What is Offboarding? 6 Quick and Effective Offboarding Steps

Offboarding is the term describing the process of completing procedures and paperwork according to company regulations when an employee resigns. So, specifically what is offboarding? How do you build an offboarding process? In the article below, 1Office will share everything about offboarding with you, along with a sample offboarding checklist specifically for businesses. Find out now!  

I. What is Offboarding?

Offboarding, or employee offboarding, is the process of terminating the working relationship between an organization and an employee. When an employee resigns, the company needs to use offboarding to ensure that administrative, management, and security matters are handled in the correct sequence. Offboarding includes all the necessary activities to terminate the relationship in a reasonable and organized manner, ensuring that both the employee and the organization fulfill their final requirements and responsibilities, such as: 

• Making the employee’s resignation official.
• Handing over company assets that were issued to the responsible departments.
• Handing over previously assigned work along with other relevant information.
• Logging out of/revoking access to accounts and data systems owned by the company.
• Organizing meetings, discussions, or a farewell party for the departing employee.

>> See more: The art of retaining talented employees to help reduce employee turnover by 80%

II. The Importance of Offboarding for Businesses

Departing employees tend to follow two trends: one is to speak well of the company, and the other is to speak ill of it. Many businesses are complacent, simply accepting an employee’s resignation easily without any formal procedures. Some companies have faced bitter consequences right after an employee leaves, such as information security breaches, loss of valuable assets, increased employee turnover, and difficulty recruiting new staff.

Therefore, to address the issues mentioned above, businesses need to establish an offboarding process for when an employee resigns. 

• Create a positive impression: Building a professional and well-structured resignation process is a way for the company to make a positive impression on employees. Throughout their employment and even upon departure, the employee still feels valued by the company.
• Protect the company’s reputation: Offboarding helps protect the company’s reputation when an employee leaves, especially those who may not have a positive view of the company. A well-executed departure process can help the company earn goodwill from the departing employee, minimizing risks such as security breaches, negative reviews, and bad-mouthing the company.
• Attract new employees: By observing the offboarding process, potential new hires will form positive impressions. They will highly rate your company for its professionalism and dedicated attitude towards employees, even when they are leaving. Remaining employees will feel more comfortable and have greater trust in the company.
• Protect company information and data: Offboarding ensures that important company information and data previously held by the employee are fully recovered or deleted. This helps the company enhance security and avoid the risk of data loss, information misuse, or privacy violations.
• Improve processes and benefits: Feedback and feelings from departing employees help the company identify issues and improve its processes, policies, and benefits. This is also a way for the company to improve the work environment and create a better experience for both current and future employees.

III. 6 Steps to Build an Offboarding Process Every HR Professional Should Know

Once you understand what offboarding is, you can proceed to build the offboarding process. Below are the 6 quickest and most effective offboarding steps: 

1. Process the Resignation Information

Initially, the employee will submit a resignation letter to the receiving department. The resignation letter can be a hard copy (paper document) or a soft copy (Word, PDF file), depending on the company’s regulations. For soft copy resignation letters, companies often specify submission via email, a business management system, etc.

Upon receiving a resignation request from an employee, the company should process the information according to the following guidelines: 

• Confirm the employee’s resignation request.
• Discuss/share the reasons for leaving and the plan for post-resignation handover.
• Notify relevant departments about the personnel change to facilitate appropriate adjustments and actions. 
• The recruitment department plans for personnel coordination and the hiring of a new employee. 

2. Prepare relevant documents, procedures, and materials

Preparing relevant documents, procedures, and materials is a crucial step in the offboarding process to ensure a seamless departure for the employee. Below is a list of some important documents, procedures, and materials that the business needs to prepare: 

• Confirmation of employment contract termination
• Employee’s termination file
• Confidentiality agreement
• Handover report for tasks, documents, and data from the employment period
• Report on company-issued equipment.
• Documents related to debts, taxes, insurance, etc., concerning the departing employee
• Invitation to a farewell party (less common)

[FREE DOWNLOAD] 6 detailed job handover report templates for employees

3. Create a work handover plan

To ensure that all business operations continue normally during personnel changes (employee departures), the company needs to create a work handover plan. This plan should include the following main items: 

• Time, format, and location of the work handover
• Parties involved in the handover
• Content of the handover: Current status and situation of work, records, data, ledgers, resources, completion level, etc.

