Appraisal during notice period?
So you have a teammate who has decided to quit your organisation and join somewhere else.
She has been a good colleague and added value to the team & the organisation throughout her tenure.
The reason to quit is NOT salary. It’s just that she has found another opportunity, which she feels is more aligned with her aspirations.
Now, it just so happens that she has quit at the same time that her appraisals are due. You realize that her appraisal due date happens to fall DURING her notice period.
Would you give her the appraisal?
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The answer to this question in many companies is “No”.
Generally, employees do not get a salary appraisal while they are serving their notice period.
Unless of course, the employee has quit because of unhappiness with the salary… in which case, companies try and increase their salary in order to make them stay (…something I STRONGLY disagree with…). But that’s not what I’m talking about.
I’m talking about giving someone their deserved salary appraisal… even if they are on their way out (serving notice).
Many companies avoid this because of factors like:
Accounting hassle — Let’s say the teammate is serving her 3 months notice period… and 1 month into the NP, her appraisal kicks in.
So, there would be two separate salary calculations during her notice; one for the 1st month and another for 2nd & 3rd months. Two separate types of payslips as well. This will be even more complicated if arrears are involved.
Companies might feel that it’s too much of hassle to take on for someone who is leaving.
Spite — Even if the teammate leaves on good terms, the company might not give her her due appraisal because they are sad / angry at her leaving.
Thinking of ‘ROI’ — “Why should I increase her salary now? She is leaving in a few days. What am I getting in return?”
Following a trend — “Because other companies generally don’t give appraisals during notice, we too will not give appraisals. It’s just industry practice”.
Economics — “The person is leaving anyway and it’s not because of salary. So why should we spend more money on her salaries? Instead, we can invest more in recruiting her replacement”.
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At Technogise, we had a good discussion on this topic recently.
And we decided that it doesn’t matter if our teammate is serving her notice period. She WILL get her due appraisal with effect from her appraisal date.
It doesn’t even matter if the appraisal date is just 10 days before her date of release. She will get her appraised salary for those 10 days.
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Why?
Because salary appraisal is an appreciation of her performance and her contribution towards the growth of Technogise. Should we deny her this appreciation only because she has decided to move on?
That would be unfair to her. And quite frankly, a petty thing to do.
After all, her appraisal is based on her performance in the past. Not her actions in the future.
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Look… in an ideal world, we wouldn’t want our teammates to leave us. But if they do, we would want them to leave us on the BEST possible terms.
A colleague who parts ways on great terms, with fond memories, is more likely to recommend us to her network. In a way, she is our ambassador in her future organisations & networks. That’s great ROI.
Who knows… we might get future Technogisers, even future clients because of her recommendation.
And who knows… she might even join us back.
Any accounting hassle is worth that… :-)
