During my recent tenure it was clear that keeping organizations afloat requires strategy, strongly committed people, continuously updated systems and processes and ongoing self-review. Early on we had problems hiring people. A job would be posted, scores of resumes would be filtered by the HR department, the forwarded documents would sit in your in basket for a while and they you'd look for good applicants. After scheduling challenges you'd seldom get to see the best and after calls for second interview and debates over nominal salary and benefit considerations you'd often lose candidates to faster, more nimble organizations. In the last decade you also started to see the strange situation where new hires simply would not show up.Strategic planning, ongoing management, market changes and the challenges of delivering your actual end products was fraught with challenges to success and survival. As a manager you needed to keep the bilge pumps working, even on calm days.
My departure was generally OK but there was some lose caulking. One formal communication included dates for conversion and/or continuation of life and long term disability insurance. Frankly speaking, it was not clearly worded. Now I'm not planning on dying or becoming disabled, but who is. If that was important during my employment it should be important outside of that employment, even on my nickel.
As an employee or better yet as serially employed individual you have obligations to ensure that all is well on your watch and during transitions. I missed a sign. I was expecting clear communication. I was expecting communication that was explicitly clear, perhaps complex but as weather-tight as a good contract. That was not there. While communication that is not explicitly tight is open to interpretation you also have to know all the players, and when there are third party players you do not know (the insurance companies) you can ensure that someone knows how to write, explicitly.
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