When a member of your team decides to resign, it is generally most appropriate for them to speak with you first and to follow up the meeting by formally confirming their intention to resign in an email or letter. As line manager, you may wish to notify your Head of Department if your determine this to be appropriate.
An employee's period of notice is written in their contract of employment.
Find out more information on notice periods in our guidance for employees.
Manager responsibilities
If a member of your team is leaving you need to:
- ask for confirmation in writing of your employee's intention to resign or retire (using the Employee Leaver Form on its own, or with a letter or email)
- check that sufficient notice is being given in line with the contractual notice periods.
- agree your employee's last working day at the University
- check and agree their annual leave entitlement: you may find it useful to use the holiday calculator to help with this
- let your HR Administrator (Operations) know as soon as possible, confirming the employee's last day, whether any holiday will be payable and forwarding their leaver form
- arrange for your employee to return all University property, including security passes, keys and phones. You may also need to remove their name from any authorised signatory list and replace them with a new authoriser on systems, such as Agresso and iTrent
Use our managers' checklist to help you keep track of your responsibilities.
Once you have informed HR, they will write a formal acknowledgement to the employee, confirming their last working day and provide a link to the exit interview questionnaire. They will also notify payroll, so they can make any adjustments to the final payslip and issue their P45.
Succession planning
During an employee's notice period, it's advisable to prepare for their departure. Make sure any job-related documentation is up to date and any outstanding activities have an appropriate handover.
Do you need to recruit a new member of your team?