Leaving organisations to join others/ to start off on one's own or to follow other pursuits is a natural part of an organisation's lifecycle. Our hope is that every person leaving the organisation thinks back of their time with us with great affection.
Graceful goodbyes
We want to enable our people to leave the organisation gracefully, but not leave the relationships. To that end, we make all exits smooth. The process we typically follow are:
The exiting colleague has a chat with their lead, their function head and People Ops, informing them of their decision to leave.
We converse to see if there is anything we can do to make their work situation better/ if the decision to leave is made after thinking it through. Options here could include a sabbatical, shorter time-off, interventions if interpersonal relations have broken down, and more.
If the person decides that they are going to leave, we come to a mutually acceptable date - either the two months of their notice/ shorter notice period if that makes more sense to either party. We decide the details of notice pay on a case basis.
The leads are informed first, then the person is asked to inform others at a pace and style comfortable to them. They also send an email out to all.
Final settlement:
In their last week, the final settlement process begins. Once the person returns all office hardware, other office properties, they are sent a final settlement document to sign and send back via HelloSign. After receiving this, their final salary is released by Finance.
In pre-pandemic times, this was typically the last day/ last week of the person's time at Obvious. Now, thanks to people working from home/ having a temporary home elsewhere and some material stuck in their homes in Bangalore, while they are elsewhere, this becomes complex. The new plan is -
During their notice period, the person assesses
- If there is material belonging to office, that needs to be sent back. If yes, they plan to complete this by their last working day.
- If they are living in another city, they ship their laptop and other hardware the week after their last day. In the next 10 working days, the admin team will receive and assess that material has been received in good state (factoring in minor wear and tear), and advise finance to complete the settlement.
- If they live in Bangalore, they ship out or drop off the hardware and office furniture/ other setup to the office by coordinating with the admin team. Once done, the admin team will initiate final settlement with the finance team. This will conclude within 10 working days of receiving the advise.
- If anyone needs a service certificate or relieving letter as asked for by their next employers, they can talk to People Ops and get this digitally.
In case there is any damage to equipment, the value not covered by insurance will need to be paid by the employee. Once this is done, the final settlement process starts.