Employees come and go throughout the years. As exciting as it is to hire new people, sometimes the path between employee and employer diverges.
When an employee leaves your company, it’s necessary to have a thorough process in place to make the procedure smooth for everyone.
Today we’re sharing with you our detailed Employee Offboarding Checklist which you can implement in your business.
What Is an Offboarding Process and Why Is It Necessary
Offboarding is a process that includes all steps required to formally end the working relationship between an employer and an employee.
It follows everything from the decision to execution, regardless of the reason (resignation, retirement, termination, transfer, etc.).
In general, the goal of Offboarding is to streamline the process to make it easy for everyone involved.
Remember, the employee leaving is not the only one affected by the process.
Difficulties with employee offboarding will be felt by their colleagues as well.
These can come in the form of not distributing the new workload properly and in time, creating frustration and overworking.
However, they can also come at an emotional level, such as broken promises and negative connotations surrounding their departure.
The best Offboarding processes save everyone’s time, ties up loose ends, and help the relationship end on good terms for everyone.
Employee Offboarding Checklist
Detailed checklists are the best way to formalize and standardize a repeating process such as Offboarding.
They help guide us through all necessary steps and make sure we don’t miss anything.
Here’s a quick rundown of our Employee Offboarding Checklist:
- Prepare the paperwork
- Announce the departure
- Conduct An Exit Interview
- Recover Company Assets
- Remove Them From The System
- End On a High Note
1. Prepare The Paperwork
Preparing and filing the paperwork is a redundant but necessary first step.
It starts with a document formally announcing the decision, such as a letter of resignation, contract cancellation request, the infamous two-weeks’ notice, and similar.
Depending on the type of business, it may be necessary to sign documents of confidentiality – such as non-disclosure agreements (NDA), information security compliances, intellectual property licenses, etc.
Then it’s time to settle benefits that will be paid out (or transferred to a new work position), including the final paycheck, retirement/pension plans, tax documents, bonuses, compensations, and other benefits.
2. Announce The Departure
Once the paperwork is done, it’s time to let everybody in the loop know about the departure.
Although employees often verbally inform their closest colleagues and superiors about the decision, it’s always good practice for them to send a goodbye email to the relevant departments.
If you don’t have an immediate replacement, inform the employees who will take on their responsibilities as soon as possible, so that they might prepare for an increased workload.
Then it’s time for the ex-employees superior to inform HR and IT, to help them prepare for the following steps.
3. Conduct an Exit Interview
Exit interviews can be mutually beneficial and failing to conduct one can leave a lot of unanswered questions.
This interview is the perfect time to talk to your employee with complete honesty about why and how the decision to part ways was made, and what’s in store for the future.
Both parties should be encouraged to give feedback.
Always ask exceptional employees for tips and tricks which can be passed on to their successors.
The goal is to end on good terms, so let them know how much you appreciated their effort and what their key strengths were to you.
The Exit Interview is also a good time to make a final counter offer.
Finally, if the employee held a senior position, you may want to ask them who they think should take over.
4. Recover Company Assets
Company assets include anything from physical equipment, intellectual property, and shared information.
Agree with them on a time and date to return things like work equipment, electronics (laptop, phone, gadgets), vehicles, clothing items, etc.
Dealing with intellectual property – creative work, design blueprints, or software rights for example – should already be covered in detail in the paperwork.
If not, this is the time to negotiate.
Depending on the asset’s value, you may offer the employee to buy them off or give them away as a courtesy.
Otherwise, recovery of said assets is a top priority for security and legal reasons.
Recovering shared information is a process of its own, which we’ll talk about in detail in the next step.
5. Remove Them From The System
When an employee leaves a company, safely removing them from the network is a top priority.
Revoke the employees’ access to company resources and uncheck their devices from whitelists.
Then it’s time to delete their work accounts.
Leaving them around poses major security risks, even if they’re effectively disabled. (linkuj neki od blogova vezan za cyber security)
Remove them from email lists, scheduled meetings, and calendar events.
Don’t forget to update passwords on shared accounts.
Finally, remember to update the company tree, both internally and externally.
6. End On a High Note
Now that the formalities are done, you can opt to have some fun.
Encourage/help the employee organize a sendoff event, even if it’s just an after-work coffee.
Organize their colleagues into getting a farewell gift to help them feel appreciated.
Remember to give them tokens of their achievement, such as any diplomas, certificates, trophies, etc. they’ve earned through both formal and for-fun events.
Exchange contact information – stay in touch, you never know when you’ll meet again.
Keep them in the loop easily through social media such as LinkedIn.
Who knows – a few years from now they could return with new knowledge and experience or you may end up as business partners.
Company and HR Challenges During Employee Offboarding
During Offboarding, the biggest challenges to HR and IT come in the form of cyber-security.
With proper paperwork providing legal protection, it’s safe to assume your ex-employee doesn’t have ill intent.
However, it’s important to quickly remove them from company systems.
Revoking their access, changing their passwords, or taking back their devices is the necessary first step, but not the complete process.
The job is not done until they’re completely removed.
Leaving loose ends, such as unused accounts, can cause you trouble in the future.
Compromised “ghost accounts” (as they are known) are a common way for hackers to gain access to a company’s network.
Luckily, the right software helps take care of most, if not all Offboarding challenges.
AppsCo Makes Employee Offboarding Effortless
AppsCo is a company master-management tool capable of handling your HR and IT needs.
It’s completely cloud-based, meaning you can access it on all types of devices via the internet.
Among its many uses, the app can:
- Onboard/Offboard employees
- Create and manage the employee register
- Grant or revoke access to resources and devices in a few clicks
- Enforce multi-factor authentication
- Track all time metrics
- Delegate and oversee individual or group tasks and projects
- Integrate company policy
- Assist in necessary system audits (IAM/CIAM)
The best about AppsCo is, all of this can be achieved using just ONE app.
