Although often overlooked, the process for transitioning employees out of their current roles can have a dramatic impact on organizational performance. Referred to as offboarding, this transition not only impacts an organization’s brand reputation but can serve as a powerful talent initiative- a way to keep communication with former employees active and transition the necessary skills and knowledge where needed. Yet, despite recent layoffs, employment furloughs and downsizing, only 26% of organizations have a formal offboarding process in place today as cited in Aberdeen’s 2012 Strategic Onboarding report “Onboarding 2012: The Business of First Impressions” Why are organizations so reluctant to engage with talent on their way out? What needs to change?
Yahoo is one example of a company that may need a new approach to offboarding. Last week, Yahoo’s new CEO (Marissa Mayer), made the decision to replace the existing CMO (while on vacation) with someone new. Not a best practice in offboarding by any means. This decision impacted the company morale and employer brand (it appeared as a top story for several days). What could Yahoo have done differently? Below are a few ideas.
- Extend Offboarding: Offboarding include not only voluntary turnover but also involuntary turnover. Currently, only 26% of organizations include offboarding for involuntary separations.
- Communicate the Strategy: Communication needs to consistent and frequent to any employee exiting the organization. In Yahoo’s case, communicating this transition would have been better before the CMO was on vacation.
- Invest in Technology: Offboarding technology can play a pivotal role in strengthening the relationship between employee and employer and transfer the information needed to make the transition as smooth as possible. According to Aberdeen’s 2012 Strategic Onboarding report, only 37% of organizations have automated the offboarding process.
We plan to cover offboarding in greater detail this year and would love to hear from you.
Madeline Laurano
Research Director
Talent Acquisition Solutions
Human Capital Management
