Processing leavers, or ‘offboarding’ typically has a number of steps and processes to ensure that a leaver’s exit runs smoothly, both for them and for the business.
People teams or managers often have a number of checklists or people to contact to ensure an adequate handover, return of equipment and processing of payroll is carried out effectively and that communication with the leaver is clear and timely throughout.
Whilst most companies have a strategy around their onboarding experience, sometimes the offboarding process is left to a bunch of tasks, rather than considering that your leavers may at some point be your future candidates and leaders and ensuring they leave feeling valued and open to returning.
We know that employees leave for a number of reasons. High on the list are often career progression and relationships with their manager. As businesses change and grow, and people gain new skills and perspectives, are you ensuring that you capitalise on your chances of bringing a valuable talent pool back into your business?
Most HR systems have email alerts and tasks that you can build into workflows to manage the process bits, even allowing customisation for different brands and territories. If these are mostly taken care of, this could allow People teams to focus on the human impact that could make all the difference.
Instead of using technology to carry out your exit interviews, ensure there is a human element to the process, to encourage richer feedback and to ensure your leaver feels that they were valued. This opportunity also allows you to listen, show empathy and understand if there would be anything that might prevent them from returning in the future.
The best offboarding experience I’ve personally experienced, was where the company sent me questions in advance and then made me feel safe to speak openly about my experiences and made it clear that I’d be a huge loss, and the door would always be open for me to return.
Going one step further, I wasn’t ignored by my boss for the duration of my notice period (this did happen to me once!) and I felt really engaged and accountable for ensuring there was a thorough handover and that my colleagues and clients were equipped to continue without me.
I was asked to join an alumni group which sends a bi-annual newsletter by email and hosts an annual summer party to reconnect and share successes.
These touch points, even years after leaving, keep a positive company image in my mind and make it less intimidating to consider a return or to recommend them as a great place to work.
Organisations often look at turnover stats and reasons for leaving, but it’s exciting to see teams starting to use dashboards, analytics and AI, allowing them to review broader data points and much larger volumes of data to understand how your exit, performance and engagement data can really shape a great place to work.
If you have the chance to utilise your HR systems to do the process and analytics elements of offboarding, consider how you could make your offboarding more strategic, adding that human touch that could really make a difference and ensure your leavers remain strong advocates.