The Ins and Outs of Responding to a Resignation Letter

An employer’s job is not always easy and one of the harder tasks they’re presented with is responding to resignations. It can be disappointing to see an employee choose to leave and it’s worse still if the move is unexpected. Mentally accepting a resignation and their decision to leave is one thing, but responding to the resignation is a sensitive task. A response to a resignation letter has to be well-framed and polite, but you also need to be able to convey your disappointment at seeing the employee go. 

It’s unfair to pressurize an employee to stay but you can still have an honest conversation with the employee and change their mind about leaving if they’re still undecided. How you respond to a resignation letter is very important in determining how things play out next.

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How to Respond to a Resignation Letter?

Most work gets done online and these days, even resignations tend to begin over email. Sometimes employees reach out via email to initiate the conversation about their desire to resign, while at other times, employees send in their two-week notice directly. In both cases, there is still room for an employer to initiate a conversation to share their acceptance of the resignation in person and understand what prompted the decision. 

The employee is not obligated to justify the move as there may be many private reasons that prompted their decision to leave, however, opening up the door to an honest conversation could reveal some of the issues within the organization, most of which are likely to be resolvable. 

If this is an employee you would like to try and retain, you can also opt to form your response to the resignation letter primarily as an acknowledgment of their email. You can state that the acceptance will remain pending until a discussion can be scheduled immediately. As an employer, you cannot stop an employee from resigning and entering their notice period so however you want to proceed, you need to reply and communicate with them quickly. Here are some quick tips on how you formulate your reply to a resignation.

Read The Email Thoroughly Before You Begin To Formulate a Response

Employees take a lot of time to write their resignation letters to ensure they convey everything they have to. Don’t be overactive and jump to take action without considering what they have to say. Read through their reasoning and requirements before you can formulate a relevant response.

Use Formal Language and Tone—Do Not Be Hostile

Just like with any other workplace communication, email has to involve formal communication. The resignation acceptance letter involves all the same traditional elements as any other email communication so you should be able to structure the email easily enough.

Regardless of the employee’s reason for resigning, you need to accept their decision with grace and calm, without berating the employee for choosing to move on.

Rope In Other Relevant Team Members

When an employee resigns, there are a few different members of the team who might need to be included in the conversation, for example, someone from HR. When drafting the response to the resignation letter, check if other key members have been included in the chain, and if not, ensure they are also added to the email thread. Especially if you plan on continuing further negotiations, you might need someone from HR to participate in the conversation.

If you plan on accepting the resignation as is, your response could include the manager or other team members who will be involved in offboarding the individual and conducting the exit interviews. You can redirect the employee to these channels. 

Respond Quickly To the Email

It’s important to respond to these emails promptly as they’re a sensitive topic. Make a decision about your response quickly so you can get back to the employee immediately. Even if you want to have a conversation first, don’t ignore the email. Respond by saying that you have received their email and would appreciate a conversation the next day about the particulars of their resignation.

Express Regret About Seeing Them Go

Whether the employee has been with the team for years or just joined the company, they were briefly a part of your team. Express that you are sorry to see them go but understand their decision to move on to the next stage in their lives.

Show Appreciation and Offer Support

Thank the employee for their contribution and if you have specific achievements that you recollect, point them out and express trust that they will be successful wherever their career takes them next.

Offer to stay in touch and add in any support that you can offer for their transition period as they begin to hand over their role to someone else. Even if you aren’t planning on convincing them to say something, it’s good practice to schedule a meeting with the employee and end things on a positive note.

Be Clear And Do Not Confuse the Employee

The resignation letter response needs to be clear and concise, leaving no room for doubt on whether it has been accepted or not. It should chalk out the next steps for the employee to follow, and give them a clear understanding of when their last day with the organization will be and when they will receive their wages to wrap things up. This gives everyone a clear timeline of what comes next.

A Sample Resignation Letter Reply

With this understanding of how to respond to a resignation letter, you should be more comfortable with formulating your reply. If you want a template or a sample of a resignation letter response, this example should help.

Dear [Employee name],

I have received your resignation dated [date received] and accept your decision to resign. We are saddened to hear that you have decided to leave, however, we respect that this is the right choice for you and your career. 

You have spent a productive [few years/mention number of years] with us and have greatly contributed to the organization during your time here. It has been wonderful to see you grow and make this role your own and your work on [name of project] has set the standard for the rest of the team for years to come. You’re leaving some big shoes to fill for the next person who takes on your role.  After all the time you’ve spent together, your colleagues will be the ones most saddened by this news so you can let us know how you would prefer to share the news with the team.

As you make the transition and scale down your involvement, [name of manager] should be able to help you with everything you need. [Name of HR manager] will handle all the documentation processes so reach out to her as soon as you can to ensure we can get the pay and any other pending transitions sorted quickly.

According to our contract, your notice period will extend for a month so your last working day should be [date]. You can coordinate with the HR team to confirm any other details around that date.

You have the support of [name of the organization] behind you so if there is anything you need for the transition to your next role, let us know and we’ll see what we can do. Thank you once more for all your contributions and we wish you the best for the future.

Take care.

Regards,

[Name]

[Role]

This is just one example to showcase your acceptance of an employee’s resignation but you can perfect your approach to it on your own. As long as you are polite and understanding, formatting a resignation letter reply will be easy for you.

The post The Ins and Outs of Responding to a Resignation Letter appeared first on The HR Digest.

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