Employee offboarding is as complex as employee onboarding. Those who leave the workplace usually have the most sincere and honest feedback regarding your company policies. Following the offboarding process will help you identify problems with the work environment which may or may not have caused turnover.
With about 40% of workers worldwide planning to leave their current jobs, hiring is viewed to be a lot more difficult in the coming years. Completing all HR tasks entailed with employee offboarding will ensure youve got the best practices to onboard future employees and retain them much longer in your company.
What is Employee Offboarding?
Offboarding refers to the formal separation of an employee from the company. Reasons for the separation may include resignation, termination or retirement. Offboarding usually includes transferring the employee’s responsibilities, turning in all equipment, disabling access and passwords, and conducting exit interviews to collect feedback.
Why is offboarding important?
Employees who leave may have either good or bad things to say about the company. Their onboarding experience could potentially reduce their dissatisfaction. Those who you may have caused disappointments may hurt your company and the offboarding process can turn these antagonists into people who may help you expand your network and ease out your hiring process. Employee offboarding is essential to your company's reputation, business performance and future recruitment.
Employee offboarding will also help businesses:
- Reduce security risks by disabling access to business accounts
- Prevent legal implications for contract disputes or wrongful termination
- Generate feedback for process improvement
- Retain current employees
Who is responsible for employee offboarding?
The payroll and the HR teams share the responsibility of having the employee undergo the offboarding process. Both departments should be liable for ensuring that the separation process is completed smoothly. The HR team should ensure all turnover procedures and paperwork are accomplished before the employee transitions away from the company. 
What Tasks are Involved during Offboarding?
The employee offboarding process should tie up the loose ends that may be left out hanging due to the separation. Tasks involved when an employee leaves are summed up in three different stages.
Upon receipt of the notice
Employees who wish to resign from their post may need to notify the company one month before the date of actual separation. On the other hand, employees who may be terminated should be notified early on depending on the HR policy you implement.
Tasks involved:
- Talk to the employee. You may take this opportunity to talk to the employee and know the reason for leaving. You may also need to evaluate and plan out your next actions depending on how your discussion with the employee turns out.
- Communicate the intended departure of the employee to the teams involved. You may also need to inform the payroll and IT departments.
- Complete the paperwork by acquiring the resignation letter, having the signed non-disclosure agreement and preparing the separation pay and tax deductions.
- Plan the transfer of knowledge. Document the employee’s daily tasks while planning for the replacement and training of the new employee. Training a replacement is optional especially if the would-be vacancy’s tasks can be fulfilled by others in the same team.
Before the actual day of offboarding:
Weeks before the actual day of leaving, the employee should have completed all the requirements for offboarding.
Tasks involved:
- Recover company assets. Set the deadline when the employee should have surrendered all assets under his/her use. Laptops, printers, reports and other properties should be surrendered before the actual date of leaving. Set enough time for you to check for errors or damages incurred by the assets. Evaluate the condition of gadgets and other equipment and inform the employee about it.
- Conduct an exit interview. The exit interview is an opportunity for you to know how the employee feels or what the employee thinks about the company. Knowing personal assessments can help you and the HR team improve policies and processes. The interviewee should have good listening skills to gather honest and genuine feedback. Questions during the interview may include the reasons for leaving, the things they liked and did not like about the company, ways the company could improve employee experience and other suggestions and comments that the employee may want to share.
- Throw a celebration or farewell gathering. Again, this is another optional step in the offboarding process. Most companies skip this part, especially for fast-paced work environments. The farewell gathering may show appreciation for all the employee’s contributions to the growth of the company.
- Remove employee access. You may request the IT department to revoke all access including passwords and login details. The IT department should also change the passwords of shared accounts and apps.
After the employee leaves:
After the employee leaves the company, make sure that the tasks are reassigned accordingly if youve not hired a new person to occupy the role.
Tasks involved:
- Delete employee information from the current system. Although some companies may prefer to retain employee information for future reference, you may delete employee data and update your records.
- Complete all pending payments. Some companies may take months before settling employee backpays and other benefits. Depending on the policy, it is best to make settlements as early as possible.
- Update the organizational chart. Ensure a smooth transition by replacing the employee who left the company with the details of the next person in charge. Updating the organizational chart will ensure that teams know about the changes in their roles or responsibilities if any.
Tips to Handle Employee Resignation and Offboarding
You may initially feel hurt knowing that someone from the team is intending to leave. Understandably, the cost of getting a new employee may be a burden plus the tedious task of training a replacement may add to the agony. However, no matter how difficult the circumstance may be, you need to be rational about it. Know, first and foremost, why the employee wants to leave and understand what needs to be done to remedy the situation.
You may want to reach out to HR companies like Zebra that may help you with the offboarding process and transition. You should also want to evaluate your current employee lineup and the skills that suit best the upcoming vacancy. Clear up your mind, create a plan and find ways to further strengthen your team despite the impending attrition.
