We have spoken to 'Miss Offboarding, Susanne Adawi, and here she shares her valuable insights on offboarding with us:
What is offboarding?
Offboarding, in my opinion, is a way to ensure smooth and respectful endings. It means that as an employer, you have a process that kicks in when someone leaves. You want to ensure the emotional aspect is handled well and that you have a good way to collect feedback so you can become a more attractive employer and strengthen your employer brand. Most employers are quite good at onboarding, but when someone leaves, it's often handled carelessly without much thought. The common perception seems to be, "Why should we invest energy in someone who is leaving anyway?"
Which companies should do this?
All of them! I can't think of a single exception to why one wouldn't do it. The process will, of course, vary depending on the size of the company or organisation. Not conducting exit interviews is like burying your head in the sand!
What is required for good offboarding?
A good offboarding should:
- Be structured: There should be a process. No one should be favoured and receive a nicer farewell than someone at the same level. It should be clear what happens when someone leaves.
- Include an exit interview by an external party: This ensures the departing employee remains anonymous. The goal is to collect the most honest feedback possible. Not many people, for example, want to tell their boss that they are the reason they are leaving.
- Symbolic/emotional farewell: Even if the exit interview is conducted by an external party, the immediate supervisor should also have a conversation, perhaps more informally, where the purpose is to say goodbye. It's important not to forget the emotional aspect. Proper goodbyes are crucial.
What happens if you don't do offboarding?
Skipping offboarding means missing the opportunity to collect valuable feedback that can help improve your employer brand. You can find out what actions you need to prioritise. Trust me, it's often not what you think. You also miss feedback on what you are doing well and what is appreciated today.
Not doing offboarding risks giving you a bad reputation as an employer. By not saying goodbye to your departing employee, you signal that their time with you was insignificant, that they were not important. How will this affect their thoughts about you? We work with people, and considering their feelings is the least we can do. The person leaving has most likely invested a lot of time and effort with you, and they deserve a proper farewell. If you don't do this, it will affect the engagement of those who remain, as they see how others are treated. It can also affect your customers' impressions of you if the reputation spreads that far.
Who conducts the offboarding?
The most common practice is for the immediate supervisor or HR to do it, but this is not recommended. The best approach is to bring in an external party. There are many advantages to this. The main one is that an outsider does not have preconceived notions about how things are in your organisation. Another is that they can guarantee the anonymity of the departing employee on a completely different level than if an internal person conducts the interview, as this increases the chances of getting honest feedback. The immediate supervisor may be too involved or part of the reason the person is leaving, which can reduce openness in the conversations. An external consultant can provide an impartial and trustworthy perspective, which gives more useful insights and creates a positive ending.
Thank you to Susanne, 'Miss Offboarding', the expert on the topic, who shared her valuable insights with us.
Susanne Adawi has several years of experience delving into and developing strategies for effective offboarding. With a solid background in employer branding and recruitment, she has understood how important endings are for strengthening relationships and gaining valuable feedback from employees. Susanne focuses on helping organisations use offboarding as a tool to build long-term and positive relationships even when paths diverge.
