When we talk to our candidates during the recruitment process, some of them have mentioned that they wish they had a more positive experience in their last few weeks at work. Employee offboarding is the last part of the employee life cycle, and it’s HR’s final opportunity to make a good lasting impression, and tie loose ends so that there are no unfinished matters to attend to. ASW Consulting, a Vietnam recruitment agency, offers a few suggestions to make employee offboarding a more purposeful experience for all.

Why is employee offboarding important?

Offboarding is how you ensure all bases are covered when an employee resigns. First, it’s your way to ensure that the employee leaves in a compliant way, and that they have fulfilled all their duties properly. Second, it’s an opportunity to show that employees are taken care of as they transition out. And third, you get to ensure the safety of the company and your intellectual property.

Communicate change and trigger documentation

As soon as an employee submits their resignation letter, acknowledge this communication, and confirm with their superiors about this information as well. Once everyone has verified this decision, this should trigger different types of documentation – exit interviews, turnover documents, clearance, final payroll, and other waivers that they may have signed in during their employment. If needed, you should also communicate this change to the team or to their clients, and be prepared to answer any questions they may have.

You should also prompt other departments involved in concluding the employee’s stay in the company, such as IT to close any existing accounts, tools, shared drives, and recover hardware; and payroll to organize final computations of salary and benefits.

Document knowledge transfer

As talent acquisition consultants in Ho Chi Minh who value business continuity, we highly suggest requiring resigning employees to enumerate all their current and pending tasks, highlight what needs to be done in a certain timeframe, and provide convenient access to information to their replacements, and the team. This will minimize inconvenience and disruption as responsibilities are transitioned to the new team members.

Exit interview

When you engage employees for their exit interview, take this as an opportunity to learn about their experiences and get insights into what went wrong, what can be improved, as well as the strengths of their employment in your company. Ask questions about their struggles and pain points that might have contributed to their decision to leave. As this is one of your last chances to talk to them, ask the questions that can make them feel considered and understood, and simultaneously provide insights into how you can improve employee experience.

Stay in touch for opportunities

If the employee left on good terms, and has showed excellent performance throughout their tenure in the company, it would be wise to maintain their employee records and reach out for any employment opportunities that fit them. Coming from recruitment consultants like us, it’s a great inconvenience to lose a high-performing asset, so make sure to keep them in your talent pool and contact them for any roles that align with them.

Vietnam recruitment agency

ASW Consulting believes in creating positive experience for candidates not just during the recruitment process, but for when they’re employees in your company. Offboarding them properly when these employees leave is your one last chance to nurture the relationship and demonstrate your company values. Take the time to refine your offboarding process so make the employee lifecycle meaningful for all your employees.