Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Radical Offboarding

Employers put effort into communicating their brand to attract new talent. What if you put the same amount of effort into offboarding voluntary departures?

Turn each exit into an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of departing team members.

Employee exits are a natural part of the employee lifecycle. Lifetime employment is a trend that decreased with the influx of Generation Z into the workforce.

To introduce radical offboarding, add these activities to collecting technology and conducting exit interviews to create a show-stopping exit process.

Throw a farewell celebration.

Organize a lunch or happy hour to celebrate your departing team member. Invite employees to wish them well. Share stories about the good times.

Share alum achievements.

You have a culture that develops staff. Why not celebrate departing employees moving on to a new step in their career? One way to show your support is to communicate where departing employees land, whether in an MBA program or a promotion in another field.

Gather performance feedback.

A common complaint when employees leave an organization is losing access to historical performance data. Offer a solution by gathering performance review data into an electronic file that employees can take.

Create an alum network.

Start a LinkedIn group to connect employees, allowing the development of lifetime relationships. This creates a referral source and will enable peers to stay in touch. Additionally, some of the best clients come from relationships with prior staff.

Are you looking to build a business case to create a radical offboarding experience? Go beyond minimizing organizational disruption; work to build positive relationships with departing employees. Keep in mind that boomerang employees are more common than you think. A large-scale analysis conducted by Harvard Business Review uncovered that almost 28% of new employees are returning staff. Investing in offboarding employees may reduce talent acquisition costs in the long run.

Originally featured in UBA’s June 2023 HR Elements Newsletter.