Last week, I spent a good chunk of time coordinating the onboarding of six new resources who started on 1/3/23 at my client. As the Client Director, I serve as a point of contact between my company, all people on the team, and my client. Little did I know that I would be offboarding one of the new resources so soon.
Consultant resourcing tends to be fluid. Some resources remain on the project long-term. For example, I will have been with my client for three years in April. Some resources are rolled off as projects are completed. This usually coincides with the end date of a contract but not always. For example, the contract for all of our consultants was extended through 2023, but the client is ending the assignments for two consultants this month. It's good news in the sense that the project went very well and is actually ending earlier than planned.
We generally prefer advanced notice for most terminations regardless of who initiates the termination. A minimum of two weeks is the industry standard for notice of termination/resignation; However, a different time frame may be explicitly defined in the statement of work (SOW) or the master services agreement (MSA). The contract with my client does not specify a notification window, so we rely on courtesy if they initiate termination. If my company or our resource initiates a termination, we make every effort to provide as much notice as possible to ensure stable business continuity.
This morning, I received an email from one of the new people who started on 1/3 stating that she is resigning effective immediately for "personal reasons." She no longer appeared online, so I called her immediately to get more information. She did not answer, so I left a message. This act kicked off what I have deemed the impending doom of a phone call. Now I have to be at the ready to take her phone call lest we end up in a vicious circle of phone tag. Time is of the essence because I have the unenviable task of informing the client that she has resigned before they reach out to me and ask where she is.
I never received a callback, so I will try again tomorrow. I have no choice but to notify the client and deal with the fallout. I have our recruiters looking for candidates so we can fill this role as quickly as possible. Still, realistically we are probably not going to have another person start until February.
Consultant resourcing tends to be fluid. Some resources remain on the project long-term. For example, I will have been with my client for three years in April. Some resources are rolled off as projects are completed. This usually coincides with the end date of a contract but not always. For example, the contract for all of our consultants was extended through 2023, but the client is ending the assignments for two consultants this month. It's good news in the sense that the project went very well and is actually ending earlier than planned.
We generally prefer advanced notice for most terminations regardless of who initiates the termination. A minimum of two weeks is the industry standard for notice of termination/resignation; However, a different time frame may be explicitly defined in the statement of work (SOW) or the master services agreement (MSA). The contract with my client does not specify a notification window, so we rely on courtesy if they initiate termination. If my company or our resource initiates a termination, we make every effort to provide as much notice as possible to ensure stable business continuity.
This morning, I received an email from one of the new people who started on 1/3 stating that she is resigning effective immediately for "personal reasons." She no longer appeared online, so I called her immediately to get more information. She did not answer, so I left a message. This act kicked off what I have deemed the impending doom of a phone call. Now I have to be at the ready to take her phone call lest we end up in a vicious circle of phone tag. Time is of the essence because I have the unenviable task of informing the client that she has resigned before they reach out to me and ask where she is.
I never received a callback, so I will try again tomorrow. I have no choice but to notify the client and deal with the fallout. I have our recruiters looking for candidates so we can fill this role as quickly as possible. Still, realistically we are probably not going to have another person start until February.
