Contributed by Roger Patterson, an EO Vancouver member who is the president of visual marketing platform Later and co-founder of accelerator Launch Academy. Roger recently shared his thoughts on how to un-polarize your workplace by creating middle ground and how to combat digital distractions. In this post, he explains why being on good terms with former employees is more important than ever.

One important lesson learned from the Great Resignation is that how we manage our relationships with former employees is more important than ever.

A while back, I heard from a family member who works in the medical field that she’d spotted a patient wearing our company t-shirt at her clinic. The patient hadn’t worked at Later for some time—yet was content donning our corporate logo and spoke positively about our company. As flattering as our branded threads may be, I like to think there was more to his endorsement than just the tee.

How we manage relationships with “ex” employees is crucial. Even if you pride yourself on being a top-ranked workplace or having a great company culture, the likelihood that you will lose talent remains high: Up to 20 percent of employees say they’ll quit their jobs in 2022. 

So as important as it is to ensure your current team is surviving and thriving, fostering positive exits is also key. Yes, you may be losing a valued worker, but your relationship with a former employee doesn’t end on his or her exit date: It evolves. Here’s how to reframe the end as a new beginning.

Your relationship doesn’t end on an employee’s exit date

When an ex-employee steps into the world, they are armed with stories from their time with your company, which can impact your reputation. Ex-employees become the people who recommend great future employees to you—or turn them off of your brand altogether.