Off-boarding is the natural process of removing an employee from an organization, either due to resignation or termination, but few companies are adequately prepared for it. According to The Balance, the median tenure of employees ages 25–34 is just 3.2 years; less than a third of the 10.3-year median tenure of employees 65 years and older.
If your employees may be planning to jump ship in the next couple of years, you need a proper strategy in place to make the transitions easier and protect your business from lawsuits. In this post we’ll explore a few employee off-boarding best practices.
Knowledge Transfer
When an employee leaves your company, someone else must be trained to do their job. This process is called a knowledge transfer and, ideally, will be handled by the departing employee. In the event of termination, though, there may not be time for this…
To keep your business operating at an optimum level, make sure every position has a written manual that details job responsibilities and how those responsibilities are to be completed.
Communicate the Change
Regardless of whether an employee is terminated or has decided to leave of their own accord, be prepared to communicate the change with all relevant personnel. This may include, but is not limited to, Human Resources, Payroll and Accounting, IT, and all relevant department supervisors. If the employee works directly with clients or vendors, you may want to notify them of the change as well so that they’re not surprised when they begin dealing with a new person.
Resignation letters, termination letters, non-disclosure agreements, and tax documents should all be prepared and kept on file. Also consider providing documentation on how the employee can move their retirement benefits, whether they will be paid for unused time off, and/or when other benefits will become void.
Perform an Exit Interview
Exit interviews are more for your organization than they are for the departing employee, and a lot can be learned from them. Perhaps you’ll discover a pattern in why people leave that should be addressed. All exit interview answers should be thoughtfully considered by your organization to ensure you’re creating a company atmosphere people want to be a part of long-term.
Changes in Your Business Systems
Whether it’s custom software, packaged CRMs, or company email, make sure that access to confidential company information has been revoked for the departing employee.
You will also want to disable their time log-in and retrieve any badges, uniforms, or other items your company has provided for the use of employees. If they have an expense account or a company credit card, make sure that accounting is made aware of the change and appropriately addresses the situation.
Learn more about offboarding software and access more articles about HR. Looking for the best HR solutions for your business? Look no further.
HR Cloud is a leading developer of HR software & HRMS solutions for small and medium size businesses that have high turnover. HR Cloud’s Onboard is market leading technology for effective new hire onboarding and Workmates enables employee engagement simply and easily. Founded in 2012, our HRIS empowers teams to easily onboard new hires, manage employee data, create a company social network and support employee development.
Originally published at https://www.hrcloud.com.
