5 Offboarding Activities for a Respectful and Efficient Worker Departure

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Organizations need to comprehend that making a respectful and efficient exit for workers is just as essential as onboarding when an worker is hired. 

Onboarding programs give latest hires the tools they must be successful. They welcome the brand new hire to the organization, provide knowledge and training, and create a roadmap for fulfillment.

Offboarding is the method related to worker departures. The nice news about offboarding programs is that they’ll in some respects mirror the onboarding process. Organizations may even use their onboarding technology for offboarding.

No matter whether an worker is leaving the organization voluntarily or involuntarily, the exiting worker needs to be treated with respect, provided information, and given a checklist of things that need completion. In case your organization doesn’t have a proper offboarding process, listed below are a number of activities to start:

1. Get buy-in from the management team. Like onboarding, offboarding isn’t a “human resources program”. Many individuals play a task within the offboarding process: department managers, payroll, IT, security, and HR. Offboarding employees becomes a vital piece of today’s recruiting strategy whatever the unemployment rate, especially when rehiring employees is common.  

2. Include contingent staff. Organizations have increased their use of freelancers, contractors, and consultants. This often means there are more non-employees with security badges, company technology, and software licenses than ever before. Don’t forget to incorporate this group when it comes time to craft an offboarding program.

3. Have a policy. Speaking of programs, outline what must happen when an worker (or contractor) leaves. That is an ideal “sticky note” activity. Call a gathering of key stakeholders (#1 above) and provides everyone involved within the offboarding process a package of stickies. Have them post on the partitions all the things that have to occur when someone leaves. You need to use this information to craft a checklist.

4. Create a checklist. With the knowledge from the policy (#3 above), group the activities by time and department. Start with when an worker gives notice or a consultant’s contract is ending. Outline what must occur instantly and people activities that have to happen closer to the person’s last day. 

5. Educate employees. The last group of individuals the corporate must get onboard with this system are employees. There are probably going to be things on the checklist (See #4) that the worker must do, like be sure their address is current with payroll. When someone pronounces their departure, take a moment to share the checklist with them and describe how things are going to occur. It should give the worker and/or contractor the knowledge they need to grasp the transition. 

One final thing. If organizations are attempting to get honest feedback from employees (and contractors) during an exit interview, it only is sensible to treat exiting employees with respect. Even when the organization is perhaps dissatisfied that the person is leaving. Since you never know once they might want to come back back. Or once they might share a job opening with a friend. Or perhaps even refer a customer. 

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Nashville, TN

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