If you’re lucky, it starts with those three little words that you rarely want to hear – “two weeks’ notice.”
If you’re less lucky, the message might be, “Today is my last day,” or even worse “Isn’t Cindy working today? I haven’t seen her yet and she’s not answering my emails.” Changing cultural norms mean what used to be a standard two-weeks’ notice might now be two hours, or two minutes after they were supposed to show up for their shift.
Staff turnover happens, and it’s hard to be as prepared as you’d like. Employees are frequently the keepers of institutional knowledge for their area of the business. Cindy has been here for years, and you haven’t conducted many process reviews because Cindy “just knows what to do”, you trust her to do her job, and you’re too busy managing the broader department.
But now you’ve got anywhere from two weeks to RIGHT NOW to replace Cindy and keep your services running. Cindy is leaving (or is already gone), and all the knowledge is leaving with her.
So how do you keep turnover from capsizing your business? It starts with being proactive. Like keeping lifejackets in your boat, you may not need them, but it’s dangerous not to have them at the ready. In this post we’ll outline three steps you can take to keep your departmental ‘ship’ afloat.
1. Conduct Process Reviews Regularly
Be honest. Do you really know all the things that Cindy does for your company?
Frequently the job descriptions for support employees are broad and non-specific – “take care of mail”, “copy and print work”, “hospitality duties”, etc. You want to check for any standard operating procedures that Cindy has written up, as well as task lists (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) for regular duties. Review and make sure they match up – that each task on the list has a corresponding set of procedures. If not, identify what’s missing and make sure it gets documented. Also examine if there are any regular tasks that are missing from both lists and are only in Cindy’s head – those need to be defined and captured.
Are there accounts that Cindy has access to and general ownership of, like ordering specialist supplies, downloading postage for a mail meter, or pulling metrics and reporting? It’s never a good feeling to be a week late in providing a report to a stakeholder because Cindy was responsible for generating it when she was here. Make sure you have a detailed understanding of these resources and how to access them, including login credentials, passwords, and full web addresses (not just shortcuts or bookmarks in a browser).
Is there a shared departmental distribution list, email chain, or group email box that someone else can access if Cindy is gone? Are there communications that go to Cindy’s individual email that should go to a group box? Work with your teams to ensure that everyone understands the proper request and communication channels, so that all relevant team members can maintain access and historical information, without losing it to one person’s email box being shut off.
2. Cross Train Other Team Members
One of the best “life jackets” you can have to protect yourself in a turnover situation is to have a properly cross-trained staff, with redundancy. Identify a coworker (preferably more than one) who can be assigned to train with Cindy in her daily duties and shadow her as she goes about her day. They won’t necessarily be as fast or fluid as Cindy, but they should get a solid grounding in the day-to-day operations and be able to step in when you’re seeking a replacement.
As a manager or supervisor, it’s a good idea to schedule yourself in this rotation periodically, so that you also have a robust understanding of the duties and responsibilities of the role.
3. Pre-Hiring
If Cindy’s departure date is known and she’s been generous with her notice, you can try to fast-track hiring a permanent replacement or engage a staffing agency on a temp-to-hire basis and get someone hands-on training with Cindy before she leaves. There can be a great benefit to a direct transfer of knowledge from an outgoing team member to their replacement, if they are invested in the process and want to know they’ve left their role in good hands.
For most organizations, though, the hiring process can take multiple weeks, between posting the role, screening and interviewing applicants, making offers and going through the onboarding process, which doesn’t leave much time for a thorough handoff.
Additionally, you are introducing a extra layer of uncertainty. New hires can be fickle. Anyone can hold it together for an hour in an interview, but what happens in the first week or month? The market is competitive – if someone doesn’t like a role, they can walk across the street to another opportunity, at any point in the process (sometimes before their first day) leaving you in the same place, or worse depending on how much time it took.
Even if a new hire seems like they’re here to stay, they may not have much experience in your industry and certainly not within your own organization and would likely benefit from direct knowledge transfer.
How LMS Can Help You Right the Ship
For our clients at Loffler Management Solutions (LMS), these issues are minimized. Turnover still occurs, and it’s still an impact, but our processes help to provide stability and continuity during times of staff change.
We provide a team of Client Support Representatives who proactively cross-train with your regular on-site staff to cover for them for vacation time or sick days. If that employee leaves, the CSR can stand in the gap while we handle sourcing of a permanent replacement. The CSR Team Manager actively tracks how many CSRs are trained in each position and works to ensure that multiple CSRs are trained in each role.
Each client has an Account Manager assigned as a liaison to LMS, who works with the team and maintains a regular presence on site; they are familiar with the details of the operation and can step in for extra assistance as needed. At sites with multiple team members, the Account Manager will work with the team to ensure internal cross training, so that team members can pivot to additional functions when a transition occurs.
Within our network of Account Managers, we can draw from other client sites, in your industry or outside of it, to consult with other LMS team members who can provide insight and process knowledge. Our managers and team members have decades of experience and can provide best-practice processes in a variety of fields and roles.
With our CSR and Account Manager resources, we have options to expand our role immediately in response to turnover in adjacent service areas; for example, if we’re handling your mail room but your receptionist leaves, we can work to assist on a short- or long-term basis with receptionist coverage until the role is filled.
In this process, we can handle the sourcing, hiring and training of the new team member independently; the client can focus on their core responsibilities and let us deal with the details, being as involved as much or as little as they prefer. Throughout all of this, our team provides boots on the ground and continuity of service during the replacement process, without the need to draw resources from other areas of your business.
While turnover is sometimes unexpected, partnering with LMS can keep you from going overboard, and make the transition process smooth sailing.
Ready to experience seamless transitions and unwavering support during staffing changes? Contact Loffler Management Solutions today and let us anchor your operations with confidence
Read More: Evaluating Core Business Workflow and Improving Processes in Your Office Services
Bill Henson is the Director of Client Based Services for Loffler Management Solutions, where he has dedicated nearly 20 years to providing people-based support and expertise across various industries. He skillfully assists clients in optimizing general office services, allowing them to focus on their business's core mission. In his free time, Bill enjoys spending quality time with his wife, creating strange music and designing his next tattoo!
