Manager's guidance - Exit process for staff

In the cases of Resignations and Retirements the University will require a written resignation.

On receipt Managers should:

• Check the employee's notice requirements and agree an end date. As their manager you are able to agree to waive the full notice if beneficial to the service;
• Calculate the pro rata holiday entitlement (please see 'how to calculate pro-rate holiday) and agree how any under/over taken days will be accounted for (eg taken, paid/deducted from salary)
• Complete the ‌Leaver notification form with all details and submit this to the Employee Services HR Admin Team in advance of Payroll Deadlines. Please ensure you also forward a copy of the resignation letter to HR.
• Ask the employee to provide detail of any duties that will require an arranged handover, for example, representation of the college or directorate on committees/groups, risk management or audit actions or any other key responsibilities.
  
• Make sure your member of staff returns any equipment/property (keys, mobile phone, uniform etc) before leaving.
• Refer your member of staff to the Leaving Information for Staff webpage
• HR will write to confirm the leaving arrangements and will include a link to the University’s Exit Questionnaire, we would be grateful if managers would encourage their leavers to complete this.

If one of your team is transferring to another role within the University, Managers should:

• Check the employee's notice requirements and agree an end date. As their manager you are able to agree to waive the full notice period;
• Staff transferring are not required to send a resignation letter but if you do receive one forward a copy to Human Resources making it clear the employee is transferring to another role.
• Ask the employee to provide details of any duties that will require an arranged handover, for example, representation of the college or directorate on committees/groups, risk management or audit actions or any other key responsibilities.
• Make sure your member of staff returns any equipment/property (keys, mobile phone, uniform etc) before transferring.
• Complete an eSR1 request form when you wish to start recruiting to replace the employee.
• If you wish to replace temporarily, contact the Temporary Resource Unit.

The annual leave entitlement for staff leaving the employment of the University during the course of the year is proportionate to their completed service during the year. 

• Use our Annual Leave calculator to help you calculate their part-year entitlement their holiday balance on iTrent People Manager will calculate once their leave date has been processed.
• Staff leaving the University are expected to take all of their outstanding leave before their leave date, if this is not operationally possible by excpetion you may request HR for this to be paid.
• If the employee has taken more days of leave than they have accrued a deduction will be made from their final salary payment. 
• For staff not using Trent self service to book holiday it will be assumed they have taken their pro rata annual leave.

If your member of staff is term time, they will not have any holiday pay due but as they are paid “average pay” we will need to make a comparison between actual pay due to them (including holiday pay) and average pay paid to them to date to ensure that they leave with the correct total pay. You will therefore need to inform HR of the number of weeks worked in their anniversary year (i.e. the current year starting from the anniversary of their term time arrangement commencing).

If your member of staff is fixed term, normally they would be expected to take the holiday prior to their end of employment date.

If your member of staff is funded by external research grants he or she must take all accrued and untaken holiday prior to their end of employment date as it will not be possible to make payments in lieu of untaken holiday.

If your member of staff claimed relocation assistance and is resigning within the first three years of commencing their employment they will be required to repay a percentage of the money that they have received according to the following scale:

• Resignation within first year: 75%
• Resignation within second year: 50%
• Resignation within third year: 25%

Please ensure you instruct HR accordingly.

If your member of staff is leaving within 3 months of returning from maternity leave (or an equivalent period if they have reduced their hours) when she has been received University Maternity Pay, please instruct HR to reclaim University Maternity Pay/University Adoption Pay accordingly.

If your member of staff holds a Skilled Worker visa (previously Tier 2) or is here as a Sponsored Researcher on a Temporary Worker (Tier 5) visa, the Home Office must be notified using the sponsorship management system (SMS) within 10 working days. Let the HR Immigration Team know as soon as possible, including the name and address of the new employer (if applicable) and this will be entered on the SMS.

Exit questionnaires and interviews

1. Exit questionnaires are available to all staff. Resignations, retirements and end of fixed term contracts are all acknowledged in writing by Human Resources. A web address for the exit questionnaire is provided in the acknowledgement letter so that staff can access and download the questionnaire themselves. For those that do not have access to the intranet, a hard copy is provided. The acknowledgement letter also gives additional information such as a link to IT Services with information for staff who are leaving, and a prompt to staff to return their Unicard and any University property that they have.
   
   
2. The questionnaire is voluntary and, once completed by the individual, should be returned to the Policies Team in Human Resources. Should the individual require assistance with completing the form or wish to discuss it in more detail they will be encouraged to speak to their line manager or HR Advisor. The choice will be at the discretion of the individual.
   
   
3. Although voluntary, we would ask that you encourage staff leaving the University to complete at least Section One of the questionnaire so that we can record the reason for leaving and collect accurate data for the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
   
   
4. If you are aware that there are issues that would be useful to explore with the individual, you should contact your HR Advisor to highlight these concerns. If appropriate, the Human Resources Business Partner will then contact the individual direct, check that they have received the questionnaire and offer them the opportunity to have an exit interview which will comprise of discussing the exit questionnaire in more detail. Again this will not be compulsory but the HR Advisor will actively encourage the individual to attend an interview if management have recommended this. The exit interview will normally be run by a HR Advisor in this case.

Monitoring and reporting

1. All questionnaires will be held by Human Resources and will be regularly monitored. Policies and procedures will be reviewed as an outcome of any feedback that is received.
   
   
2. Information provided will be recorded onto a database and used only to produce regular monitoring information to help improve staff issues within the University. The individual’s identity will, however, be kept confidential.
   
   
3. Should a matter be raised that is deemed as serious and needs immediate action then this will be drawn to the attention of the Human Resources Business Partner/Advisor who will discuss this with the manager/senior staff of the relevant College/Service as appropriate. Information may also be shared with other appropriate offices, such as Equal Opportunities.

Please ensure that your member of staff has returned their IT equipment following the process on the IT pages. 

Please see the leaving the University pages regarding what staff need to do with mobile phones (IT equipment tab).