Managing employee resignations can be tricky. Whether you would have liked to retain your valuable employee or are glad to see them go, a departure means disruption, and not in a good way. 😩
In addition to managing the transition and finding a replacement, it's crucial to maintain a positive relationship with the departing employee and ensure a smooth offboarding process. This week's human resources blog looks at what's needed to manage a resignation in the most efficient manner possible.
Keep reading if you want to find out some best practices for employee offboarding, zero friction required! 👇
What is Offboarding? The HR Definition
You're likely familiar with onboarding, which involves orienting a new employee to your organisation's culture, tools, and knowledge base to set them up for success in their new role.
However, offboarding is equally important and involves managing the employee experience as they leave the company. This process encompasses all the steps required to effectively end the employee's time with your company, whether through resignation or termination.
When an employee resigns, retires or is terminated, the process of offboarding begins, leading to a formal separation between the employee and the company. Offboarding involves all the necessary steps and decisions to ensure a smooth transition, such as transferring job responsibilities, deactivating access rights, collecting equipment, and conducting exit interviews.
Why is Offboarding Important?
Creating a good employee termination process is important, but what happens after the termination is also crucial. HR and the employee need to complete a list of tasks, such as returning company resources and handling paperwork. If there isn't a clear process in place, important steps can be missed, leading to security and legal risks and damaging the relationship with the outgoing employee.
A formal offboarding policy helps companies manage risks, logistics, and part ways positively while receiving valuable feedback for improvement. In fact, a recent study found that investing in an offboarding process can increase employee retention and engagement.
So, why is it important to have an employee offboarding process?
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It allows you to support departing employees during a difficult time and shows current employees that you care about their well-being.
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It provides an opportunity to gain valuable feedback from employees who may be more willing to share their thoughts when leaving.
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A positive offboarding experience can create advocates for your company and prevent negative reviews from former employees.
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A well-planned offboarding process ensures that you gather everything you need from the departing employee before they leave.
Navigating the Resignation Stage: The HR Offboarding Checklist
Back in 2019, we published a blog post about automating employee lifecycle management that has proved to be quite popular. As outlined in that post, the final stage of the employee lifecycle is 'resignation,' and how your organisation manages this last stage of the employee lifecycle is just as important as how it manages the first stages of attraction and recruitment.
At this point, it is essential to put a process in place to learn from the experience, continue good morale within your team, and ensure that departing employees leave on good terms. Departures can impact other team members, and it is the manager or HR professional's job to make sure the exit doesn’t disrupt business as usual.
Let’s talk about the most important things to remember when thinking about your offboarding process, in our detailed checklist. ✅
Ask for honest feedback from the departing employee
When an employee decides to leave a company, it's important to gather as much information as possible about their experience – both positive and negative feedback. While it may be difficult to hear criticism, honest feedback from departing employees can be invaluable in improving the company's operations and employee retention.
One way to gather feedback is through an exit interview. This is a structured interview conducted with the departing employee to learn about their experience at the company. The goal is to identify areas of improvement and provide insights that can help the company better retain employees in the future.
During an exit interview, it's important to ask open-ended questions that encourage the employee to speak candidly about their experience. Some examples of questions to ask might include:
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What were the main reasons for your decision to leave the company?
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Were there any specific incidents or issues that contributed to your decision to leave?
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How do you feel about the company culture and management style?
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What suggestions do you have for improving the company's operations or policies?
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Is there anything the company could have done to keep you as an employee?
💡 Tip: approach the exit interview as a chance to learn and grow, rather than a defensive or combative conversation. Aim to create an open and safe space for the employee to share their thoughts so that you can gain valuable insights to improve your operations and retain employees in the long run.
Don’t leave a stone unturned when it comes to employee dissatisfaction
When an employee decides to leave, it's crucial to understand why in order to understand potential issues within the company that need to be addressed.
