MANAGING TRANSITIONS: HOW TO EFFECTIVELY MANAGE AN EMPLOYEE HANDOVER TAKEOVER PROCESS

In any given organization, there comes a point whereby an employee might leave a give position due to various reasons such as promotion, dismissal, taking leave or time off transfer, death or resignation. When this happens, there should someone who takes over from the vacuum that would have been left by the individual who would have left. When this happens there is someone who should handover his nor her responsibilities to another person. This is what we call handover takeover process. It is the process whereby an individual who leaves certain duties or responsibilities has to let go such (duties and responsibilities) to another person so that the latter takes over from where the former has left.

If such a transition is not smooth, there can be problems in terms of continuity which may affect your profitability and performance. It is thus imperative to properly manage such a process. Various scenarios lead to a formal handover takeover process.

Leave

As per the provisions of the Labour Act part IV, an employee is entitled to be granted leave as a result of a variety of reasons. Examples of such leave include maternity leave, special leave and vacation leave. In some countries such as Sweden, employees can also take paternity leave so that they can have time with their pregnant spouses and newly-born children.

When an employee takes leave, there is a need to have a formal handover process to allow someone else to carry over the former’s duties and responsibilities. This process should be smooth and done professionally to manage business continuity in a proper manger.

Promotion

When an employee is promoted from one position to another, there is a need to have a proper handover takeover. The employee who leaves a position should be able to properly hand over his or her previous duties and responsibilities to the new employee.

Transfer

When an employee is transferred from one position to another, there is a need to have a proper handover takeover. The employee who leaves a position should be able to properly hand over his or her previous duties and responsibilities to the new employee.

Termination of an employment relationship

When an employee leaves the company because of the termination of the employment relationship, there is a need to have a proper handover takeover. Reasons for termination as per the provisions of the Labour Act Chapter 28.01 include but not limited to death, resignation, dismissal, abscondment and retrenchment. from one position to another, there is need to have a proper handover takeover. The employee who leaves a position should be able to properly hand over his or her previous duties and responsibilities to the new employee

Why the handover and takeover process is often not smooth

In some circumstances, a formal handover takeover might not happen smoothly because of abrupt actions. For example, an employee resigns with immediate effect without giving proper notice. As per the Labour Act under section 12 (4) of the labour act, when an employee leaves an organization as a result of resignation, they should serve notice. In some instances, some employees do not serve notice. 

For a contract without limit of time (permanent contract) or a period of two or more years, the notice period is three months. For a contract of one year but less than two years, the notice period is two months. For a contract of between six months to a year, an employee should serve a month notice. An employee who is on a three-month contract which is less than six months should serve two weeks notice. The notice period for a contract of fewer than three months is three months.

Some employees often leave employment abruptly without serving notice for various reasons. In most circumstances, the termination of the employment relationship is often tainted with tension and fights. When this happens, the handover process does not normally become smooth. Despite that, HR and management have a responsibility to monitor the handover process to ensure that it is properly done.

Why a formal handover and takeover process is important

1.   Continuity management

Continuity of operations is very critical for any given company. A company may lose its heroes and heroines but life must continue for those who are left behind. The company will still have customers needs to serve. The company will still need to survive, make profits and realise its key milestones. Therefore there is a need to ensure that when one leaves any given business, there should be a formal and proper handover process for effective continuity of operations.

2.   Productivity and performance maintenance

Employee productivity and performance levels are important to maintaining. When a new employee takes over a role. They might need time to learn and adjust to the new role. This may affect the business in terms of being able to reach its set goals and objectives. For example, if a sales professional leaves the company, a new staff member may be forced to open up new sales leads or rebuild customer relationships. This may negatively affect sales revenues and volumes.

3.   Staff engagement

Employees often feel depressed, stressed and fail to perform as per expectation if they are thrown at the deep end without enough support. Thus through a formal staff handover process, an employee is properly onboarded to new responsibilities and shown how do work the right way.

4.   Customer retention and satisfaction

As mentioned above, employees might have critical information related to customers and they often develop some attachment with certain individuals within the company. For example, some loyal Star FM in Zimbabwe audience were loyal to the radio station because of Pathisani and KVG. When Pathisani is said to have resigned from Star FM, there was a huge outcry from the audience on social media. If such a transition is not well managed, then the radio station may have a drop in some of its audience who were loyal to Pathisani. 

5.   Loss of critical information

Employees carry out critical company information, processes and patents. If there is no smooth handover takeover process, such information may be lost. Some of the information that employees have is related to internal processes and patents. This can be lost forever when an employee leaves the business and no meaningful steps are not taken to do a proper handover, takeover process.

