Offboarding

More companies are investing in ensuring a good start for new employees, giving them a positive impression and enabling quick value creation for the organization. This effort should also apply when employees leave the company. Offboarding is at least as important as onboarding as it helps to end the employment relationship in a positive way. Ensuring a good exit is a strategy to maintain a strong employer brand and preserve the company's reputation.

See also: Onboarding | Crossboarding | Preboarding | Reboarding

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What is offboarding?

Offboarding is all about ensuring a good send-off and retaining important skills when an employee leaves the company. Whether the employee chooses to leave or is terminated, a successful offboarding process should ensure that the relationship between the employee and the company remains positive. This includes administrative tasks, knowledge transfer and exit interviews that help ensure a smooth transition for both the employee and the company.

Why is offboarding important?

Good offboarding provides an opportunity for valuable improvements in your organization. From work tasks to company culture, an exit interview can provide insights that may be difficult to discover in other ways.

Additionally, how you handle dismissal affects an employee's view of the company. An unhappy employee can damage your reputation, while a happy employee can become an ambassador for your company and attract new talent. Ensure a professional and respectful departure to strengthen your employer brand.

Tips for your offboarding

  • Thank the departing employee: Remember to thank the employee for their efforts and make it clear that they will be missed. Wish them the best of luck in their future career.
  • Share the departure: Share the news of the employee's departure with colleagues early on to avoid small talk and unpleasant rumors. Agree with the employee how and when the information will be shared.
  • Access and equipment: An important part of offboarding is securing company property and removing employee access to systems. Ask the departing employee to hand over all equipment such as keys, phones and laptops. Also, make sure to cancel access to company systems and accounts, including email, CRM systems and social media.
  • Hold an exit interview: An exit interview is an essential part of the offboarding process. Similar to hiring interviews, the exit interview provides an opportunity to gain insight into the employee's experience at the company. Here you can gather valuable feedback on workload, company culture and leadership.
  • Knowledge transfer: Whether you're hiring a direct replacement or restructuring positions, it's important to keep the departing employee's knowledge within the organization. Ensure handover from the departing employee to the right person in the organization. One of the biggest pitfalls of offboarding is valuable knowledge that is lost when the collaboration ends.

Do you have questions about offboarding?

Offboarding is the process of an employee leaving the company, including administrative tasks, knowledge transfer and exit interviews, to ensure a positive exit and retain important skills.

Make sure the employee turns in all equipment such as keys, phones and laptops. Cancel access to company systems and accounts, including email, CRM systems and social media.

An effective offboarding process includes exit interviews, knowledge transfer, returning equipment and updating internal systems.

Exit interviews are important to understand the employee experience and get valuable feedback to improve the workplace.

A professional offboarding process can improve company reputation by ensuring that former employees leave with a positive perception of the company.

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