To manage remote workers successfully, it is important to deliver a structured digital experience, including everything from onboarding to training to remote employee offboarding.
In today’s remote workplace, after all, remote employee experience management has as big an impact on employee performance as onsite management.
Much attention has been paid to employee onboarding and training – and for good reason.
Remote onboarding, training, and development all have a significant impact on important metrics, such as employee engagement and employee productivity.
Yet not as many managers focus on remote employee offboarding.
Below, we’ll learn the benefits of remote offboarding, then look at a few ways you can streamline this process.
Why Offboard Employees?
The more mature an organization’s HR function, the more likely that company is to have a structured offboarding process.
There are several reasons for this:
- Exit surveys, a key step in offboarding, gives managers a chance to learn why employees left
- A structured offboarding process ensures that neither employees nor managers forget anything important
- By officially saying “goodbye” in a friendly and amicable manner, employers can leave a positive impression on employees, which can maintain or enhance employer branding
In short, offboarding seeks closure with an employee in one form or another. If the employee left on good terms, then another perk of offboarding is that it could leave the door open for an ongoing relationship.
7 Ways to Streamline Remote Employee Offboarding
As we’re all aware, COVID-19 has dramatically changed the way workplaces operate. Remote working, social distancing, health precautions, and related measures have all had a significant impact on the way we do business.
Both today and in the future work world, it is imperative to have a digital-first employee experience that can be managed either onsite or remotely.
For many HR managers and department managers, this transition presents a challenge. Not only must they learn to communicate and manage employees remotely, for instance, they must also learn to use new software suites and tools.
Below, we’ll look at a few ways to simplify and streamline the remote employee offboarding process:
1. Use task management tools to create an offboarding checklist
Task management applications, such as Trello, are excellent for creating simple kanban boards or to-do lists.
Once a checklist is created with one of these apps, it can be used and reused as a template.
2. Use survey software to conduct exit surveys
Many organizations use survey software to take votes, gauge employee sentiment, and more.
A survey app can make it easy to ask questions and gain insight into important aspects of the employee experience.
For instance, employee surveys can help HR managers understand the workplace climate, whether there was friction among team members, how effective department managers were, and so forth.
3. Use teleconferencing tools to conduct exit interviews
HR managers can supplement the exit survey with an actual exit interview.
These don’t need to be in-depth, though some point out that more thorough interviews offer more opportunities for honest feedback.
Ideally, remote exit interviews should be conducted through video conferencing software, and everything should be done to make employees feel as comfortable as possible.
4. Compile exit survey data in a database
Exit interview and survey data should be compiled and stored in a relevant database.
In some organizations, this may mean using spreadsheet software, while in others it may mean using HCM software or an HR tool.
When choosing how to store the data, keep in mind that the data should be used later on for organizational learning. It is therefore a good idea to store data so it can be extracted and analyzed easily – for instance, by scoring answers to questions and tabulating common topics, rather than simply storing actual answers.
5. Simplify paperwork with digital signature software
Signing paperwork has become much easier in the modern business world thanks to digital signing software.
Most organizations already use some form of digital signature software, such as Docusign or eSign. If your company doesn’t use one, though, consider proposing the idea to upper management.
6. Use project management apps to communicate with relevant parties
Project management applications, such as Wrike or Teamwork, are like task management applications, but they are far more robust.
Ideally, your organization should have an official project management application that they are invested in. If not, consider adopting one – not only because they can simplify the offboarding process, but also because they can simplify any type of business project.
Alongside important features such as calendars, milestones, to-do lists, and kanban boards, project management apps also offer collaboration features. The ability to assign tasks, for instance, will make it easy for HR to delegate offboarding tasks to the right parties.
7. Simplify the offboarding process with a DAP
Digital adoption platforms (DAPs) are remote-friendly tools that are used for automation, employee onboarding, employee training, and they can also be used for offboarding.
A DAP can, for example, automate repetitive offboarding tasks, such as inputting data or creating checklists.
Their automation features can also give employees the opportunity to standardize workflows and transfer knowledge and best practices to their replacements.
Also, high-end DAPs, such as WalkMe, include unified communication features, such as broadcasting and messaging features. These features can be used as part of the offboarding process to send reminders, schedule meetings, and more.
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WalkMe Team
WalkMe spearheaded the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) for associations to use the maximum capacity of their advanced resources. Utilizing man-made consciousness, AI, and context-oriented direction, WalkMe adds a powerful UI layer to raise the computerized proficiency, everything being equal.