#003 - People want to leave a legacy.
● Meaning and importance.
● Practical suggestions.
● ROI is (really) high.
🚀 Welcome back to the Imprv.ing newsletter, Andrea’s here.
Every week I send you a handful of guides to introduce innovative practices in the the world of work.
Enjoy this article and feel free to get in touch!
Goodbye is just as important as Welcome.
Whether you are a Business Manager or HR Prof., there’s a 100% chance that you have seen a colleague leaving the company.
Sometimes the news comes without notice, but most of the cases are well-known before the final exit date.
These are opportunities that only a few companies take care of.
Maybe you have been the one who has lived through this process. Maybe you were the one who was leaving. ❌
So, you know what I’m talking about.
But the fact that goes undercover is that employee offboarding gets far less attention than the parent process (onboarding).
72% of all organizations declare that they don’t have a formal offboarding process. 🤯
But these moments are crucial to avoid service interruptions, activate new resources faster, keep your company knowledge updated and work also as a powerful sign of Employer Branding. 🎯
Let’s see how we can transform offbarding into a strategic process.
Offboarding, not just for the people that are leaving, is important for the people that are actually in the company
When someone resigns or decides to leave the company, there is a subtle reaction from the organization: a fall in trust.
Even if the relationship has been good and faithful, the emotional reaction sometimes affects the efficiency of the professional involved.
That’s why a strong offboarding process can help increase your brand: 🌱
Leaving (happy) employees can be a brand ambassadors over time.
The remaining employees will benefit from more precise workload management and see that the company cares about them.
⏩ Why is SO important?
Spoiler: Productivity means 💲💲
Whether can be the reason for the replacement, the scope of a good handover is to minimize the business impact of the substitution.
Jumping through different information without the opportunity to ask or work with the business owner is THE critical nightmare of all new hires. 🤯
We all know that when the termination date approaches, the efficiency of the professional will progressively decrease until zero. It’s normal.
Sometimes there is also the opposite behavior when the professional hoards the information until the last day, which can even be worse. ❌
For any HR professional armed with goodwill, there is a manager who knows that the replacement with a proper handover is, in most cases, just a dream.
Usually, companies do not have the time, the money, or the ability to create the conditions to overlap 2 professionals for a certain period.
That’s why a good offboarding process and a smooth handover can actively reduce the loss of productivity and help the knowledge transition. ✅
🗺️ What you can do to improve it?
The changing work environment requires a flexible set of policies, and Offboarding in the right way can be a strategic source of information to improve the company’s culture.
The learning curve for new hires will become more steep in a shorter time, and this activation means better business performance.
Offboarding is a mindset that don’t want to leave anything undercover.
The key to performing a successful handover is to have a clear and shared strategy before the event, to allow the transfer of knowledge smoothly and systematically 👇
Documentation:
Even the best professional will be lost without clear explanations. Creating guidelines is essential to start.
Show off what processes and activities are due, when they occur, and which are the stakeholders to refer to.Tip: create a doc. file with a general-level presentation.
Information location:
Links, accounts, tools, and folders must be synchronized and explained.Tip: copy the system authorization for the new user, saving 💲and⌚
Engagement method: to be effective, the handover must create a two-way communication, reducing the blank space between before and after. Knowledge transfer can occur in many ways, such as direct meetings, webinars, and video pills.
Tip: organize team meetings, 1to1 intros, and record activity processes.
Communication: read this twice, please. Sometimes very few people know about the exit of a colleague until the end date.
Excluding the case of disciplinary or labor law conflicts, once the #HR processes have been settled, everybody in the company must know.
Tip: a farewell communication by HR & Business Manager is due.
▶️ Overlapping matters.
The process described in the point above is mandatory in any case, but the overlapping occasion cannot be underestimated.
The most important benefit is to lift the efficiency point of the new hires: the moment in which the professional starts managing independently and effectively the activities assigned.
It might sound counter-intuitive, but by creating an overlapping period you are saving money.
Other stakeholders are more confident that activities are under control because they can temporarily rely on old experiences.
Emotional and leadership issues can be reduced with a “Senpai mentality” (old helping/coaching the new) during this phase.
By organizing intros to other functions, supported by a good documentation stack, you are effectively creating the ground for a successful onboarding.
Yes, you have read it well. ON and OFF boarding are the 2 sides of the same coin and cannot be separated. This cycle is a loop that will help to defend the knowledge and the culture of the Company.
🌱 ROI is high in this process.
Ok, now you are convinced. Work on offboarding is on the task list.
Here’s a list of benefits that your organization will gain, and that can be used to convince any internal stakeholder to work on it:
A positive final relationship is the best way to create good brand awareness. With proper offboarding, ex-employees can become the best ambassadors for your company and avoid criticism. Glassdoor will never be a backlash!
Collecting useful feedback in the final phase can help to improve by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the organization.
Don’t be scared to perform exit interviews.
The data safety of the company can be defended better, by eliminating all access to information without stress.
Knowledge coming from highly-skilled professionals is really powerful to keep the successful behavior of the position.
Activating an offboarding will force the organization to document, write, and analyze its processes. This will lead to more efficiency and control.
Ready to do it? All you need is a strong mentality and a crystal-clear process. 🛠️
In the beginning, my suggestion is to lay down a critical path about what is needed to perform a good offboarding depending on the principles shown above and the type of business that you’re into.
Share this approach as a company policy to fix it in the mindset of people.
Then, use some virtuous case to scale!
That’s all! I hope to have put the flea in your ear. If you need help or want to know more, feel free to get in touch!
See you in the next letter, where we will discuss the neverending process of talent acquisition.
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