(Getty Images)
So, you have an employee heading out the door. Maybe they’re chasing a new opportunity, kicking back into retirement, or it just wasn’t the right fit. Whatever the reason, how you handle their exit matters.
Properly offboarding employees is your last chance to leave a positive impression, protect your business, and reinforce its professionalism and reputation. BBB has tips to help create the ultimate offboarding checklist:
What should employees document before leaving?
To ensure a smooth transition, if possible, ask your current employee to document the following:
- Key job responsibilities. Include a summary of daily, weekly, and monthly tasks and step-by-step instructions for any processes. Consider including pictures, screenshots, or videos to help with instructions. Identify the software or programs that are used and share any best practices.
- Status updates on current projects. Note ongoing projects, key players, timelines, deadlines, and next steps.
- Important contacts. Share contact information for internal and external contacts, vendors, and clients that the new hire will need.
- File locations and access instructions. Document the locations of specific files and key information. Ask the employee to share important files with you before their departure. Save all login credentials in a secure password keeper for an easy transfer to the new employee.
- Two-factor authentication. Login security measures now often require two-factor authentication. Document any shared resources for which the employee may have the phone number for two-factor authentication.
Schedule a meeting to review these details so you know the position’s status. This documentation can help with your future new hire’s employee onboarding process.
How should you communicate and delegate responsibilities in the interim?
When it’s time to share the news about an employee leaving, inform your other employees and relevant clients and vendors. Communicate if you anticipate any interruptions in responsibilities or projects and give reassurance that a transition will take place. Letting others know that an employee will soon leave your company can also help protect your business. This can guard against social engineering hacks.
Hiring can take a while, but you can still manage the responsibilities of your now-open position in the interim. Assign important tasks to current team members but keep their workload in mind. Losing an employee can increase stress for the entire team.
What IT and security steps should you take?
Take the following steps to collect and secure your physical and digital company property.
- Retrieve your company’s tech equipment. Determine if and how you will retrieve items like computers, laptops (including chargers and docking stations), tablets, hard drives, and mobile devices. If your employee is fully remote, think about the cost of shipping other items like monitors, keyboards, mice, and headsets back to you. Sometimes, it may not be worth it, and you can let your employee keep the items.
- Get keys and access cards. Secure your business’s physical location(s) and collect the employee’s keys or parking pass before they leave.
- Revoke digital access. Departing employees should have their access revoked from all digital platforms. Failing to revoke access to company systems can pose serious security risks, including data breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive business information. Immediately revoke access to email accounts, team chats, business social media accounts, customer databases, shared drives, and other accounts relevant to their position.
- Reset logins and passwords. Update the login and password for any accounts your departing employee uses regularly. Change any two-factor authentication numbers to an office number or email, versus an employee’s, if you have not done so already.
- Set up email and phone forwarding. Redirect emails and phone calls to the employee’s manager or teammate to prevent missed communications.
What legal and compliance considerations should be reviewed?
Determine if you need to have the employee sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and review the terms. Be sure the employee understands what is expected of them.
Whether the employee resigned willingly, retired, or was terminated, document their departure for your records and compliance purposes.
How should you handle the final payroll and termination of benefits?
Terminating an employee’s benefits is an important step. Ensure the employee’s final paycheck is processed on time. Based on your company’s benefits package and state laws, this final paycheck may include a paid time off (PTO) payout or severance pay.
Be sure to clarify benefits continuation, such as COBRA for healthcare in the U.S., so the employee knows their options for coverage. Remind the employee how and when they will receive their tax forms for the next tax year’s filing deadline.
Why are exit interviews important?
On your employee’s last day, conduct an exit interview. Exit interviews are great opportunities to gather feedback on your employee’s experience working for your business. This feedback can help improve your company’s culture and employee retention efforts. If applicable, ask about the employee’s decision to leave.
Remember to show appreciation and thank the employee for their contributions to ensure your relationship is left on a positive note. You never know if you may end up rehiring a former employee.
How can you maintain a good relationship with former employees?
Consider adding some “special touches” to make the offboarding process more personal and positive. These extra steps can be beneficial for boomerang employee recruitment (when an employee returns to work for a former employer), which has many benefits.
- Offer alumni benefits. If you provide unique employee benefits, consider continuing these benefits for your “alumni.” For example, financial institutions offering employees banking account benefits may continue offering those beyond employment. Retail businesses that provide employee discounts can also offer those to former staff.
- Set up an alumni network. Consider setting up an employee alumni network so that employees can stay in touch.
- Send a follow-up communication. Send an email or make a phone call asking how things are going in their new position or retirement. Confirm whether they received their final paycheck and ask if they have any outstanding items that need to be wrapped up.
For more information
Read four easy ways to keep turnover low and employees happy and how to train and retain your new hires.
Find more business tips for you and your team.