Why does my company need a separation culture?

We see time and again that companies invest a lot in recruitment and development, but often neglect the separation process. A well thought-out, defined and practiced separation culture is essential for every company and should be part of the corporate culture.

The "hard factors" are not everything: industry, company size and sales figures do not tell you everything about what holds your company together at its core. It is the "soft factors" that shape a corporate culture - the values, norms and attitudes that influence the decisions, actions and behaviour of people in organizations.

A suitable and people-centered corporate culture lays the foundation for companies to achieve their goals in the long term and helps to ensure that

- a good working and collaborative atmosphere is created,

- motivation of employees can be increased and staff turnover reduced,

- the attractiveness of an employer can be improved and last but not least

- suitable talent can be attracted and retained in the company in the long term.

Personnel change processes are an everyday part of a constantly changing working world. Companies that want to be successful today must skillfully master this challenging task in the competition for the best talent. This includes not only filling new positions and the ongoing development of talent, but also the Separation of employees.

We repeatedly observe that companies invest a lot in recruitment and often position themselves as part of their employer branding campaigns with their good corporate culture and respectful interaction with one another. However, if you ask those directly affected by separations, the "ideal images" start to show unsightly cracks, because Separation processes are often neglected.

According to a Kienbaum study (2021), only 33% of companies have a separation strategy - of which only 26% have clearly defined processes, tools or corresponding templates. In most companies, the topic of "termination and separation" is still treated as taboo and not openly discussed.

A lack of separation culture hurts those who leave, unsettles those who stay and lowers their morale. It encourages voluntary departures of motivated employees, leads to a loss of trust in management, lowers productivity and leads to long-lasting innovation bottlenecks in the company.

Apart from the individual, social and cultural impact, these "negative side effects" also lead directly to costs. In many places, people are not yet aware that a lack of or inadequate separation culture causes costs, namely: costs for unwanted fluctuation, costs associated with (increased) absenteeism, costs due to the deterioration of the working atmosphere and the drop in productivity, costs due to a loss of image or those for social plans, severance payments or even legal costs.

There are therefore many reasons why "separation culture" should become an integral part of the employee lifecycle and a corresponding corporate culture. A good separation culture can be ensured by creating the same conditions as a good corporate culture: open and early communication, transparency and honesty, fairness, respect, appreciation and sensitivity.

A well thought-out, defined and practiced separation culture is essential for every company and should be part of the corporate culture.

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