As it’s the start of a new year, it’s typical that people will be considering making a career move and over the next few months, resigning from their current position. Most companies these days pay particular attention to onboarding new staff members, ensuring they have a positive experience in the initial days, weeks and months of their employment. But how many companies will have the same emphasis on Offboarding?
The purpose of offboarding is to manage an employee’s departure from a company. During some recent conversations with candidates, it is apparent that some companies have given little thought to offboarding. Quite a few candidates are having unpleasant experiences during their exit and companies need to give this some attention. These experiences have included being ignored, spoken to aggressively, or spoken about in a derisory manner to their colleagues. One candidate had access to systems cut off without consultation – this person had no conflict of interest in their new role and was still serving notice. This treatment will be perceived as deliberate and can seem personal to the person exiting a business.
Some experiences aren’t as blatant, but are equally poor. Another candidate I have spoken with recently had given 15 years’ service in a leading company who claim to be a “great place to work”. He worked in several roles across the company, winning awards along the way and had really made an impact. He resigned to work in a different industry and to be a bit closer to home but left with little aplomb and was offered no exit interview, goodbye, or thank you from anyone in a leadership or HR capacity for his efforts. All he received was a template letter reminding him to return his equipment before his last day. This really rankled with him. He felt his time & commitment with this business was not appreciated and despite enjoying his time there, his final experience has left him with a bitter taste.
In my view, companies should do their utmost to focus on maintaining a positive relationship (if possible) with the person leaving, while they tie up any loose ends. Employees exiting a business should be treated with dignity in a courteous, respectful manner and at the very least be made to feel that their efforts meant something. As a business you will garner valuable information from an exit interview. Departing employees are more likely to provide genuine feedback about their experience and this feedback from the exit interview can help you identify your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses. The last impression they have of your business is what they will remember first, and this will be relayed again and again to other prospective talent so don’t forget that the opinions and reviews of ex-employees hold considerable weight.
Your existing employees will also witness how you treat employees who are leaving, and this can influence their perception of your company and even their level of engagement.
A companiy’s values should impact every aspect of the employees experience, therefore, the more your organisation does to create a positive lasting impression for departing employees by offering an excellent employee offboarding process, the more likely they’ll leave as company advocates instead of critics.
