Authorship for Company Blog -- What if Employee Leaves?

[RealWisam]

This question has been sort of asked before but I haven't found any concrete answers. We've never really had a consistent author on our company blog. We had an internal employee writing, and then we outsourced for a bit, and now we're moving back to an internal writer.

With all the transientness of our authors, who should we be using for authorship? If the new writer leaves our company, they take all their AuthorRank with them. Would it make sense to post all content under one of the founders or maybe even a fictitious employee?

Edit: Orrrr do we get the new author to create a separate G+ Profile tied to their company email address that we can retain control over even if they leave?

[TheeDigital]

Wisam,

Sounds like you have bigger issues than just a writer. Your company should be about creating an experience that people are excited to see and to work at.

I personally would just hire a writer and let them use their account. If they do leave, just have them update their Google+ profile to past instead of current contributor. By allowing them to connect to your website as a contributor it will give them authority as well as you. To you because you hired them and for them because they will have established content in a particular niche or area. Also remember in the hiring process you don't want to scare them away and not give them credit for the work, especially if they are active in the community/niche of the product that they work for.

[Oren.]

Another thing to keep in mind is that if someone does leave, and continues to build their credibility (through the ever-elusive potential Author-Rank) your site could benefit from having had them as a contributor in the past, regardless of the fact that they are no longer with you.

I would be wary of misappropriating authorship, as that seems like a practice Google would go after as authorship becomes more developed.

[Alex-Harford]

Here are some good reasons to keep authorship intact: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/4-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-remove-an-ex-employees-relauthor-tag/59385/

[Travis_Bailey]

I would tend to side with Oren on this one. When all of this stuff was new, an agency decided that the authorship their people built was 'rented land'. First, for shame. Second, they're missing out on what that author does later.

Stripping authorship is a penny wise and pound foolish tactic.