Endings are more important than beginnings

Imagine it’s the first day of your new job.

You walk through the front door of the office, and you’re welcomed by warm, smiling faces. You’re escorted to a conference room for orientation, and that’s where you meet your new leaders. Before orientation begins, they spend time getting to know you, asking you questions about yourself and telling you about their own lives and journeys with the company. After orientation, you go to your new desk, where a welcome package awaits you, full of company swag. Over the next few weeks, you get lots of training and support to help you do your job, and your leaders and coworkers constantly check in on you to make sure you’re adjusting smoothly. You feel so lucky to be working for an organization that truly seems to care about you. 

Now, fast-forward three years. You’re still in the same job, but you’ve decided it’s time to move on. This isn’t a decision you made lightly—you spent months thinking about it and ultimately decided that you’re ready for a new challenge. You schedule a time to talk to your leader about your choice because a simple resignation email doesn’t seem like an appropriate way to end a three-year relationship. But to your surprise, the conversation lasts only a few moments. After everything you’ve given to this company, you expected your leader to spend more time with you. You had hoped they might acknowledge your contributions, but all they did was request that you email your resignation to HR. You do that, and then you do your job for the next two weeks, and that’s it. No one from leadership visits your desk before you go. No one checks in on you to make sure you have your next steps covered. No one thanks you for dedicating three years of hard work to the company. You walk out the door on your last day wondering if the organization ever really cared about you at all.

Sadly, this isn’t an imaginary scenario. It happens all the time. The support and acknowledgement people get when they’re hired completely disappears after they give their notice. Even worse, at some companies, making the decision to resign means being asked to pack up and leave before you’re truly ready. Some leaders get angry when people want to leave and ask them to rethink their choice. And sometimes, when people ask for recommendations or guidance for their next move, their requests are ignored. How do you think these reactions make people feel, especially after they’ve dedicated precious time and energy to helping the organization? It’s the opposite of the care and support we should exhibit as leaders. 

I believe endings are more important than beginnings. Endings happen after people have made their mark on the organization, whereas in the beginning, they’ve only shown their potential. Beginnings are important—don’t get me wrong—but endings should have even more significance.

In my company, we don’t throw parties or hand out goodbye gifts, but we definitely don’t ignore departures. Most people leave Student Maid because they’re graduating from school and starting careers, so we offer to help them with their resumes and cover letters and ask if they need introductions or references. We want to do everything we can to help them get the job opportunities they deserve. We sit down with them and talk about their experience, and we acknowledge the impact they had on the company. Even in the rare case when someone’s employment doesn’t end on the best of terms, we still meet with them and use it as a chance to acknowledge what both parties could have done better. Good or bad, conversations like these mean a lot to people.

As a result of handling departures this way, our people trust us when we say we care about them. Many submit resignations far in advance to give us enough time to prepare for their transitions because they know we’ll handle it with love and support. On their final day, just before they walk out the door, they stop at the “jeans wall,” which displays the pair of jeans that started it all. They sign their names on it to show that their mark on Student Maid will last forever. 

The beginning matters, but we can’t forget the end. It’s how you treat people before they walk out the door that shows whether you truly care. 

Hope this gets you thinking.

Big hugs,

Kristen

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