The worst behaviours of colleagues before their last day

It is never a good idea to burn bridges with a former employer. Yet some employees just can't help but slack off at work as soon as they've given notice to the boss.

These silly colleagues believe they have nothing to do besides waiting for the last day in the office to come. A blog post on Heawork reveals some of the worst things employees who are on their way out have done during their final days in the office.

Not showing up to workGetting your school mate to sign in for you is a common tactic used by students to escape from class. The same tactic is applied by employees who are leaving the company soon and feel they have nothing to fear.

A contributor to the blog post said a manager gave his staff card to a subordinate and got him to sign in and out at work for him, after he handed in his resignation. If someone asked where the manager was, the team member would answer he was out for a meeting.

Spending the day doing nothingColleagues often joke about employees who have handed in their resignation, saying they are no longer under pressure because they have nothing to do. Unfortunately, some employees actually believe this is true and there are managers who simply dump all the work on the team during their final days.

Dumping work on others is not limited to managers. A worker shared a colleague refused to respond to a customer's inquiry on the phone and got him to answer instead, because he thought he was no longer involved.

Stealing from the companyThere are immoral employees who steal client contacts, project proposal templates, and other "useful" documents they think will come in handy in their new job.

It is the responsibility of the human resources department to develop policies and procedures for off-boarding to minimise the risk of data leakage. Ideally, when an employee resigns, the employer can decide to remove or limit access to confidential information.  

Since many companies have policies to prevent data leaks, some cheapskates turn their attention to stationery, toilet paper, and other miscellaneous items instead.

Bad-mouthing the companyAn employee who has decided to hand in their resignation may not always see eye to eye with the company anymore. Some of them may start complaining to colleagues about the bad experience they've had with the company, which can be a disaster for staff morale.

HR practitioners, don't be upset if you have to deal with these disloyal employees. The job market is smaller than you think and these employees are going to crash and burn thinking they can burn bridges with a former employer.

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