We all know someone who has lost their job recently, and regrettably some of the people who have lost their jobs are customer service professionals. I wonder how many managers have maintained good relationships with the staff they had to let go, so that they are more likely to come back and work for them when the global economy eventually picks up .
After the terrible events of 9/11, many airlines and other travel-related businesses had no option but to reduce the number of front line and back office staff that they employed. People simply stopped flying, almost overnight. The ‘switched-on’ companies, such as Virgin Atlantic, kept in touch with these former employees, and as soon as the airline business started to pick up again, many of them were offered their old jobs back.
How does your business treat people who are leaving, for whatever reason? I once worked for a company where as soon as someone handed their notice in, they were treated as a ‘non-person’, everyone ceased communicating with them and many of them didn’t work their full notice period. Needless to say, very few ex-employees ever returned to that company. How do you treat people who are about to become your ex-employees? Do you bother to find out why they are leaving, or what you could do to keep them?