An employee has resigned: replace or outsource?

Key takeaways

When an employee has resigned and you need cover, use the notice period to document their work, then decide whether to replace the role like for like, redesign it, or outsource the repeatable part. A resignation is one of the best moments to rethink a role, because the change is already happening. A managed seat can start in about 2 weeks.

• Use the notice period to document everything the person does.
• A resignation is the natural moment to redesign the role.
• A managed seat can start in about 2 weeks; hiring takes 4 to 12.
• Outsource the repeatable part; hire for judgement and presence.

What should you do first when an employee resigns?

Secure the knowledge. In the first week, list everything the person does, including the small recurring tasks nobody else sees, and ask them to write down or record how they do the important ones. Check which systems, passwords and customer relationships they hold. The notice period is your best chance to capture this.

• List all their recurring tasks, daily to yearly.
• Record how they do the critical ones.
• Move passwords and system access to shared business accounts.
• Introduce their key contacts to someone else.

• When should a UK business consider outsourcing?
• Document your processes before you outsource

Should you replace the role like for like?

Not automatically. Roles in small businesses drift over time, and the job being vacated may not be the job you need now. Look at the task list: which tasks need judgement or presence, which are repeatable, and which are no longer needed. The answer may be a smaller hire, an outsourced process, or both.

• When to outsource and when to hire

When does outsourcing make sense after a resignation?

When much of the role is repeatable, remote-friendly work such as phones, inbox, booking, data entry or invoicing; when recruiting for it has been hard before; or when you need cover before a replacement could start. Outsourcing can take over the repeatable part during the notice period, with the leaver helping to train the new team.

• Struggling to recruit staff? When outsourcing fits

How do you avoid a gap in service?

Plan cover to start before the leaver's last day. Recruiting typically takes 4 to 12 weeks, often longer than the notice period, so a gap is likely if you only advertise. A managed seat can usually start within about two weeks, and the overlap with the leaver is the best training you will get.

• When is the best time to start outsourcing?

How do the costs compare?

A like-for-like replacement at the National Living Wage costs about £28,309 a year with on-costs, plus recruitment. Managed offshore support costs an indicative £9–£18 per hour, so a 20-hour-a-week seat at £12 per hour is about £12,500 a year. If only part of the role needs replacing in-house, splitting it often costs less overall.

• BPO cost per hour in the UK
• The true cost of an employee in the UK

When should you hire a replacement?

Hire when the role is mainly judgement, relationships or on-site work, when it is central to your team's culture, or when you want to build a future leader. Even then, use the resignation to remove tasks nobody needs and consider outsourcing the repeatable admin that made the role hard to hold.

• High turnover in admin roles: what it tells you

What should the handover document include?

It should let a capable stranger run the role for a month without calling the leaver. Ask the leaver to write it in their final weeks, and review it with them. Recording short screen videos of tricky tasks is often faster than writing and just as useful.

• Every recurring task with its frequency and deadline.
• Step-by-step notes for the critical processes.
• Systems used and where access is held.
• Key contacts inside and outside the business.
• Open items and anything due in the next three months.

• Key person dependency: when one person holds it all

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see in UK professional services firms: a long-serving administrator resigns with a month's notice. The task list shows 60% of the role is phones, diary and document chasing. Those move to a managed team during the notice period, trained by the leaver, and the firm hires a part-time coordinator for the remaining in-office work.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Resignation checklist

Use this in the first week after a resignation.

• List every recurring task the person does.
• Record how they do the critical ones.
• Move passwords and access to shared accounts.
• Split tasks: judgement, repeatable, unnecessary.
• Decide: replace, redesign, outsource or combine.
• Start cover before the last day.

Next step

Send us the leaver's task list. We will tell you which parts could be outsourced and whether a replacement hire is still needed.