“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Resigning from a role that you find passion in and rewarding can be challenging. There can be overwhelming conflicting thoughts, fears, and hesitations. As the employer of a resigning employee, your reactions and the company offboarding process can either strengthen a departing employee’s resolve to leave or implant a lasting positive experience that has long-term benefits for the company. 

My first job in corporate America was for “Company X”. I was with the company for 18 months before realizing that HR was my future, but it would need to be with a different employer. So, I found new employment and gave Company X my two-week written notice.

Having been part of Company X’s HR team for the past 18 months, I had some preconceived notions of what my off-boarding experience would look like, and to be honest, I was looking forward to the opportunity to provide some constructive feedback during my exit interview. Up until that time, I had nothing but positive performance reviews,  received an Employee Of The Month award, and based on all the preceding interactions with my team and direct manager, I was well-liked as an individual. However, the events that unfolded during the next two weeks of my final time with Company X were so negatively impactful on myself and my team, that they left me with strong opinions that followed me for the next 20+ years of my human resources career. 

Let’s pause here and talk about why an offboarding process is essential. According to Forbes, “A successful offboarding process will help your former employee and your company tactfully and gracefully handle what can otherwise be an awkward, stressful, and uncomfortable moment.” In a sense, offboarding is the reverse of onboarding in that it closes the loop in an employee lifecycle, ensuring a smooth transition for both the company and the employee. Offboarding an employee aids everyone impacted by the transition. Some of the benefits it provides include: 

• Reinforcing employer brand. More often than not, we will vaguely recall being onboarded while at the company, but what sticks with us is how the journey ended – for better or worse. 
• Boomerang employees. Employees who leave a company and later return for rehire are known as “boomerang” employees. Employees who experienced a positive offboarding process are more likely to return to the same employer for rehire because the process helps them feel more comfortable returning to work. Here are some pros of boomerang employees shared by Indeed:
  • Reduced expenses for training or certifications – returning workers likely already have the necessary qualifications for employment.
  • Improved employee morale – workers see that you don’t hold grudges when someone leaves.
  • Increased sales – a boomerang employee may bring an existing client base or encourage former customers to return.
  • Reduced risk – returning workers are more likely to stay long-term, and fewer surprises are associated with hiring someone you already know.
  • New ideas – boomerang employees can bring fresh ideas to your team thanks to their outside experience, which can help your business grow. 
• Reducing security risks. When your offboarding process includes the recovery of hardware and software and promotes communications regarding limited or expirations on access to accounts, the company can be proactive in limiting risks.
• Gaining valuable feedback. Departing employees tend to be more honest when leaving. Exit interviews are great platforms to identify areas for improvement and hear feedback that can truly move the needle on your team, leadership style, and organization.

Unique to each company’s culture, industry, location, and employee size, offboarding processes often vary in scope and complexity. However, most companies (and all of our clients) usually have a checklist of items that comprise the entirety of the offboarding process. These items include communicating the departure, recovering company assets, updating org charts and company directories, revoking systems access, completing the final pay process, and engaging in an interactive exit interview. Especially amid the hustle and bustle, an intentional goodbye can go a long way to end a chapter well for all parties involved.

Returning to my story, Company X did a great job at failing to leave me with a healthy offboarding experience. Instead, their poor and lacking offboarding process ensured that not only would I never recommend them as an employer, but it also became the measure I used to compare my future offboarding interactions with employees. For the last 20 years in Human Resources, whenever I am designing, implementing, or doing an offboarding, I always ask myself, “Is the process I am using valid, honoring the employees’ time and company resources?  Is this process complimentary to employees’ offboarding needs and a reflection of the company?” If none of those answers are positive or transparent, I recognize it’s time to pivot and adjust. 

Avoiding the bog of emotion and drama here, let’s talk about the facts and what Company X did wrong with their offboarding. 

• Downplaying the impact. During my last two weeks with Company X, my team of five was aware of my upcoming departure, but discussing the topic organically and openly was taboo and resulted in stern looks from the Director of HR. By not acknowledging my departure, Company X showed that it had a culture of minimizing the value and appreciation of employees. Company X’s culture of undervalued employees led to a history of a hostile workplace culture deeply rooted in competition and animosity between employees. 
• Failure to plan. My team needed more crucial communication regarding project reassignment and backfilling my role. Uncertainty about changing roles and added responsibilities resulting from a team member’s departure can lead to workplace dysfunction. Employees will experience anxiety over their supervisor’s expectations when their changing roles aren’t defined or communicated, even if those changes are temporary while a new team member is recruited and onboarded. This type of anxiety leads to conflicts between team members regarding who’s responsible for what. Co-worker conflicts can lead to breakdowns in workplace relationships that ultimately damage an entire whole team. Setting clear boundaries and expectations and communicating changes clearly can help prevent this dysfunction.
• Pervasive office gossip. As was within the normal SOP then, Company X included my employee photo and separation notice in a weekly staff newsletter. Unfortunately, the communication was done in a manner that left many of the details and facts up to the reader’s interpretation, as you can imagine, this led to speculation and gossip. Gossip thrives in hostile work environments, and when employees talk about each other behind their backs, it creates distrust, drama, distractions, and, in the worst cases, bullying. Gossip becomes toxic to company culture, productivity, operations, and teamwork when it prevents employees from openly communicating with each other. 

The fact of the matter is that employees will leave. Whether they leave you, their manager, or the company, whether voluntary or not, departures are inevitable. Crafting a healthy and helpful offboarding process is where your culture will shine or die. Getting it right can ensure a smooth operation between someone handing in their notice and their replacement starting. Not only does that provide an immediate benefit for the company, but, in the current climate, it could also translate to what the ripple effect is on the rest of the employee morale. No matter what industry you are in or the size of your company. The main goal of your offboarding process should be:

• Treat the departing employee with dignity, respect, and fairness. Regardless of the reasons behind a separation, an organization should demonstrate its values, culture, and commitment to its employees by following a consistent offboarding process. If they’re leaving out of bitterness or frustration, give them one less reason on their laundry list.
• Retain and transfer knowledge. When a company offboards an employee, the process should be designed to encourage and facilitate the transfer of the departing employee’s knowledge and expertise to other employees who can continue to use it in their work. This can ensure that the organization’s knowledge and expertise are preserved and continues to grow and evolve over time. 
• Minimize the potential operational risk and impact of the departure. Properly offboarding employees should minimize safety and security risks and negotiate the result of the exiting employee’s departure on the organization’s operations. This can be accomplished by providing support and training to other employees and tactfully communicating the departure to other employees and stakeholders. 

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Your company offboarding process isn’t a one-and-done deal. Like your company culture, it’s a living and ever-changing process. You should routinely check your processes to see what improvements can be made. You can gauge the health and strength of your offboarding process by regularly asking your team for feedback, doing pulse checks, and analyzing the changing needs. If you need assistance, Clarity HR is here to help you with the creation, implementation, and analysis. 

Written by: Lois Stowe