Offboarding

Unexpected employee resignations can create challenges in the workplace. Additionally, the abrupt dismissal of an employee may generate negative emotions, leading them to discuss their unpleasant experience using online platforms that are visible to prospects, customers, partners, and existing and future employees. This kind of adverse exposure can negatively impact a company's reputation and ability to attract and retain talent.

It is, therefore, beneficial for employers to implement a well-thought-out offboarding strategy. Such a program ensures that employees leave on good terms and provides a chance to gather valuable feedback, which can highlight ways to enhance the workplace culture and environment.

What is offboarding?

Offboarding is how employers conclude their relationship with employees. This procedure can include an exit interview with two main goals:

1. Keep a friendly relationship with employees leaving the organization
2. Uncover valuable feedback that can facilitate positive changes within the organization

Offboarding vs. onboarding

Onboarding and offboarding are two contrasting processes. In onboarding, new employees get acquainted with the company's policies, workplace culture, and their contribution to the organization's future. Conversely, offboarding helps employees get ready to leave the company. During this phase, employees can pass on critical organizational knowledge to their successors, return tools and equipment provided by the employer, and offer insights into their experience working for the company.

Why is offboarding important?

Employers generally might focus more on recruitment and onboarding rather than offboarding, though offboarding can be just as important in the employee life cycle. For instance, a lack of a comprehensive offboarding process can result in a missed chance to explore why employees decide to stay with or leave a company. Without this valuable feedback, enhancing employee engagement and retention or refining talent acquisition strategies can become challenging.

Beyond gathering feedback, how an organization handles departing employees can influence recruitment efforts in other areas. As mentioned previously, numerous online career platforms are available where employees can post about their experiences, potentially affecting the public perception of an organization. Moreover, former employees may be ideal candidates for future roles or consulting opportunities, so employers may benefit from keeping a cordial relationship with departing employees.

Offboarding best practices

Dismissing employees who submit their resignation or expediting their departure can be counterproductive. Instead, employers who work to facilitate a smooth transition and respect an employee’s knowledge and skill set may create advocates for the company. Such an offboarding process could include the following steps:

1. Arrange departure necessities:
   Taking a moment to arrange the essentials for an employee’s exit can help ensure a smooth departure. Employers should consider:
   • Supplying information on health benefits
   • Ensuring the secure return of company property
   • Revoking access (such as email accounts, system logins, etc.)
   • Confirming the employee’s current contact information
   • Sharing details about any severance package, if relevant
2. Address the employee's personal needs:
   To effectively address personal needs, it may be beneficial for the company to schedule a meeting with benefits personnel, allowing for a swift resolution of payroll and benefits concerns. It's important to prioritize issues such as managing unused vacation or paid time off (PTO).
3. Coordinate the transition:
   Organizing a discussion on current projects and assignments, along with the necessary files, contacts, and resources, can help ensure work proceeds smoothly once the employee departs the organization.
4. Celebrate the employee:
   A lunch or an event where team members can say goodbye and reminisce about the good times shared may help the departing employee leave with a lasting and positive impression of the organization.
5. Transfer of knowledge:
   Formal apprenticeships and team-based training sessions that harness the knowledge of departing employees before they exit the organization can help retain extensive institutional knowledge.
6. Reduce technical risks:
   Removing access to workstations and cloud services, updating email logins, and collecting employer-issued devices are necessary to protect business operations and trade secrets. Prompt removal is crucial if the departure is under less-than-amicable circumstances or the employee is moving to a competitor.
7. Conduct an exit interview:
   Exit interviews and surveys can be rich sources of information and offer an opportunity to gain insights into the employee’s perspectives on management, workplace culture, and more. These insights are beneficial when departing employees are open about their experiences and any long-standing issues they may have encountered.
8. Finalize the departure:
   Ensuring employees know how to clear their personal belongings from their workspaces and return any company-owned equipment is vital. If necessary, providing a security escort on the final day, possibly accompanied by a colleague or supervisor, can prevent the departing employees from feeling excluded.
9. Keep in touch with former employees:
   Staying connected to former employees can be beneficial, though it may not always be appropriate. Maintaining connections can be valuable as the former employee may continue to support the brand, offer employee and client referrals or rejoin the organization in a different role in the future.

What to look for during an exit interview

Exit interviews that concentrate on topics critical to employee engagement may uncover actionable insights at the organizational, departmental, or team level and may include:

• The quality of relationships with direct managers
• Trust in senior leadership
• Satisfaction with the organizational culture
• Opportunities for professional growth
• Compensation and benefits provided

5 tips for making the most of exit interviews

Gathering sincere feedback during an exit interview can be challenging. Employees might forget details, feel shy, or worry about leaving on a sour note. To navigate these obstacles and obtain valuable insights that prompt actionable changes, consider these strategies:

1. Be mindful about selecting the interviewer: Opt for an HR professional or a manager from a different department to conduct the exit interviews. Employees departing the company might open up more to someone they haven't worked closely with.

2. Allow preparation time for the departing employee: Informing employees about their upcoming exit interview a few days in advance provides ample time to ponder their experiences and jot down important points they may wish to discuss.

3. Ensure confidentiality of the feedback: Boost the authenticity of responses by assuring employees that their feedback will be shared only when necessary for business improvements. This approach works best in environments that already promote transparent communication.

4. Offer electronic feedback options: Give employees the choice to submit feedback through online surveys or emails. Even with the best intentions, face-to-face exit interviews can still intimidate some people.

5. Implement feedback: When feedback pinpoints areas needing enhancement, employers could consider taking necessary actions – this demonstrates to current employees that their input is valued and that the organization is continuously looking for ways to better the work environment.

Frequently asked questions

Why should HR leaders care about offboarding?

When employees leave a company on bad terms, there can be a risk that they will share their grievances publicly. HR leaders may prioritize a respectful and constructive offboarding process to avoid damage to the company's reputation and continue attracting and retaining top talent.

What can HR do to ensure successful offboarding?

By ensuring a seamless offboarding, HR can transform former employees into brand ambassadors for the company. Listening to the departing employee’s insight and acknowledging their contribution can help the employee feel at ease and more likely to offer honest feedback.

How can smooth offboarding processes improve company culture?

How an organization manages the departure of its employees reveals much about its ethos, leadership, and culture. A graceful and respectful offboarding process can mitigate the risk of damaging exits and potentially turn them into positive reflection and growth.

What is one of the critical parts of a successful offboarding?

Conducting thorough exit interviews can reveal critical insights for organizational enhancement and employee retention. For instance, if a pattern of employees leaving due to job role misrepresentations emerges, it signals the need for more precise communication of job expectations from the outset.

Who is responsible for employee offboarding?

While HR and direct supervisors are usually involved in the offboarding procedure, delegating exit interviews to someone other than the departing employee's direct manager might encourage more honest and valuable feedback, benefiting the organization's future practices.

Learn More

Are you aiming to create a seamless offboarding process? ADP’s Talent management solutions can help you with exit interviews, compliance management, asset return, and much more!

Talk to us about your offboarding needs, and we’ll walk you through our solutions — including how companies like yours use them. Call 866-622-8153 or start a quote.

This guide is intended to be used as a starting point in analyzing offboarding and is not a comprehensive resource of requirements. It offers practical information concerning the subject matter and is provided with the understanding that ADP is not rendering legal or tax advice or other professional services.