A worker has submitted their resignation… What does this entail for your company, then? Employee offboarding should be handled with the same level of attention as new employee onboarding for a few reasons. Turnover is a natural part of the life cycle of any firm. A solid employee offboarding strategy is essential to effectively explain and manage the change, protect and enhance your employer brand, and foster goodwill with the departing employee.
Most businesses devote time and money to the hiring and onboarding process. However, when it comes to offboarding, the same companies take a backseat. Organizations run the danger of exposing themselves to unwarranted legal and security threats if they pay less attention and effort to the leaving process.
Even after they leave an organization, employees continue to be a valuable asset. Employees can either support or oppose your brand after leaving your company, act as boomerangs, or provide reliable references for potential employers.
What is Offboarding?
Employee offboarding is the methodical, consistent approach of managing an employee’s departure from a company without interfering with daily operations. Offboarding is the procedure used to manage an employee’s experience after they leave a job, whether by retirement, termination, or resignation.
The offboarding procedure is the responsibility of the HR staff, and it ought to be a smooth transition for both the company and the employees. The procedure makes sure that when an employee departs the organisation, there are no crucial duties left unfinished. All documentation is accurate, and all fees have been paid. Offboarding makes sure all gaps are closed, removing the chance of contacting a former worker months after they left the company to request the information needed in their field. Bohinaayam Talent is a capable HR company that specializes in various fields, offboarding being one too. Visit our website to get a full understanding of our various services.
Offboarding refers to all the decisions and actions that need to be made when an employee is leaving, such as
- transfer of obligations
- removing system credentials and access rights
- delivering the equipment
- interviewing exiting patrons to obtain comments
Lack of an effective exit management strategy implies many important duties will go uncompleted, information may be handled incorrectly, and onboarding a new employee may be difficult.
How to do it right?
STEP 1: Resignation letter/termination notice
You or a direct boss most certainly previously had a one-on-one conversation about an employee’s departure. Verbal resignation should, however, be supported in writing since it is best practice.
A letter of confirmation of resignation from the company should be written by the departing employee. Frequently, a letter of acceptance is used by an employer to acknowledge the release. This formality enables you to clarify important information about the contract termination and avoid any potential misunderstandings.
An employee includes information about their resignation and their last day of employment in their letter. They may, at their choice, also provide a brief justification for their resignation.
STEP 2: Notice of employee leaving
You should inform the team as soon as you have confirmation of an employee’s leaving. Delaying an announcement could undermine employee morale and give rise to rumors. Be understanding of the teams and as open-minded as you can.
Even if you’ve never heard of “turnover contagion,” you’re probably already aware of how one employee’s resignation can trigger a wave of other resignations. The bad news is that this phenomenon has the potential to significantly raise staff turnover.
STEP 3: Paperwork
The official phase of the process then starts. You have a limited amount of time before an employee departs to complete the necessary paperwork, talk with the finance department about the final payment procedure, and confirm that there are no discrepancies about the terms of termination or resignation. HR managers often finish the following duties at this stage:
- To make the resignation process legally binding, obtain a signed resignation letter.
- Take care of the employee benefits and other paperwork.
- Organize the required contracts, such as a nondisclosure agreement or severance agreement in the event of termination.
- Pay back any unpaid amounts.
- Make the last payment.
STEP 4: Takeover of a project
The project handoff of a leaving employee begins while you are preoccupied with paperwork. If possible, designate a teammate to follow the employee while relaying information about projects, deadlines, etc. Ideally, departing employees train a new hire during their final days of employment. This is rarely the case, though.
Before a new employee joins the organization, a corporation would frequently assign an interim manager to take over their former colleague’s primary tasks. The ability to convey instructions to a new recruit should be available to this person.
Assist the departing employee with a project takeover by giving them a list of upcoming steps, such as:
- announcing the impending leave to everyone who should know and introducing a temporary replacement
- listing current initiatives and emphasizing their deliverables.
- recording the workflows and processes that the individual participated in.
- distributing contact information to project participants and stakeholders.
- describing the uniqueness of the project and the objectives the employee was pursuing
- recording information on completed or closing projects. This tool will keep your business from constantly making expensive blunders.
- providing users with access to software, spreadsheets, and documents pertaining to active and finished work.
- arranging a meeting with the colleague who will be handling the projects and responding to their inquiries.
STEP 5: Limiting access
It’s time to safeguard your sensitive data and deactivate all digital access credentials after a complete handover. On this endeavor, you will work with the IT division. Your action plan most likely won’t stop blocking access to your business email. You’ll need a comprehensive security checklist to stop a data breach:
- Reset any outdated office entrance codes.
- Deactivate each of the employee’s accounts.
- Removing permitted logins
- Remove any admin rights for personal social media accounts.
- Update shared account credentials.
- Tell the employee which information they are not allowed to take or discuss with outside parties.
- Define the data that the company must keep.
- After archiving the employee’s files, recover any corporate gadgets that were in their hands.
STEP 6: Exit poll
It’s time to gather opinions. Schedule an exit survey period on your employee’s calendar. A departure survey consists of a list of questions that a departing employee must answer. It ought to help you see where you can make changes. When an employee is about to quit, they are more open to discussing their experiences working for your organization.
Employee retention and general engagement are improved via departure interviews. You may find workplace issues, spot potential areas for business process improvement, and gauge the general climate of your organization by asking the proper questions. The best departure interview questions include:
- How did your duties and responsibility compare to what you had anticipated?
- What factors have led you to leave?
- Were you sincerely looking for employment?
- Did you feel at ease discussing your worries with your managers or coworkers?
- Did you notice any room for expansion at our business?
- Did you have the necessary resources to complete the task?
- What could we do, in your opinion, to increase staff retention?
- What would you say about the atmosphere at work?
- Were you handled fairly by management, in your opinion?
- Would you suggest your buddy apply for a job at our business? Whether or not
- Would you ever think of returning to our business?
STEP 7: Farewell
Giving a luncheon or farewell party in honor of a departing employee is a wonderful opportunity to conclude your official connection in a positive way. This incident will leave a good impression on the surviving team members as well as the departed employees. If a loud party isn’t characteristic of your workplace culture, there’s no need for one. It might be just as enjoyable to have a final coffee with coworkers as it is to hold a large celebration.
STEP 8: Keeping records of employees
Offboarding doesn’t necessarily end for an HR professional when a former employee is kicked out of the office groups. You must now gather all supporting documentation, such as the employee’s resume, invoices, and letters of termination, and place it in their file.
Let’s say you broke up with the person because of poor performance. In that scenario, you might also want to look through the projects they have been working on, keep an eye on communications, and check in with their close associates. This enables you to modify your hiring standards and create a performance improvement strategy for upcoming hires.
Conclusion
It may come as a surprise, but a smooth offboarding procedure contributes to your employer brand, and any organization must have a strong employer brand. Knowing how to compassionately offboard an employee helps leave a lasting, favorable impression on a firm since this final stage brings an employee’s experience to a close. Ex-employees serve as brand ambassadors for your business, so it’s critical to maintain a positive relationship with them because the impression they leave behind may have an impact on the company’s reputation as well as its ability to access a network of potential clients or employees in the future.
Bohiyaanam Talent realizes the potential of good offboarding and excels at creating the right environment.
