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Say goodbye to your employees with this easy off-boarding checklist
The employee exit process is never a pleasant one, the employee can be emotional, where the team might be going through a transition, whereas HR will have to make sure that the off-boarding experience is absolutely pleasant and smooth. While areas such as onboarding and performance get extremely high attention, the off-boarding process might be a little less popular within team HR. It is important that your company provides a wholesome experience from hire to retire for an employee, making an ex-employee an advocate or a referral for your company.
Off-boarding is the formal process that leads to a separation between the employee and the company through a resignation, termination or retirement. Off-boarding process includes all decisions and processes that take place as soon as an employee hands over resignation. This includes:
- • Transferring employee’s work and responsibilities
- • Transferring employee’s work and responsibilitiesTaking over control to access company assets including rights and passwords
- • Conducting exit interviews and collecting feedback for improvement.
Off-boarding helps a company mitigate risks, prevent legal issues and manage logistical and transition issues that take place as soon as an employee decides to leave. A smooth off-boarding process can make the employee comfortable, and a smooth exit can pave the way for additional opportunities, networking and referrals.
Here are 6 steps to follow in an off-boarding process that will help you reduce your time with ad hoc tasks during this process.
- • Communicate the decision to required partiesCommunicate the decision to required parties
As soon as the decision is made, HR needs to act fast. Accepting the resignation, informing the employee and the required teams about the decision is mandatory. It is courtesy that HR informs the reason as well to avoid miscommunications. HR needs to inform Payroll and IT so that they could start on the off-boarding process alongside HR.
- • Get ready with the paperwork
It is important to get the necessary documents in place as soon as the off-boarding process starts. There are 3 vital documents that require the urgent attention of HR.
- • Letter of resignation or termination
- • Letter of resignation or termination
- • Non-disclosure and Non-compete agreements if applicable
- • Benefit plan documents
It is the duty of HR to inform the employee on medical coverage, health benefits etc. for the transition period. If the company has an HR system which has a benefits module, then it automatically would notify the employee and HR department.
- • Plan and execute the knowledge transfer
Once an employee gives notice, HR needs to initiate the knowledge transfer. Depending on the role and job requirement, the employee could break it down to daily tasks, step by step instructions or any project handovers. Knowledge transfer also includes the successor receiving access to files, systems, informing the contacts within and outside the company about the transition.
- • Do the exit interview
If done right, an exit interview will add immense value to the company in understanding the weaknesses within and will give insights to rectify these issues and bottlenecks. One of the most important aspects of the off-boarding process, the exit interview needs to be handled by a neutral party such as the HR manager not the supervisor of the employee.
- • Handover company assets
When an employee’s stay comes to an end, the assets used by an employee need to be handed over to the networking division. These assets include physical assets such as laptops, uniforms, keys, ID’s, devices. The non-physical assets include access rights to software and network services.
- • Memorable farewell
The process is tiring, but it is important to have some fun and make the employee leave in good spirits. A long-standing employee deserves a farewell celebration with emotions to say goodbye. It is not only about a great first impression, it is also about their final impression which can lead to many positive things including the employee joining back on a later date.
Download our Off-boarding checklist and guidelines which will make your life easier. Drop a message if you have any questions, we are happy to help you with your off-boarding process.
Blog Author
Heading the marketing team for hSenidBiz and PeoplesHR, Vichalya focuses on creating compelling marketing experiences with the product, people, and brand together. Being involved in the HR Tech industry & having gained over 8 years of domain experience, she closely monitors HR trends and patterns in the ever changing corporate world. Vichalya joined hSenid in 2013, bringing with her a decade of marketing and leadership experience.
