January 11, 2023 
We all know the importance of onboarding, but you can’t forget offboarding.
While less exciting and indeed sad, offboarding is an essential and crucial part of the employee lifecycle. Just like onboarding, offboarding involves both personal and professional tasks to successfully transition an employee out and efficiently set up for the employee coming in.
Offboarding arguably says a lot more about your company than onboarding does. As the age-old adage goes, Don’t Burn Your Bridges – and while it’s frequently said to employees, this also applies to employers. Reputation takes years to build and only takes one incident to ruin it all. Don’t let a single offboarding experience be the one to harm your company.
1. Review Disclosure Agreements
Employees would have already signed disclosure agreements before officially starting in the office. However, it’s a good idea to review these documents and ensure that everything has been covered. Also, don’t forget to check their employment contract. You want to ensure that no penalties have been incurred, especially in the case of non-compete, non-poaching, and confidentiality agreements. This should be checked before you accept the resignation.
2. Make An Announcement
Rumours and gossip are likely to circulate when someone leaves a company if it is not addressed immediately! It’s crucial to have a system in place to communicate the departure of an employee to everyone in the company. A colleague’s departure can make people nervous if the process is secretive. It’s important to remember that nothing is sacred in the office. People will talk, and the narrative will become more twisted as it moves through the grapevine.
It’s best to get ahead of the rumour mill and be open and honest about someone leaving the company. Make sure to keep the announcement simple. There is no room for misunderstanding or “reading between the lines.” Additionally, this announcement will give your offboarding colleague a chance to say goodbye and not feel awkward in their last days if they feel they have to keep their resignation secret.
3. Employee Offboarding Checklist
An end-of-service procedure is intrinsic to offboarding effectively and appropriately. A clearance form or offboarding checklist is essential for all concerned departments at a company. These forms let the HR department know that the vital tasks have been completed, ensuring a clean exit.
Many departments of the company are involved, for example:
I.T.
Take back the laptop, wipe the information and check it back into storage.
Marketing
Remove the employee from the website; remove their signature from the system.
Payroll / Finance
Calculate final pay, including annual leave loading.
Admin
Collect items like keys and access cards, update the organisational chart.
Some big retail companies may have their own Loss Prevention department to follow up and ensure all necessary property is returned, like POS cards and safe keys that are used in-store.
These measures are necessary to protect your company. Having it in a checklist form that needs to be signed off by each concerned department ensures that essential tasks are not missed.
4. Exit Interviews
An exit interview can be daunting for a leaving employee, so much so, that only 15% accept them! They, too, don’t want to burn bridges, so they might not be as open as to why they’re leaving. The exit interview should be as comfortable as possible for the employee; make sure to have it in a quiet room where you won’t be disturbed. You should make sure to ask:
– Why are you leaving the company?
– Does the role still reflect the job position? (If no, this should be updated when hiring a replacement)
– How is the company doing well? Where can it be improved?
– Did you feel supported in your role? How could we have given you more support?
– How satisfied have you been with work-life balance?
– Under what circumstances would you return to the company?
– What is your new position and what made you choose the company you’re moving to?
Don’t forget to thank them for their time. Additionally, you should consider fixing any issues that are mentioned. With only 28% of HR advisors acting on the invaluable data they receive, you are letting potentially small problems grow and potentially affect future departing employees.
Some companies may want to use an external HR advisor who is a third party in this situation. This makes the conversation more confidential and it would feel more secure for the leaving employee. Additionally, should the relationship between the in-house HR coordinator and the employee be tense due to history – an external interview conductor might be necessary.
5. Knowledge Transfer
A smooth transition needs the new employee to be fully aware of all the upcoming projects, deadlines, and ongoing tasks. This is in addition to a contact list and files that the new hire will require to do their job effectively. This knowledge is worth its weight in gold – without it, you will lose a number of weeks of productivity and could severely hamper not just your client but also employee relations.
Keep stress to a minimum by having the departing colleague compile and organise the necessary information. Having this will also significantly help if you have not yet found a replacement and require other employees to keep an eye out on the tasks and projects to be done in the meantime. It would also be advantageous to have an out-of-office email set up; then if a client sends a message to the previous employee, it will alert them to contact the new employee’s email. This will save confusion and a lot of calls from clients who haven’t received responses! It would be even better to have those emails be forwarded to the new employee so they can take action and introduce themselves.
6. A Warm Goodbye
Sometimes departing employees want to leave without a fuss, and some want to be able to say a proper goodbye – whether it be having lunch or just some drinks after work. This should be brought up with their manager and close colleagues. They know the employee best and can suggest the best course of action. You usually can’t go wrong with a goodbye card and a sweet treat to send them off, though! The goodbye should be as positive as possible.
Even if the departure is not in the best circumstances, being optimistic and sincere is the best way forward. For employees that are leaving for companies that have offered higher position roles that you might not have yet available, be sure to let them know that you’ll keep in touch. If they’re open to returning (which you should learn from their exit interview), they could be an ideal potential candidate for management roles down the line.
Offboarding can turn very toxic and stressful if it’s not handled correctly. While it’s a sadder occasion than onboarding, it’s always best to perceive it as a celebration for the departing employee. As they say, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Sometimes, even in the case of a less-than-ideal time during their employment, it can mean a lot to have an offboarding that is positive. Always remember, we are adults, and you never know where you might see them next.
