isn’t just to look for red flags, although you may see a few. You can get a sense of who each interviewee is, giving you a glimpse into the candidate’s life behind the titles and bullet points on a resume. This can go a long way toward finding a candidate that fits your business needs and your company culture.

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Create a Conversation

An interview is also a chance for an interviewee to size up both you and your business. Instead of reading off a list of questions, engage interviewees in conversation. You’re not trying to hire someone who’s good at rehearsing the usual responses; you’re hiring a person to join your company’s family.

When a prospect asks a question, be open and honest. The more comfortable an interviewee is with you, the easier it will be to judge exactly who they are and whether they’ll be a good fit for your business.

Find the Perfect Candidate, Not the Best One

After you’re done with a round of interviews, be wary of hiring someone just for the sake of hiring someone. If none of the candidates are true fits for your business, keep searching. Look to hire the right person for the job, not just the most acceptable one out of the bunch.

Also, remember to always follow up with people who apply for the job, regardless of if they get hired. They may not have been the right fit for your company, but they may know somebody who could be.

Make the Call

After the interview process is over, you’ll be able to make an offer. Once you’ve hired your next employee, make sure to offer them top-notch HR services. 

If managing the employee lifecycle seems like a lot of work, you’re right. That’s why Group Management Services can assist you with the whole process. Contact us today to see how Group Management Services can benefit you and your employees.