An often overlooked step in the employee experience, offboarding is nevertheless a real opportunity to offer the employee an unforgettable experience. We'll explain to you how.
While situations creating Turnover in companies are numerous (resignations, maternity leave replacements, rotation of students on internship/work-study programs...), the desire to welcome talent through a unique employee experience is at the heart of current HR strategies. Many solutions are proposed in order to integrate and then retain a new employee. On the other hand, few resources are allocated to manage his departure. However, the last impression is decisive in satisfying the employee experience and making a positive impression. Let's see how to fix it together!
THEOnboarding is a key step in the employee experience. It makes it possible to integrate, train and retain employees: an issue of paramount importance, even more so when it concerns young talent. Managers and their HR departments know it, new generations want to have a real impact on the company and want to engage in a meaningful project in which they can thrive. The onboarding phase precisely makes it possible to meet these new expectations. By preparing for the arrival of an employee as best as possible, the company optimizes the loyalty and commitment of the new recruit.
The evolution of mentalities has propelled onboarding to the heart of HR challenges and more and more resources are being allocated to it in order to ensure a remarkable employee experience from the first days, or even before (#preboarding). So onboarding has become”trending”. This is a very positive period both for the new employee who is optimistic about planning his future in the company, but also for the HR and operational managers who integrate a new motivated and committed member into their teams.
Of new onboarding tools have emerged on the HR solutions market. These allow you to pull out all the stops when integrating an employee and thus create a “Wow” effect even before starting at the job. Managers can therefore provide their recruits with platforms where they discover the company, their welcome schedule, etc.
For all that, Onboarding is not the magic solution to all the evils of the Employee Experience. While taking care of the arrival of an employee is fundamental, preparing and anticipating their departure is even more so. Managing departures is less exciting than managing arrivals, and offboarding often stays away from HR strategies. For lack of method, time or desire, Offboarding goes by the wayside when replacing an employee. However, this last impression left by the company seems essential for an optimal employee experience from start to finish.
Separation is rarely a joyful step, neither for the employee nor for the manager; it is a signal thatAn adventure comes to an end. At best, the departure is anticipated and prepared.. The two parties agree on the progress of the last weeks in order to complete the employee's career: return of equipment, deletion of accounts or even “exit interview” for final feedback. At worst, offboarding is suffered because nothing is allocated to the management of departures and everything is done at the last moment: the employee leaves with a bad last impression, his career has not been valued and he will make it known.
It is clear that in most cases Employee offboarding is more feared than prepared. However, it is during this same period that it is possible to collect all the experience and knowledge acquired by an employee during his career at his post in order to transmit them to his successor. Why not take advantage of this period to prepare for the handover now? A fear often comes up: why would offboarders play the game when they already have “their minds elsewhere”?
First of all, An employee will always have an interest in leaving a good impression . If offboarding gives him the ultimate opportunity to make an impact on the company and to participate himself in the evolution of his position, there is a good chance that he will seize it. If a relationship of mutual trust is established between him and his manager from the onboarding stage, then why not maintain it until the end?
The new generations will no doubt speed things up. In fact, they know the importance of recommendations and references. “Playing the game” will allow them to get some from their managers and even from their colleagues. In addition, they want to leave their mark on the company and feel that they are not “just another employee”: transmitting their experience and knowledge to their successor is a mark of strong recognition on the part of the company, since the employee's career path directly contributes to the development of the position.
Allow the transition between Offboardee and Onboardee benefits everyone :
The offboardee values his career and obtains recognition, The onboardee increase your skills more quickly and The manager ensures a complete employee experience while boosting team productivity and saving time during these transitions.
In order to offer a remarkable employee experience, we cannot separate theOnboarding Of theoffboarding. That would be a mistake. La first impression is decisive for integrating and hiring a new employee, but this one is bearer of expectations : if the first few days in a company go well, it is implicitly expected that the rest of the journey will take place in the same way. If offboarding stays on the sidelines, the expectations created during onboarding are not met, the employee ends his journey frustrated by these Broken promises. It feels like a roller coaster: onboarding raises our expectations, boosts our commitment and productivity when suddenly... the time for offboarding comes, and there it's the freefall. The employee can thus leave the company on a Bad last impression and the initial onboarding efforts will have been in vain.
Conversely, if the separation is based on the same values and commitments as for onboarding, then the employee experience is complete and the last good impression will remain engraved: the circle will be complete. One virtuous circle is taking shape: good offboarding allows for good onboarding, and good onboarding then allows for good offboarding. The transition from one employee to another can and should be done smoothly: it is the end of a first cycle and the start of a new one.
It is therefore essential to have a transition between the two (and not a break).
Taking care of onboarding, like offboarding, is a real opportunity for companies to offer their employees an unforgettable employee experience. The new generations are more and more sensitive to business reputation. Offering such an employee experience propels the employer brand of a company, a variable that has become fundamental in order to attract young Talents. In addition, these same generations are very communicative, they will easily let you know if their experience in the company lived up to their expectations: the virtuous circle extends even further.”When the employee becomes an ambassador”. So the end of a cycle does not mean the end of an adventure. A former employee can still make the company shine during his future experiences and also come back as a customer, service provider, partner or even employee (the case of boomerang recruitments is becoming more and more widespread with the new generations). The employee experience is therefore not a short-term issue, quite the contrary. it directly serves the future of a business.
In summary: Although essential, onboarding is not sufficient by itself and does not provide an optimal employee experience. Onboarding must always go hand in hand with offboarding, in order to create a collaborative cycle and no longer break every time an employee is replaced. Making this link, this transition, is an excellent way to control turnover because it allows you to both:
We are committed to putting offboarding in the spotlight so that it becomes, just like onboarding, an essential part of the employee experience. Entering the virtuous loop of onboarding and offboarding is an even more topical challenge when the main HR challenges focus on the retention of Talents through a unique employer brand.
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