For example, if the employee felt undervalued or underpaid, it may be time to review compensation and benefits packages. If the employee felt that their work wasn't meaningful or aligned with their values, it may be necessary to re-evaluate the company's mission and values and ensure that employees understand how their work contributes to these goals.
When they understand the reasons for employees’ departure and make necessary changes, companies can improve employee retention and engagement. It's also an opportunity to show remaining employees that the company values their feedback and is committed to creating a positive work environment.
Ensure business as usual
Employee departures often mean disruptions in the company-wide workflow and additional stress for remaining team members. Businesses need to take necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition and minimize any negative impacts on productivity and morale.
First of all, the first thing on the list is to assign the departing employee's workload to someone else, whether it's to another team member or hiring a replacement. This ensures that projects and deadlines are still met, and clients are not left waiting for a response.
Additionally, any necessary knowledge transfer needs to take place before the employee departs. This includes sharing important documents, passwords, and any knowledge or skills that are critical to the job. That way, the remaining employees have the information they need to continue with the work without disruption.
If the employee has client-facing responsibilities, the departure needs to be communicated to clients in a timely and professional manner, ensuring that their needs are still being met by someone else in the company.
Beyond the immediate aftermath of the departure, companies need to evaluate the workload and redistribute tasks to ensure that the remaining employees are not overburdened. This may involve hiring new employees or outsourcing some tasks to third-party vendors. It's also important to communicate any changes or updates to the team and clients to avoid confusion and maintain a transparent work environment.
In summary, ensuring 'business as usual' after an employee departs involves assigning their workload, transferring necessary knowledge, communicating the departure to clients, evaluating workload and redistributing tasks, and maintaining transparent communication with the team and clients. This ensures that the company can continue to function without any significant disruptions and maintain the morale and productivity of the remaining employees.
Bonus tips for the employee resignation process
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Determine the plan to communicate the resignation to the rest of the company before the person resigning leaves your office.
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Decide on an end date that works for both the person resigning and the company.
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Have a transition plan for the person’s responsibilities and notify key stakeholders.
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Congratulate the person on their new opportunity and thank them for their service to the company.
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Consider the reasons for the person’s resignation and ask yourself if there are things you would do differently the next time around.
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Cover the basic fundamentals of managing the paperwork and compliance side of the equation, which includes things like returning company property, deactivating employee access to all the systems they're using as well as their email etc, and finally, sending them a separation certificate.
Creating a Solid Offboarding Process
Resignations can cause disruptions and create challenges for companies, but with the right offboarding process in place, businesses can manage the transition and ensure that the departing employee leaves on a positive note.
Offboarding involves managing the employee experience as they leave the company, ensuring that all the necessary steps are taken to effectively end their tenure. A good offboarding process can support departing employees, gain valuable feedback from them, create advocates for the company, and ensure that the company gets everything it needs before the employee departs.
To manage the offboarding process efficiently, businesses can gather honest feedback from the departing employee, ensure business as usual, and address any employee dissatisfaction. They can also assign the departing employee's workload to someone else, transfer necessary knowledge, communicate the departure to clients, and evaluate workload to avoid overburdening remaining employees.
With these best practices in mind, businesses can handle resignations smoothly and maintain a positive relationship with departing employees. 👍
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
What is offboarding in HR?
Offboarding is the process of managing an employee's departure from a company, whether through resignation, retirement, or termination. This process encompasses all the necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition, such as transferring job responsibilities, collecting equipment, deactivating access rights, and conducting exit interviews.
Why is offboarding important?
Offboarding is important because it allows companies to manage risks, logistics, and part ways positively while receiving valuable feedback for improvement. It also provides an opportunity to support departing employees during a difficult time and gain insights from them. A positive offboarding experience can create advocates for the company and prevent negative reviews from former employees.
What should be included in an HR offboarding checklist?