How to properly manage a handover, take over the process

1.   Documentation of critical processes, responsibilities and projects

To guard against this, a company may employ several strategies. The first one is documenting all critical process, responsibilities and activities that an employee does. This may be in the form of standard operating procedures or training manuals that are developed over time or through file storage. In some companies, all employee information is stored in a work computer or server. If a key member of the organization leaves, his or her information is always stored in a company’s repository. It is common in companies that use computers or professional software such as Sage, Quick Books, Avaya, Zoho People and PeoplePlus. Such information is always stored in these places and is easily accessible. It is also good to print important documents such as business case documents and proposal which can be filed in a safe place.

The other option is to request the employee to serve notice amicably. This will give you time to plan for the employee exit and do a properly planned handover takeover process. If the employee refuses to serve such a notice, you can amicably request them if they are comfortable with training the individual who will take over even if they are away from the company.

2.   Prior collection of data before the death of an employee

In some circumstances, death is an unplanned event which may come abruptly. If it becomes quite clear that an employee might not survive, some illness that they are suffering from, you may request them to handover their roles and responsibilities without disturbing them in their sickbed. Sometimes you may simply ask simple questions that do not stress them or affect them from recovering.

At some point, we visited a colleague who was sick and we did it quite well. We said this to him, “Mukoma, we want you to come back to work. We miss you there.”

“Chokwadi here munin’ina?”

“Yes, Mukoma. We are keeping your parking space for you.”

“Aaaa waita zvakanaka. I cannot wait to get out of this hospital. I no longer want these drips but the doctors are saying I should have them.”

“They are important Mukoma. We want you to come and play at the company games.”

“Aaaa ndikuuya and I will give you a nutmeg. I will hit the ball so hard that the goalie will run away from the posts.”

“True my brother. Where did you put those keys for the balls?”

“They are in my drawer there. Just go and get them there. You can get them from Maria.”

When handling with patients, you must not disturb them or stress them in their hospital bed. You must show compassion and concern for them so that they recover well on time.

Exercise emotional intelligence

It is also important to exercise emotional intelligence even if the employee is leaving the company with sour grapes. In some circumstances, if an employee is dismissed, the process is normally emotional and there is no proper handover takeover. Always manage your emotions and the emotions of others during the process.

3.   Monitor and control the process

You should always monitor the process. Be able to guide proceedings so that it happens as per plan and procedure. This will help to create consistency and effectiveness of any formal handover takeover process.

4.   Have documents signed and filed in a safe place.

There should be proper documentation of the process and they should be filed in a safe place and format. It is encouraged to maintain both hard copy and electronic formats of documents.

5.   The process should be informative

A handover and takeover process should be informative. Have proper information in place and always ensure that the right questions are asked and the right answers are provided.

6.   Do not over interfere with the process

Intrusion might affect the process. It is important to maintain a helicopter view of the process whilst at the same time you have full control of the process. Only come in as an umpire or advisor when it is necessary.

7.   Have a clear handover take over plan

It is also critical to have a proper and clear plan. People often lose direction because there is no clear roadmap of how things need to be done.

Designing the process

The process differs from company to company or situation to situation. This article will only give you a guide. The one that I have designed will start with the HR Professional who designs the handover takeover process. He or she lays out the basic ground rules and what should happen in the process. The HR professional will also discuss with the line manager about the process and what needs to happen. The HR professional normally plays the role of the advisor and might not have full information of what necessarily needs to be handed over about key information in any technical field. This information is normally known by the line manager.

The HR professional then discusses the handover process with the Line manager. The Line manager gets advice on how to successfully carry out the process from the line manager. The line manager then advises the predecessor and incoming incumbent of what needs to happen. He also creates a guide on what should be covered. This should normally be done in a written format such as a form or a work email.

The predecessor should then create a handover plan with key activities to be covered. This should be done in consultation with the Line manager and the HR professional. After the handover plan has been agreed, the two parties begin to conduct the process. This should be done in a way that will enable all issues to be covered.

In this whole process, the role of HR becomes that of a process designer and monitor. HR must design the overall process and set the tone of how things should happen. HR must also monitor the process to ensure that it happens smoothly.

The line manager should offer a guide on the functional expertise so that the handover covers important functional issues. This will help the handover to happen in a comprehensive manner.

 Fig 1: Sample handover process

As discussed before, not all handover take over processes are smooth. Some are sometimes forced and often has a lot of emotions involved. In the process, leadership must guide the process.

Conclusion

A formal handover process is critical for the success of any given company and team members. In most circumstances, if not properly managed, critical information on production and customer contacts is often lost in the process. In my years of working life, a formal handover take over process remains one area that is neglected and yet it is critical for profitability and performance.