Employee offboarding allows departing employees and their managers to take steps to ensure a smooth transition. Having an offboarding program can also keep an employee’s exit friendly and non-confrontational, helping to set the tone for how an organization values its employees, even as they prepare to leave the company.
What is employee offboarding?
Employee offboarding encompasses the steps necessary to ensure a smooth transition when an employee leaves an organization. This can include a variety of actions, such as conducting exit interviews, reclaiming company assets and revoking data access. A well-designed offboarding process can help companies to mitigate risks and protect both their interests and their culture.
Why is the offboarding experience important?
An organization’s reputation and employee retention rates can be significantly influenced by a positive offboarding experience. According to Aberdeen Research, companies with an employee offboarding policy retain 71 percent of their employees, compared to only 57 percent of those without such a process. It may also enhance employee engagement, with companies with structured offboarding seeing an 11 percent improvement over their peers.
A positive offboarding experience not only impacts the departing team member but also influences the remaining employees’ perceptions of the company. It can show that their employer cares about their experiences and strives to maintain a healthy company culture.
Additionally, during exit interviews, departing employees can provide genuine feedback about their work experience. This feedback can be invaluable when it comes to improving retention strategies and enhancing the overall employee experience.
Steps for a Smooth Offboarding Process
Creating an employee offboarding checklist in advance can help manage unexpected resignations more efficiently. Here are some key steps to include in your checklist:
- Understand the reason for departure.
- Inform relevant parties.
- Complete administrative tasks.
- Reclaim assets and access.
- Conduct an exit interview.
- Facilitate knowledge transfer.
- Create a coverage plan.
- Stay connected.
Identify the Reason for Departure
Understanding why an employee is leaving allows for a more tailored offboarding experience and may provide insights into any underlying issues that need to be addressed to improve retention. Issuing formal notice is a key step in this process, where the reason for the employee’s departure and final details about pay or benefits are documented. During this process, it’s important to make sure that the departing employee feels heard and that their feedback is valued.
Communicate Promptly and Clearly
Preventing misunderstandings and maintaining trust among team members, clients and vendors requires effective communication about an employee’s departure. Notify stakeholders about the departure as soon as formal notice is given to keep communication clear and to ensure that the necessary teams are prepared for the transition. Additionally, allow the departing employee to share the news with their team members in a way that feels comfortable to them. This can help facilitate a smooth transition and maintain positive workplace relationships.
Complete Administrative Tasks
The timely completion of administrative tasks is critical to following relevant regulations and avoiding potential legal complications during offboarding. To stay on track, begin the documentation process early by:
- Providing the departing employee with all necessary exit paperwork
- Addressing any outstanding pay, benefits or company asset returns
- Coordinating with payroll or finance teams to ensure the final payment is processed accurately
By proactively managing these and other administrative tasks, organizations can facilitate a smoother offboarding experience.
Reclaim Company Assets and Access
Preventing security risks and data breaches during offboarding requires securing company assets and revoking employee access to systems and data. Reclaiming employer-issued property, such as phones and laptops, before an employee leaves can help prevent the loss or unauthorized use of these assets. A clearly defined offboarding process is crucial to minimizing the security threat posed by former employees retaining access to company systems and networks.
Conduct an Exit Interview
Exit interviews or surveys can offer valuable insights into potential issues, company performance and areas for improvement. By allowing departing employees to share feedback in a structured setting, exit interviews can allow the HR team to proactively address issues and refine employee engagement strategies. These interviews also give employers the opportunity to demonstrate empathy and to show that they value feedback.
How to Conduct an Exit Interview
Facilitate Knowledge Transfer
To help ensure continuity and minimize disruption for current and future employees, it’s critical to capture institutional knowledge during the offboarding process. HR and the affected team should work with the departing employee to ensure a successful knowledge transfer and to tie up any loose ends before they leave. This knowledge could include explicit knowledge, which is found in records and data files, and tacit knowledge, which is learned through experience.
Create a Coverage Plan
Maintaining productivity and preventing burnout among remaining team members involves the development of both short-term and long-term coverage plans. To ensure continuity, evaluate the departing employee’s tasks and designate who will handle essential tasks until a replacement is found. During this process, prioritizing the wellbeing of the remaining team members is essential to help prevent additional departures, a phenomenon known as turnover contagion.
Stay Connected with Former Employees
Maintaining relationships with former employees can open doors to new business opportunities, recruiting referrals and even “boomerang” hires – employees who return to the company after leaving and onboard more quickly. Ensuring that the departing employee has a positive offboarding process is key to reaping these potential benefits.
Improve Your Employee Offboarding Process
For organizations committed to fostering a positive company culture and minimizing risks, an effective offboarding process is essential. Higginbotham’s HR consultants can help advise on offboarding strategies and develop tailored plans, and our HR outsourcing services can step in as part of your team to help facilitate the offboarding process. Get in touch with a member of our team to learn how we can help support your commitment to a thriving, resilient workforce.