An HR offboarding checklist should include the following:
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Gathering honest feedback from the departing employee through an exit interview
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Addressing any employee dissatisfaction and making necessary changes
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Assigning the departing employee's workload to someone else
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Transferring necessary knowledge and skills
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Communicating the departure to clients and ensuring their needs are still being met
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Evaluating workload and redistributing tasks to avoid overburdening remaining employees
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Maintaining transparent communication with the team and clients
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Managing the paperwork and compliance side of the equation
How can companies ensure business as usual after an employee departs?
Companies can ensure business as usual after an employee departs by assigning the departing employee's workload to someone else, transferring necessary knowledge, communicating the departure to clients, evaluating workload and redistributing tasks, and maintaining transparent communication with the team and clients.
What are some bonus tips for the employee resignation process?
Some bonus tips for the employee resignation process include determining the plan to communicate the resignation to the rest of the company, deciding on an end date that works for both the person resigning and the company, having a transition plan for the person's responsibilities and notifying key stakeholders, congratulating the person on their new opportunity and thanking them for their service to the company, and covering the basic fundamentals of managing the paperwork and compliance side of the equation.
What is the role of HR self-service in the employee onboarding process?
HR self-service allows new hires to complete many of the necessary administrative tasks online, such as filling out employee onboarding forms and providing important information about themselves. This frees up HR personnel to focus on other aspects of the onboarding process, such as introducing new hires to company culture and providing training.
How can employee onboarding software improve the onboarding process?
Employee onboarding software can streamline the onboarding process by automating administrative tasks, providing a central location for new hires to access information, and integrating with other HR systems. This can save time and reduce errors, as well as providing a more efficient and effective onboarding experience for new hires.
What is an employee onboarding form?
An employee onboarding form is a document used to gather important information from new hires, such as their contact information, employment eligibility verification, tax forms, and emergency contact information. These forms are often completed online as part of the HR self-service process.
What are some employee onboarding tools that can be used to improve the onboarding process?
Employee onboarding tools can include software applications, online training modules, and checklists. These tools can help to automate administrative tasks, provide training and support for new hires, and ensure that all necessary steps are completed during the onboarding process.
What are some best practices for employee onboarding?
Some best practices for employee onboarding include setting clear expectations, providing a welcoming and supportive environment, involving current employees in the process, and providing ongoing training and support. Additionally, using HR self-service and employee onboarding software can help to streamline the process and provide a better overall experience for new hires.
What is HR self-service?
HR self-service is a technology solution that allows employees to access and manage their own HR-related information, such as updating personal information, requesting time off, viewing pay stubs, and enrolling in benefits. It reduces the administrative burden on HR departments and gives employees more control over their HR-related tasks.
What are the benefits of HR self-service?
The benefits of HR self-service include:
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Reduced administrative burden on HR departments
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Increased accuracy and efficiency of HR-related tasks
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Improved employee engagement and satisfaction
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Increased compliance with HR policies and regulations
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Cost savings due to decreased paperwork and manual processing
What is an employee onboarding process?
An employee onboarding process is the process of integrating new employees into an organization and familiarizing them with the company culture, policies, and procedures. It typically includes activities such as orientation sessions, introductions to colleagues and management, training and development, and paperwork completion.
What is employee onboarding software?
Employee onboarding software is a technology solution that automates and streamlines the employee onboarding process. It typically includes features such as electronic forms and signatures, task tracking and reminders, and pre-built workflows and templates.
What are employee onboarding forms?
Employee onboarding forms are documents that new employees must complete as part of the onboarding process. They typically include personal information, tax forms, direct deposit information, emergency contact information, and other details necessary for employment.
What are employee onboarding tools?
Employee onboarding tools are software solutions or services that help companies automate and streamline the onboarding process. They can include features such as electronic forms, checklists, task management, and communication tools.
What are employee onboarding best practices?
Employee onboarding best practices include:
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Starting the onboarding process before the employee's first day
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Providing clear and comprehensive job descriptions and expectations
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Assigning a mentor or buddy to help the new employee acclimate to the company culture
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Providing training and development opportunities
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Maintaining regular communication with the new employee
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Gathering feedback and making improvements to the onboarding process over time.
