‘Put your ego aside and give people the send-off they deserve’: How to part ways the right way

"Dear business leaders, give people the send off they deserve," Roberta Vella suggested in a plea to get companies to part ways with ex-employees without unnecessary drama and negative feelings.

Explaining the importance of this, both from her own personal experience, but also as a recruiter, Ms Vella stated that "having your ex-employees shout about you and promoting your company for you will do so much more than any job advert ever will."

Speaking to MaltaCEOs.mt, she confirmed that in her professional experience she has come across companies who "complain about the talent pool being scarce and end up blaming recruiters," adding that "employees nowadays have the leeway to actually choose the company they want to work with, especially if they are highly skilled workers," therefore, companies cannot afford to have ex-employees bad-mouthing them.

"Highly skilled candidates won’t want to work with companies that have terrible reviews," Ms Vella goes on to explain while stating that "hiring good people, goes way beyond a job advert or the hiring process itself."

"It has a lot to do with the employee life cycle. If you treat employees well, they will give you a good referral. This kind of information is a lot more credible than a fancy job advert or PR branding published by the company itself," she confirms.

Speaking from personal experience in her previous role, Ms Vella opens up about having to quit her previous job "to take care of [her] mental health." She explains how, at the time, she was "finishing off [her] Masters and was getting overwhelmed with work on top of that", even though she always found the utmost support from her colleagues and superiors.

When her final day arrived, her colleagues prepared the most beautiful surprise:

"The picture above shows messages of appreciation written from my colleagues across all levels of the business, from peers to C-Level executives. It is a small gesture that doesn’t take much time for someone to organise, however, it has left a lasting impression on me, knowing that my work and input throughout my time there did not go unnoticed," she explained.

"People don’t always know how impactful their work might have been or if it was even noticed. It doesn’t take much to let a person know, and realistically, it would benefit both parties," she added.

In fact, asked about whether she would recommend her previous company to her friends, Ms Vella stated that she definitely would.