We all know how crucial welcoming and supporting an employee is during the initial months of his joining. Likewise, is it highly essential that when an employee leaves, he should gracefully separate from the employer.
Employee turnover is indeed unavoidable. There will come a time when an employee will part ways with the company. It is the responsibility of the organization to make this transition process smooth so that employees don’t leave the company feeling dissatisfied or unimpressed.
To ensure a happy departure, the employee offboarding process has come to the rescue. It is the opposite of onboarding. In this blog we will deeply study what offboarding is, its significance, and how can an organization nails its process.
What is employee offboarding
Employee offboarding is a process through which employees are transitioned out of the company either voluntarily or involuntarily. It covers all steps required to successfully perform the process of termination or resignation.
Moreover, if the employee offboarding process is done well, then it can help in building the employer brand, providing valuable feedback, and help in boosting morale. It further ensures that employees bid farewell on the best possible note.
Why is it important
Offboarding is considered as one of the most crucial processes for a company. But unfortunately, according to a survey, there are about 71% of organizations don’t have a formal offboarding process.
The experience of offboarding is the last opportunity that a company gets to show extra care, value, and empathy towards the leaving employee. An effective employee offboarding process will not only make the departing employee happy but will also leave a good impression on existing employees.
Increases data security
A well-planned employee offboarding process takes care of all the security breaches that may rise in the future. According to a survey, 20% of organizations have gone through data breaches from ex-employees.
The study also tells us that 1 in 4 employees still have access from their previous jobs. All this can increase the risk of scams and miss utilization of companies’ data. The process will make sure that all this sensitive information remains secure and that the departing employees’ account accesses are revoked.
Lasting impression
After all the time spent with the organization, HR still have one more chance to build a lasting impression on the leaving employee. Conducting a strategic employee offboarding process will help the company maintains its positive reputation.
The lasting impression is highly crucial is it helps employees give positive feedback about the company. The chances of them leaving as brand advocates will be higher than that of being a critic. This extra care and attention towards the leaving employee can influence the perception of the company.
Gathers feedback
The best time for a company to get feedback from its employee during the employee offboarding process. It is more likely that the employee will give genuine feedback about his experience related to company culture, work, and more.
Feedback is generally taken in the form of an exit interview where the interviewer identifies the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement. The exit interviews also give the company a chance to address unfavourable issues risen during the employee’s and resolve it if possible
Pave ways to return
When an employee leaves the organization, it doesn’t mean that he might leave you permanently. There is a chance that a former employee can rejoin the company and bring knowledge and additional skills to add value to his job role.
Rehired employees are familiar with the company cultures and processes which helps them transition into new role quickly. A good offboarding process will make a good impression on him and will increase the coming back to their old company.
Ex-employees are ambassadors.
Organizations should not forget that employees can be excellent ambassadors once they leave the company. They can be a source of receiving good reviews and spreading the good word of mouth about the company.
According to a survey, 84% of candidates read reviews before applying for a job. Having an ineffective offboarding process can bring negative reviews which can be damaging to the image of the company. This source must be handled with care for long-term benefits.
Best employee offboarding practices
We all know how important the offboarding process can be for the company. Therefore in order to achieve the objective of the process following best practices should be adopted:
Prepare checklist
An offboarding process may have many essential small steps. All these steps should be completed on time. Preparing a checklist will make sure that no steps are missed.
A checklist will guideline instructions for all departments involved in the offboarding process. They will have information related to the administration offboarding documents, exit interviews, final paperwork, farewell, removal of access to accounts, and many more.
Transfer job role to replacement
Another important step of the employee offboarding process is to look for a replacement for the departing employee until a new employee joins in his place.
Assigning replacements on time will ensure the smooth running of the department. For that, the transferring employee should have a clear idea about the employee’s daily routine, understanding of all his files and systems, and must be able to prioritize his own and leave the employee’s task well.
Recover company property
It is highly essential to recover all company property from the departing employee which may include company equipment search as badges, keys, credit cards, phones, laptops, and more.
Additionally, it should be checked whether the employee was issued any loan during his tenure. These steps help send recovering all items before the employee departs from the company.
Remove access to accounts
The organization must also revoke access to all of the departing employee accounts for security purposes. This may include company login access, email, communication platforms, software licenses in any other relevant access given to him.
Moreover, the access to the door entry should also be removed. It is very important that the ex-employee does not have any sensitive information or data about the organization or the client after they leave the company. Any negligence in this area may result in a data breach.
Exit interview
An exit interview is conducted on the last day of the employee with the company. The purpose of the exit interview is to gain his feedback and insights about the company. It further gives the company the opportunity to end the professional relationship on a good note.
The interviewer in the exit interview can ask many questions related to the management style culture, job role, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Moreover, the employees should be encouraged to give honest opinions as it will help the company improve itself which will lead to overgrowth and productivity in the longer run.
Organize a farewell
The rest of the department must be encouraged to organize a farewell for the departing employee. They should celebrate his time with the company.
He should be given a chance a say a formal goodbye to his colleagues, team, and managers. This will create one last excellent impression on the employee. This nice gesture will be cherished and remind him of the good times spent with the company.
Final thought
Statistics, studies, surveys, and leaders of the organization cannot stress enough on the emphasis of a good employee offboarding process. This process can also help him remind that there is still hope that one day he can return. This last step of the journey of the employee must end on a good note.
