Always remember who holds the leverage

One of my family members has given her current employer a very long notice of her intention to leave her job. Her goal was to help successfully transition her role to someone else. Not only has her employer not done anything to facilitate this transfer, she was also treated really poorly by her boss this week over something that isn't even her job. Now, we should always treat people well. However, her boss has totally missed something beyond that- my relative holds all the leverage in this situation. She is the one who's leaving of her own volition. She no longer needs the employer. She can leave any time, and I wouldn't blame her if she decides to go now rather than on her original departure date. She has no reason at all to put up with this.

This reminded me of a similar situation when I left a previous job. At some point during my two week notice period, a member of management said something crazy to me. I literally laughed in the person's face. I don't think that was the reaction the person expected. Why? This person failed to recognize that the typical employee/employer balance of power had undergone a seismic shift. I had all the power. The company had none. This interaction was at least partly behind my decision that I would only answer specific questions about my role before I departed. I'd been at that job over 10 years, and as frequently happens, I was the only one who did it, and all the information about it was in my head. I could have provided a lot of insight before I left, but after the way I was treated, there was no way I was volunteering anything.

When you are trying to get someone to do something, you should always remember who holds the leverage. You then need to frame your approach accordingly. If you hold the leverage, you should be polite, but you can be a bit more demanding. If don't hold the leverage, you need to try to sell the person on the idea. If you try demanding in this instance, not getting what you want may be the least of your problems. You may be get a harsh reminder of who holds the power in the situation along with some very unpleasant repercussions.