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I’ve published a couple of articles lately about the relationship between onboarding and offboarding. We spend a lot of time talking about the value of onboarding. It sets the stage for the new employee’s career with the organization. Onboarding is an opportunity to demonstrate that the organization cares about the employee and is planning to make the investments necessary for the employee to be successful.
On some level, offboarding can do the same thing. Granted, offboarding is focused on an employee’s departure from the organization. But the way people leave the company can have a profound impact on how they speak about the company in the future. Designing a strategic offboarding process can let employees know we appreciate their time and contributions. It can send the message to current employees that we treat people with respect, even when they’re leaving.
To design a strategic offboarding process, organizations might want to consider using a process map. Similar to an onboarding process map, this document would outline what should take place during the traditional offboarding process. It could be used for both departing employees as well as freelancers and/or contractors. Consider outlining the individual steps into four parts or phases:
- Awareness: This is the place where the organization learns that the employee (or freelancer) is leaving. When we talk about offboarding, we’re talking about both voluntary as well as involuntary departures. Some of the steps could be different with an involuntary termination, but many will be the same.
- Preparation: During this phase, the organization and employee are working together to wrap up projects, etc. Given today’s labor market, there’s a very good chance that an employee will leave, and their replacement will not yet be hired. The employee and their manager will want to evaluate current workload and transition projects to other individuals on the team.
- Engagement: Organizations have an opportunity to solicit feedback from the employee. Before the employee leaves, the hiring manager or human resources might want to talk with the employee about their time with the company. This could be considered an exit interview of sorts. The company might also want to give the employee or contractor an opportunity to ask questions about benefits, final checks, etc.
- Documentation: The organization and employee need to create closure. Administratively, the employee must be terminated from payroll, their personnel file closed, and legally required benefits paperwork like COBRA sent. The documentation phase wraps up these loose ends. This is also the time to collect keys, computers, etc. and make sure that all other notices are provided.
To add details to your offboarding process map, consider doing a “sticky note” activity with the key stakeholders. Bring everyone together, give them a packet of sticky notes and ask them to write one step they have to do when an employee leaves the company. Then organize each of those activities by the four phases we’ve just outlined: awareness, preparation, engagement, and documentation. That becomes the process map.
This type of sticky note activity can also let the organization know where there might be gaps (as in, “Oh! I thought someone else was taking care of that.”) Or where a duplication of efforts exists. The final document can be used as an old school checklist or even better as a guide in your onboarding technology solution.
Offboarding is an important step in the employee life cycle. Organizations can’t afford to ignore it. In a competitive labor market, we have to consider that exiting employees might be potential rehires, which means thinking about exiting employees as future candidates. And, the way employees are treated as they leave the organization speaks volumes about the company brand.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Pasadena, CA
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