Best Step By Step Core Process for Onboarding and Offboarding Employee in 2023

You’ve surely heard of Onboarding and Offboarding Employee terms, and you’ve probably participated more than once.

Though it takes work to prioritize security throughout these crucial phases of the employment lifecycle, particularly when the pandemic unexpectedly presented firms with new IT security concerns, this is true.

This guide will make security prioritizing feel more understandable than ever.

Let’s first go through the definitions of these crucial concepts.

Onboarding and offboarding employee are the procedures that mark the beginning and conclusion of an employee’s tenure with an organization.

An onboarding process gets a new hire ready to contribute to the team. Offboarding, in contrast, prepares the employee (as well as their employer) for the employee’s departure.

We’ll discuss how to establish a seamless and secure onboarding and offboarding employee process, regardless of whether you’re the head of a fully-staffed IT department or handling HR.

What is Employee Onboarding?

Employee onboarding has several meanings depending on the organization. While the process is frequently very similar, the duration and tasks required give each onboarding program its distinctive character.

Some HR managers appear to view the onboarding process for new employees as nothing more than completing paperwork. Still, more knowledgeable and devoted team members perceive employee onboarding differently. Employee onboarding is defined as the entire period from the time an offer is made until a candidate is accepted into the company and starts to contribute effectively.

This period is known as onboarding, from the moment you extend an offer until the person begins to perform their job duties truly. However, each business may take a different amount of time. Some enterprises view onboarding as a one-day process, while others make it last 18 months. However, for many companies, the hiring process begins as soon as a prospective employee receives an offer letter.

The definition of onboarding includes every procedure during that time, such as the orientation program, the training schedule, the establishment of performance indicators, and a feedback loop.

Process Steps for Employee Onboarding

 1. Releasing the proposal

After the hiring phase, the onboarding procedure for new employees begins. An HR manager will send a nice welcome email to the chosen candidate and key papers, such as the offer letter, links to the digital onboarding forms, and policy documents, as soon as they have been hired. The employee becomes familiar with the organization’s culture and knows what to anticipate by maintaining transparency.

 2. Offer acceptance

The top companies will arrange a brief phone call once the candidate accepts the offer to review the paperwork, benefits, and expectations. Maintaining the new hires’ interest will confirm their decision to receive the request and help them develop close emotional bonds with the company. Start outlining the employee orientation schedule at this time.

 3. Waiting time

The fact that an employee accepted the offer does not guarantee that they will show up on the scheduled joining day. The employee can be open to suggestions from additional possible employers throughout the waiting time. Therefore, developing a strong relationship with the employee is crucial. Let the worker know that you value them. Planning the waiting period when creating your onboarding and offboarding employee procedure is a good idea.

 4. The day of joining

On their first day, most new employees experience a range of emotions. At the same time, they experience anxiety, joy, excitement, and nervousness. Therefore, HR managers’ main responsibility is to ensure that new employees are comfortable and at home. Giving new employees a sense of community will increase their commitment and sharpen their attention.

A suitable onboarding and offboarding employee checklist will reduce the burden on HR employees. Before the day of joining, take care of the following:

• Be prepared with the orientation schedule.
• Assign IT resources (workstation, email access, etc.)
• Get the office supplies you need (furniture, keys, access card, etc.)
• Create a salary account.
• Assign a mentor or contact person who can assist the worker in settling in.

 5. Collaborating with additional departments

Coordination with shareholders, such as supervisors and coworkers, is crucial before informing them of the new hire’s start date. When setting up one-on-one welcome meetings, scheduling orientation sessions, and decorating the new hire’s cubicle, HR staff may enlist the assistance of other workers.

 6. Orientation and training

The organization’s culture and business objectives are outlined in orientation workshops for new employees. This stage provides new hires with relevant info about the company’s teams, team procedures, and corporate regulations. Setting role-based goals and objectives for the upcoming 30–60–90 days is the best way to show new hires what they should concentrate on.

Since most employees need basic training to get started, most businesses arrange training programs to get their staff members up to speed as soon as possible. By conducting a skills assessment, companies may determine the knowledge and skills of new workers and create a tailored, role-specific training program by their skill set.

 7. The initial period

This period’s main goal is to examine and ensure that employee and organizational expectations are compatible. During this time, active discussions on the new hire’s development and ongoing efforts to integrate into the organization are required.

Here is a list of to-do items from an employee onboarding checklist that HR personnel and management must complete to keep the new hires on board:

• Compare the employee’s experience to their expectations by talking about it.
• Examine their performance and provide feedback
• Verify if the employee has any issues or complaints.
• Discuss career planning and advancement.
• Obtain recommendations and feedback about onboarding.
• Determine whether they require any more training.

Why is Onboarding Important?

