The entries (Onboarding) and outlets (Offboarding) of employees in the company are two critical moments that are often not managed correctly by companies and can lead to various operational problems.
Many companies neglect the process of terminating an employee's employment until the employee leaves the company. It is very common for HR departments to focus only on employee care when the employee is an employee, but to stop doing so in the moment before the employee leaves the company.
However, without considering the Offboarding as a fundamental aspect of any company's relationship with a worker, In this case, the exit process could be carried out erroneously and therefore the company could make a serious mistake.
The exit process of an employee or Offboarding must always facilitate the employee's departure and ensure that the company does not blame the employee for his or her absence, and come out stronger for it. Anticipation and goodwill on both sides are fundamental to the success of this process.
Let's take a look at what exactly the Offboarding, Why is it so important and what are the steps to follow in order to carry out this process correctly?.
What is the Offboarding
The Offboarding is the the process of terminating an employee's employment and all the measures taken by the company to carry out this process. This procedure is divided into several stages in which the company focuses on specific aspects.
The ultimate objective of the Offboarding is evto avoid traumatic exits and to ensure the normal functioning of the activity. of the company while this is happening.
The main difference between Onboarding and Offboarding is that, in the first case, when a worker enters a company, there is a tendency to prioritise his or her satisfaction.
Whereas in the second case, the future of the company is prioritised and given more importance, regardless of what the employee who leaves the company may think or feel.
The Offboarding is an essential tool when an employee leaves the company, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Unfortunately, there are still many Human Resources departments that do not understand the importance of carrying out a correct Offboarding.
Importance and benefits
- Maintains a good working climate. A departing employee who does not feel well treated in the company can be a source of tensions that can negatively affect the working climate.
- It promotes an orderly transition. It is very important that the employee who is leaving the company collaborates in the transition process. In other words, they should provide the company with the information it needs or train their future replacement.
- Improve talent retention. A correct Offboarding enhances the employer brand image of the company, which helps to strengthen its ability to retain talent.
- It helps to maintain a good relationship with former employees. Maintaining a good relationship with a former employee is very important to facilitate everything from future operations to eventual re-employment.
- It helps to collect valuable information for the company. The Offboarding helps to gather information about the company's performance and to identify areas for improvement.
- Avoid potential financial losses. Avoid making mistakes, such as continuing to pay benefits to employees who are no longer part of the workforce.
- Improve logistics. A plan to Offboarding must answer questions about how the functions of the employee who has left the company will be carried out, how the team will be coordinated until the position is filled, who will replace the employee who is leaving the company, etc.
Key aspects to manage it
There are a number of fundamental aspects that must be taken into account in order to correctly manage a process of Offboarding. Let's take a look at the following some of the most important:
- Planning. The success of an optimal Offboarding lies in the anticipation and planning of the measures taken by the company. For this purpose, it is very important to have up-to-date information on all employees, which is usually done with specialised software. Thanks to this software, it is possible to establish a retirement calendar, check the expiry date of current employment contracts, etc.
- Talent retention. Although a plan to Offboarding is aimed at managing employee exit is not at odds with retaining talent. For this reason, if an employee is very valuable to a company, part of a talent management plan should be to Offboarding should indicate how to try to keep that worker in the company, for example, with flexible compensation. In this case, performance appraisal software is a very useful tool to carry out this task as it provides concrete and reliable data on the employee's job performance.
- Avoid dysfunctions and reallocate all tasks. One of the main problems that any company faces after the departure of an employee is the need to reorganise the department and reassign tasks until a new employee joins the company. Thanks to the Offboarding We can anticipate this problem so that it does not affect the running of the company when the time comes. This can also be done by using software that makes it easier for team leaders to allocate the functions that will become vacant during a certain period of time.
- Speeding up departures. A swift process for the departure of an employee is essential, as delaying the deadlines can cause disruption to the company and leave a negative image for the employee. In addition, all procedures must be completed with the necessary guarantees to avoid problems later on.
- Taking care of every stage of the employee's life cycle. The opinion that an employee has of the company is conditioned by the relationship that has been maintained throughout the life cycle within the company. Leaving the company is just another stage in the cycle. Cordiality is always valued very positively at the end of an employment relationship and shows that the company's commitment to the well-being of its employees is sincere until the end of the cycle.
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