Poll! After resigning do you help ex-staff?

amother

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 9:45 am

I resigned from my position, gave over 4 weeks notice and trained a replacement.

Now after I am officially done and off payroll and returned my equipment, I’m being asked by my replacement how to do things.

Like texts if I can quickly show her this, that, my boss asked her to ask me, etc.

Is the nice thing to do to help?

I’m asking because I’ve struggled in my adult life to define being nice versus being adequately compensated for my time and services.

Thanks!

amother

Dandelion

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 9:56 am

That sounds like too much to me.

Normal is like up to 5 quick text exchanges after leaving, for stuff like "Which folder did you keep this file in." Asking you to do additional training is not appropriate at this point.

Unless you had some very unusual and sensitive responsibilities, like the nuclear codes or face transplants.

amother

Pansy

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 10:00 am

for the first few weeks I responded in short messages. - but always like 8-10 hours later never took pressure to respond timely
After 2 months she reached out with a question that required me to focus a lot so I ignored.

gibberish

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 10:11 am

You should have a discussion with your former boss and request compensation

amother

Impatiens

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 10:24 am

I think training in the replacement is standard, but if you have four weeks notice and did that then a question here or there is fine but otherwise set some boundaries…

I have a job I left three years ago that still calls me to ask me for favors and it bothers me.

amother

Calendula

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 10:25 am

I’d tell them I’m happy to consult at an hourly rate. After training them in for 4 weeks I would not be answering questions regardless of how short they are. She’s getting paid you don’t owe anyone free work.

notshanarishona

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:09 am

Questions like where is the file on old customers I would answer no problem. Questions like can you show me how to make a flyer, no way

amother

Antiquewhite

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:16 am

You have every right to send a message to the boss and her saying that you're going to bill them for consulting. Every person has the right to charge for your work.

Chances are they'll stop consulting you afterwards. And you can send them a bill to show your serious. You might even get paid.

Don't ignore them. That's not professional and you want to always keep up your network.

amother

Bubblegum

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:22 am

Reply a day later. 1 minute text of where instructions to their query is kept. This keeps up boundaries and avoids people relying on you.

But don't burn bridges. If you left on good terms, don't change that now. You never know when you'll be networking with these people again.

amother

Puce ↓

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:25 am

The boss told her to ask you??? No.

Absolutely tell the boss you'll charge. I did this when I left a teaching job. I tracked my hours and sent an invoice every week for the first few weeks until they stopped asking.

amother

Linen

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:25 am

You are def not required to respond
Once off payroll you have no obligation

amother

Dill

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:34 am

I think it really depends on the job and the type of question. For the most part I agree with the above comments especially if it's a standard office job.
But for example I work as a nurse in a sleep away camp. The first summer there I had so many questions!
I called and texted the previous nurse multiple times a day the first week, but I was still texting her on week 6;or 7 as different things came up ..I hope she didn't mind! But I don't think it was unreasonable..

zaq

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:43 am

Not to my replacement, but I'm ok with occasionally giving tips or answering questions from h
one or two ex-colleagues who became good friends. That always goes along with a nice personal schmooze, and I consider the technical assistance an excuse for the phone call.

amother

↑ Puce

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 11:45 am

amother Dill wrote:

I think that's forgivable and understandable. Not what most of us are thinking about.

amother

Scarlet

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 12:11 pm

My husband was layed off from a company without warning in a not so nice way.

They forgot to transfer access (he was the only who had the access) to his replacement. They called him a few weeks later how to access the data. I thought it was a huge chutzpa, but he was able to get the access for them. Fast forward a few years, the guy who took over left the company. They called my husband again for access, but he said he had already passed on the access and removed himself. I thought that was a double huge chutzpa.

amother

Cyclamen

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 12:21 pm

amother Impatiens wrote:

Wow, just curios, how long were you at the company for? 20 years that you know the company inside out?
It doesn't excuse it, and years don't matter, pure curiosity if you were one of the founders lol

amother

Dimgray

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 12:26 pm

From the other perspective. I don't own a company but I am a manager. One of my employees gave notice that she was leaving and trained in her replacement except she didn't train her in certain important things - running very specific data. When we got to the point that we needed that data, the replacement said she had never been taught and we had to contact the original employee to ask her how to do it. I was very happy that she responded right away because it was very time sensitive and it had also been her responsibility to give it over but apparently she had forgotten to do that.

amother

Alyssum

Thu, Oct 31 2024, 12:46 pm

amother OP wrote:

Is the nice thing to do to help?

Nice? Yes.
Required? No.