What do you do when an employee gives you less than 2 weeks' notice before leaving their job.
What can you really do? It is certainly not respectful of the company's needs or will give you enough time to usually hire and start to train the replacement employee? But there are a few things you can do if you choose.
First of all, if you are not going to get 2 weeks' notice and the position is not mission critical, you can decide not to accept the notice and let the employee go right then and there.
Many companies have this as a policy since it is their belief that the employee is psychologically left the job anyway and will be of very little work value for their final days.
They will spend their final time chatting with co-workers, interrupting their work time, telling them about their new position, why they felt it was a good move for them, etc.
Is that a good use of everyone else's work time? Probably not - so that policy has some merits to it.
In a small company, however, sometimes the person leaving is in the middle of a project or is involved in mission critical work, and if you can keep them focused, you will at least get the benefit of some work before their departure.
In the meantime, they could possibly train someone in the office to do some of their work, because with the short notice you have received, it is unlikely you are going to be able to find their permanent replacement in a few days.
Another choice that is yours to make is how you handle their reference when they are gone.
Sometimes you are involved with a "serial employee" who doesn't stay around for the long haul in any job that they have or had.
If you have it stated in your Employee Handbook that you will not be able to offer a good reference for those who have not given a proper 2 weeks' notice, you could just tell the employee that if or when called for a reference in the future, you will verify dates of employment and that is it.
Of course, one question that is usually asked by a future employer is "Is this employee eligible for rehire.
" You can simply respond "no" and leave it at that.
Let the employee know that there are consequences for their actions and that while you wish them no ill-will, there are not eligible for rehire with the lack of notice given.
Finally, you just have to move on.
Yes, it may be inconvenient.
Yes, you will now have to begin the interview process again and try to fill the job with the best candidate, but you have a chance to really examine the applicants' resumes and insure that they are not "serial employees" but that this time you have the chance of bringing in a great candidate and after the inconvenience and trouble of it all, you will just be fine after all.