Sumita Raghuram, an associated professor of human resource management at Penn State, believes you should be mindful of employees who have left your organization.
“These ex-employees, who we call organizational alumni, can be very important for you,” Raghuram said. “They are the ones who can be your ambassadors.”
In other words, if you’re nice to the ex-employees, those same employees carry that goodwill into their new jobs. And when ex-employees have a positive feeling about their former employers, they may become future customers and send new business to the ex-employers.
“They can also come back to work for you as boomerang employees,” Raghuram said. “They are a very powerful force and we cannot ignore that.”
Raghuram suggests one way to increase goodwill is to make an effort to keep the employees when they announce they’re departing.
“When an employee quits, they are sensitive to how they were treated when they left the organization,” Raghuram said. “For example, did anyone care to tell them that they will be missed or try to stop them from leaving by offering genuine inducements? What we find, once again, is that a strong retention effort can reinforce the effect between relationships with bosses and alumni goodwill.”
It’s said this industry is built on relationships and Raghuram’s research helps reinforce this belief. How do you stay in goodwill with your ex-employees? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
(Story source: Penn State/Matt Swayne)
(Photo credit: Camdiluv ♥ via photopin cc)