4. Conduct an exit interview

An exit interview is not only a way for the company to understand the reasons for the employee’s departure but also helps the business to: 

• Improve work processes and the work environment for the future.
• Develop a roadmap for employee management and create suitable HR policies.
• Improve the relationship between the company and the departing employee
• Attract more talent to the company

This interview should be conducted like a conversation, a heart-to-heart talk, so the departing employee can express their most honest thoughts. There should be no hierarchy or authority involved. This is the only way to ensure the interview is as effective as possible. 

Participants in the interview should typically include the employee’s direct manager, the HR department, and the board of directors (if necessary).

5. Revoke access to internal accounts

After completing all the above steps, the company proceeds to revoke the departing employee’s access to internal accounts. This action is a way for the company to protect information, prevent misuse by the former employee, etc. Below are some internal accounts that the company needs to revoke access to: 

• Remove timekeeping permissions and access to the company’s timesheet system
• Remove access to the internal information system, including: the intranet, data storage accounts, etc.
• Remove from general groups on social networks like Skype, Telegram, Zalo, private Facebook Groups, etc. (Common)
• Revoke administrative rights on relevant accounts/channels.

Additionally, the company must revoke access to all work-related accounts specific to different positions. For example: For an SEO Specialist in the Marketing Department, the company needs to remove access to the website’s admin system, company-owned SEO support tools, the SEO development plan, etc.

Revoking access to internal accounts using traditional methods can be very time-consuming and labor-intensive. It’s easy for the company to lose control of information or miss something. Therefore, the optimal solution for businesses is to use an internal management system with the asset management feature researched and developed by 1Office. As soon as a manager confirms the “resignation letter,” the employee’s internal account will be AUTOMATICALLY LOCKED. Additionally, all history and information of the departed employee will still be stored on the system.

Note: The company is only allowed to revoke a departing employee’s access if the accounts are owned or managed by the company. 

6. Conclude the Offboarding Process

The final step in the corporate offboarding process that cannot be overlooked is organizing a small party or giving meaningful gifts to the departing employee. 

• Organize a farewell party: The company organizes a small party to strengthen employee bonds, helping team members understand each other better. This is a good way to create a friendly atmosphere and build a positive relationship between the company and former employees.  
• Give gifts and a thank-you letter: As a token of gratitude, the company shows its appreciation for the employee’s contributions during their time of employment. The gift could be a book, a souvenir, a thank-you card, etc.

IV. Sample offboarding checklist for businesses

Below is a detailed offboarding checklist for businesses. Check it out now! 

V. Differentiating Between Offboarding and Onboarding

Unlike offboarding, onboarding is the process of welcoming new employees and helping them integrate into the company. However, when implementing them, many people often confuse these two activities. 

To help readers differentiate between Offboarding and Onboarding, 1Office has compiled and analyzed their similarities and differences as follows: 

SIMILARITIES

• Both relate to human resource management within the company
• Require preparation and an implementation process 
• Involve interaction and collaboration with other departments in the company 
• Manage shared information and assets
• Build a positive relationship between employees and the business

DIFFERENCES

VI. Conclusion

Offboarding is the process of terminating the working relationship between an organization and its employees. The offboarding process is carried out when an employee resigns, is terminated, retires, or their employment contract expires.

Offboarding plays a crucial role for businesses when there are employee departures. It contributes to enhancing the company’s reputation, maintaining the relationship between the company and its personnel, and ensuring information security, among other things.

The Offboarding process is built on 6 simple steps, including: processing leave information; preparing relevant paperwork, procedures, and documents; creating a work handover plan; conducting an exit interview; revoking access to internal accounts; and concluding the offboarding process.

The article above has helped readers answer the question “what is offboarding?” in detail, as well as how to build an effective offboarding process. Don’t forget to use the employee profile management feature of 1Office to manage employee information during both the offboarding and onboarding processes. We hope this information has been helpful to you. We wish you success!