Employee departures are inevitable. Whether voluntary or not, they often involve a mix of different challenges, including logistics, operations, and, of course, the emotional impact. Managing the process properly is more important than you might think. Employees deserve the same level of care and respect when leaving the company as when joining.
Poorly handled offboarding can hurt morale, stall productivity, and harm the organization’s reputation. The opposite is true when the employee exit process is handled well. Clearly developed outplacement services and expert guidance allow organizations to handle their offboarding processes smoothly–whether it’s a voluntary departure, layoffs, or restructuring.
Offboarding may be the final impression you leave on your departing employee(s), but it’s a sharp impression made on those who remain. It’s a clear demonstration of how the organization values people–even when they’re leaving.
Comprehensive outplacement support involves several steps, which may differ depending on the reason for leaving and the individual’s future goals. However, some things remain the same. Your offboarding process has three primary goals: maintaining trust within the team, preserving institutional knowledge, and protecting your company’s reputation.
First, clarify why the employee is leaving. If it’s voluntary, this is often a cause for congratulations. Either the employee is moving on to bigger and better opportunities, or they’ve entered a new phase of their life. Either way, the company’s role is to help them prepare accordingly, either by helping them with retirement assessments or ensuring their knowledge is passed on to the relevant stakeholders.
However, when departures are due to layoffs, mergers, or restructuring, the responsibilities shift. This means managing the inevitable emotional impact, as well as helping those departing employees land on their feet. Adjusting your approach to fit the context allows leaders to provide the right support and clearly communicate with the team as a whole.
Effective offboarding is human-centric. Yes, there are tasks that must be completed, but the way they are handled sends a message to those who stay. It’s important to ensure that every step of the process is handled with empathy and professionalism, whether that means creating milestones for the process or assigning interim coverage to support the remaining staff.
Communication is one of the most important aspects of handling offboarding. There should be a solid plan in place for handling that individual’s tasks, and all stakeholders and collaborators should be informed of the change as soon as possible. This helps avoid confusion and keeps the employee exit process running smoothly.
When someone leaves, it’s not unusual to lose some of their expertise, no matter how thoroughly you prepare. Creating a clear transition plan helps facilitate knowledge transfer, allows you to identify short-term coverage needs, and allows leadership to better support the remaining team members. CPI offers various methods to ensure this knowledge gets passed on, from succession planning to phased retirement planning.
Too often, exit interviews are treated as a formality. But they can be powerful. With the right approach, they can be an important aspect to help discover insights about the workplace, culture, and leadership. With the support of experienced exit interview managers, your organization can take those notes and turn them into opportunities for growth and success.
Maintaining a relationship with a departing employee doesn’t need to end on their last day. Connections are the bread and butter of success, after all. With appropriate outplacement support, the organization demonstrates its care and goodwill for their future–and that goodwill builds ripples.
Workforce changes don’t have to damage company culture. When done right, offboarding is a chance to show respect, offer support, and close out the employee’s experience at the company with the same care and dignity they received at the start.
CPI’s personalized outplacement services and hands-on guidance mean organizations lead with empathy, ensuring every employee leaves feeling valued. The result? A stronger organization–both inside and out.