Off-Boarding: What to Do When It’s time for Employees to Move On
Whether you have the responsibility of terminating an employee or the individual has decided to accept a new opportunity elsewhere, off-boarding can be stressful. It’s crucial that business owners know what to do when it’s time for employees to move on. Indeed, the off-boarding process should be considered from day one of your business.
How to Properly Off-Board
As a business, it is generally helpful to understand why an employee is leaving (if they are changing employers), and if you’re terminating someone, you must ensure that you’re following the law (even in at-will states). Regardless of how the decision to leave was made, clear communication throughout the proper channels is key during the off-boarding process. Here’s a checklist you can use.
Communicate the change with those who need to know. There’s a good chance that you don’t need to tell everyone in your organization that someone is leaving. However, the employee’s manager, HR, and the department head all need to be in the know. Payroll and IT are integral parts of your business and must be in the loop so that the appropriate changes to systems and log-ins can be made. When you communicate with the employee, be kind and professional — even if they aren’t leaving under the best circumstances.
Have the proper “paperwork” ready. Businesses have previously tried to save some time by creating templates pertaining to termination, resignation, tax documents, and other documents related to benefits and legal agreements. Providing information about when tax documents may be expected, how employees can transfer their retirement plans and if they will be paid for unused vacation, and when they may expect their last paycheck can be very helpful. Make sure that your business makes and retains copies of all letters and documents, including non-disclosure or non-compete agreements.
Complete an exit interview. This is important when employees leave. Ask for honest feedback and really listen to what’s being said (and what isn’t being said). This can help your company retain the best possible employees — and potentially improve its bottom line. If you notice a trend during exit interviews, take it seriously and look into the matter.
Collect company assets. If your business provides a cell phone, tablet, laptop, uniforms, keys, or expense accounts, these items need to be collected as soon as possible. If the employee has an expense account, close it out and reimburse the former employee in a timely manner.
Don’t forget the electronic assets. To protect confidential information, immediately disable an off-boarding employee’s email, log-ins, and other electronic assets that belong to the company. Your company should also update online directories and/or its website. Emails and phone calls should be set to route to the replacement or to the supervisor to ensure that client care is not disrupted.
HR Cloud is the market leader in onboarding and offboarding solutions, making all of the necessary “paperwork” automated and collection of company assets itemized. The HR Cloud suite offers individual portals that ensure all of the necessary tasks are organized at the outset for an employee. With Onboard, it generates a seemless procedure that pays dividends at the end of the employee life cycle, making offboarding just as simple as it is when bringing on new hires. In HR Cloud’s Offboard application, it provides a customizable portal making the offboarding of employees to be as frictionless and transparent as possible. HR Cloud understands that from an organizational standpoint, ending employment effectively makes a company strong from beginning to end, getting your company back to business.
For more information on how to use HR Cloud to establish an automated off-boarding process, contact us.
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.
