Employees may leave for a variety reasons, and when they do, it’s important to send them off in the right way. Just as you pay attention to onboarding staffers, you should also consider your offboarding process. Whether someone resigns, retires or leaves due to job cuts, offboarding allows you to tie up any loose ends and formally part ways.
Marco Gurnari, who works in growth at Humaans, says there’s a right and a wrong way to handle offboarding. In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share his tips on how to create a positive experience for exiting employees.
Use a checklist. This will help you make sure you don’t miss anything. For example, you want to make sure you get any passwords or company property from the employee. You can also run through the staffer’s workflow and complete any necessary paperwork.
Tell the rest of the team. Once you have developed your initial checklist, Gurnari says your next step is communicating the news to all necessary people and departments. For instance, the finance department needs to get the employee’s final paycheck issued and IT should collect items like keycards and other equipment.
Provide the employee with an offboarding timeline. Gurnari recommends reviewing details like the final date of employment, how to return business assets and any handover requirements to prepare for new staff.
Put together a transition plan. Before the exiting employee’s last day, consider how you’ll fill in the gap so your team can continue running smoothly. Gurnari says you may want to schedule a meeting with the outgoing staffer to review their current projects and document their knowledge so a new team member can continue their work.
Conduct exit interviews. Some organizations make these optional, but it’s always helpful to know why an employee is leaving. Leaders can use the employee’s feedback to learn areas for improvement. Gurnari says the HR team should arrange the exit interview, but if you’re a small team, this meeting may be up to you. You may want to ask what inspired the employee to look elsewhere, what they liked and disliked about their job and what recommendations they can share for the next hire.
Get all company assets. Get badges and keys and revoke access to things like CRM software and company social media accounts. Gurnari recommends ensuring the employee’s access to internal files, company software or private documents is removed or disabled. This helps mitigate the risk of confidentiality breaches. Just make sure you don’t end these rights until the last day of employment.
Send them off well. Give the exiting employee a proper farewell, whether it’s a party, a team get-together or a departing gift. How you decide to end your employee onboarding process is up to you, Gurnari says, but always take time to thank the employee and wish them good luck wherever they are heading next.
It’s never easy losing a good employee, but you can end the working relationship on a positive note by handling the offboarding well. You never know when you might cross paths with an ex-employee, so bring things to a close thoughtfully and respectfully.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Marco Gurnari works in growth at Humaans, an employment management software.