It is critical to have a strategic employee offboarding checklist in place for when an employee leaves. The employee offboarding process should be done with respect and care. So, your off-boarding checklist should not only guide your employees through returning employer assets but should also make them feel valued.

That will benefit you, the employer, in various ways. For one, it protects your reputation by reducing legal and security liabilities. It also helps you get honest feedback so that you may improve your processes. If a leaving employee is a top talent, you boost your chances of rehiring them in the future.

This post will walk you through the five elements your employee offboarding checklist should have.

Communicate employee’s departure

When an employee leaves, you should communicate the intended departure to existing employees. This can benefit the employee because it prevents any potentially damaging gossip about their departure. This benefits you as the employer, too. When there are no office rumors, your existing employees don’t get distracted from their actual work.

Besides, when you announce an employee’s departure, you technically also announce that their job position will soon be available. Chances are, current employees interested in the position will approach you about their intent to apply. If they are qualified for the post, you can cut short your recruitment process for that position because you already have a pool of candidates to choose from.

But that’s not all. If you end up hiring a successor from within the organization, you end up not spending as much for recruitment either. According to SHRM, internal recruitment is less expensive than external recruitment. After all, you typically don’t have to train an existing employee who is already familiar with the organizational culture and processes.

Make sure you and the employee who’s leaving agree on a time and place for the announcement. Ask them if they would like their reasons for leaving the broadcast. If they don’t want the reasons announced, then respect their decision.

Facilitate transfer of knowledge to a successor

If you’ve chosen a successor before the employee’s departure, then you might want to arrange a meeting between the two of them. Ask the departing employee to teach everything the successor needs to know about the new role during the meeting.

Make sure, though, that the teaching isn’t done verbally alone. Although it’s good for the successor to know the job-related theory, what matters the most in the workplace is how this theory is applied. That’s something the departing employee should show the successor, too.

So, ask the employee who’s leaving to show the successor the new equipment to be used, if any, and the process to be followed in specific situations. They should also physically show their successor where to go for sign-offs and whom to report to. For this, you can also arrange a meeting between the successor and their new bosses.

When an employee leaves, employers should ensure there is no disruption in work operations. You can prevent this disruption by facilitating the transfer of knowledge to the employee who will fill the soon-to-be-vacated job post. Remember, there’s no better person to teach what an employee should know to perform their new role well than their predecessor.

Prepare an asset handover checklist

Employees carry out their duties using tools provided by the employer. When the employee is about to leave, it is crucial to get these things back. These things can be physical and non-physical items. Items considered tangible include computers, cash, and credit cards. Non-physical items include software licenses and installs, user allocations, and product access.

The Human Resources department, Employer of Record, and asset management must work closely to retrieve the assets. They should develop an off-boarding asset handover checklist.

To make it easier to develop such a list, it’s best to create a list of all the employer items handed over to your employees as soon as they’re hired. You can base your offboarding asset handover checklist on this onboarding list. If you don’t have an onboarding process in the first place, you’ll have to check with the departing employees’ supervisors and colleagues to create the offboarding list.

When the items have been returned, make the necessary updates to your management database.

Conduct the exit interview

One of the critical items on the employee offboarding checklist is an exit interview. Exit interviews often include conversations regarding employee experiences, and their reasons for leaving, among others.

Employees leaving voluntarily are usually open to having an honest discussion with the employer. If the employee agrees to offer an exit interview, your off-boarding program can provide you with valuable information for your recruitment marketing. You may learn about areas that need to be strengthened to increase employee retention and productivity and boost your market position regarding salary benefits and incentive programs.

To get the most out of the exit interview, carefully structure and prepare the questions. Make sure you ask direct and specific questions. Here are some exit interview questions to consider:

• What led you to accept the new position?
• What could have been done for you to remain employed here?
• Did you receive constructive feedback to help you improve your performance?
• Would you consider coming back to work here in the future? In what area or function? What would need to change?
• How likely are you to recommend our organization to your friends?

During the interview, you must encourage honesty and assure them their comments will be cloaked in anonymity. Also, make sure you run the interview in an environment that allows employees to be open.

Complete any HR documentation

It is critical to complete all documents and mutual obligations between the employer and employees, especially severance agreements. That can help protect you from potential disputes.

A resignation letter, non-disclosure agreement, pending compensation or benefits, and recommendation letter are some of the documents you must address.

So, go through each document in-depth with your employee. Arrange for the outgoing employee’s final payment to be given either at the time of departure or later, such as the following regular pay day. Also, notify your employees that their employer-sponsored health insurance will be terminated and explain how they can get continuing health coverage, if applicable.

You may also talk about your reference policy for future jobs and if you’re ready to provide reference letters or only confirm the employee’s dates of employment and position.

If an employee leaves involuntarily, you may want to offer severance money to avoid a lawsuit for discrimination or wrongful termination. Because of the complexities of the law in this area, you should draft severance agreements with an experienced employment law expert.

Wrapping Up

A good last impression might be just as crucial as a good first one. That means offboarding employees is a vital process for both the employee and the employer.

An effective offboarding process may help you secure critical information for the organization, preserve your reputation, and reduce the possibility of legal problems. Employees may also support your organization by coming back as boomerang employees or spreading word of mouth about it.

Offboarding may be stressful, even if the employee is leaving on good terms. So, to keep your offboarding process productive and on track, use an employee offboarding checklist. It ensures that you and your team have considered all that needs to be done for a smooth employee exit process that doesn’t disrupt work operations.