Of the two, onboarding is unquestionably receiving most of the current focus in HR technology. Employers are interested in employee retention because it is expensive to find and train new employees in a tight labor market. Half of all senior recruits fail within 18 months, according to research papers and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and half of all hourly workers quit within 120 days. Part of the responsibility for this issue is poor onboarding.

A business may present itself to a candidate as a forward-thinking organization that uses cutting-edge technologies. The recruit might be overjoyed, but HR could unintentionally ruin this impression. For instance, the new employee is given a stack of paper forms to complete and sign immediately. It lacks the necessary security credentials. Nothing crucial has been arranged for training. The new worker is idly passing the time while doubting their choice.

According to a recent study by the Human Capital Institute and HR vendor Kronos, employers’ top onboarding objectives are to integrate new hires into the workplace culture, which includes getting them trained and productive as quickly as feasible. Assigning a companion employee or ambassador, as well as making sure meetings with management are planned soon, are some ways to accomplish this goal. This organization and coordination can be facilitated with the help of onboarding software.

What is Employee Offboarding?

Offboarding is the process of formally letting an employee leave your company. Most of the time, the offboarding procedure starts after an employee has officially quit. However, it isn’t always the case. An offboarding approach may also be triggered by retirement, as well as by forced terminations or layoffs.

The essential elements of a well-designed offboarding process should comprise the following items, which I will go over in greater depth below:

• Inform important parties in senior management, IT Companies , operations, legal, payroll, and human resources.
• Discreetly inform the departing employee’s immediate supervisor and coworkers.
• Create a transition strategy and redistribute duties.
• Ensure that knowledge is smoothly transferred to the other team members.
• Utilize an exit interview to get honest comments.
• Recover any business equipment.
• Access to enterprise technology should be disabled.

The Ultimate Employee Offboarding Process in 10 Steps

 1. Make an offboarding checklist (save time and grab our free checklist!)

Our checklist includes questions for the exit interview and a list of company property to be collected. It also includes all the steps we’re about to share in the employee offboarding process.

 2. Initial Information Gathering & Documentation

Having an employee sign a formal resignation letter should be the first action taken after learning of their departure. The HR manager or supervisor might then review the paperwork the employee has consented to throughout their employment with the organization. These might include non-disclosure agreements, benefits agreements, etc., as examples.

A clear statement of the employee’s last day of employment and the date they are notifying their leave should appear on the resignation letter.

For improved record keeping, an HR management system from Idaratech HR makes it simple to store papers from ex-employees.

 3. Inform Accounting

At this point, you can let accounting know so they can prepare the last payroll, any outstanding reimbursements, vacation days, and compensation if necessary.

 4. Declare Departure

Make sure that everyone who the departure will significantly impact is told rather than waiting for staff to begin chatting among themselves. Depending on the individual’s position within the team, this is usually completed 1.5 weeks before the employee departs. Other staff members can then be informed after this.

The best action is to politely ask how the departing employee would like the business to present the news.

 5. Plan Handoffs

Focusing on developing a handoff strategy at this point is crucial to ensuring the best transition possible. This plan aims to complete any outstanding work while preparing the way for the new employee to take over the position. The key is clearly grasping how to change priorities and move the workload. This is the stage where knowledge is transferred.

• When preparing for the handoff, it’s important to consider the following:
• Who will take his place?
• What kind of training will they require?
• Who is going to train the new hire?
• Which tasks need to be finished before the employee departs?
• What are the outputs?

 6. Client interaction

It is critical that these clients are informed promptly if the departing employee works directly with clients. Additionally, it is ideal to approach the communication in a way that guarantees each client knows they will still be taken care of, regardless of the change in staff, regardless of how you choose to inform them of their departure.

 7. Collect Company Assets

The individual may have received a variety of company products throughout their employment with the company. You must gather these items in the days leading up to their departure. Computers, smartphones, ID badges, uniforms, keys, parking permits, and business credit cards are just a few examples of what can be considered company property. Our free inventory item checklist covers all the essential items you will need to gather from departing employees. Get the checklist right away!

 8. Exit Interview

An exit interview’s goal is to gather insightful feedback from the employee about their time working for the organization. This is the last chance the company has to leave a good impression. During the exit interview, you can also elicit data from the employee that will help management in future decision-making.

Which inquiries do you need to make? To find out the answers, check our free offboarding checklist.

When management asks the right questions, they will learn important facts about the business, its advantages and disadvantages, and how to strengthen it.

 9. Delete the Account Access

No matter how well you get along with the departing employee, they shouldn’t have access to emails, platforms, or other company databases after they leave for security reasons.

 10. Farewell

Regardless of the circumstances behind the departure, bidding every employee farewell is always a good idea. With this kind of farewell, it is guaranteed that both the departing employee and the remaining staff will have a good impression.

Show the employee that you appreciate what they have done for the team. Giving them a present, writing them a thank you note from the staff, or even throwing them a party can do this.

To remind the rest of the team to bid the departing employee farewell on the last day, it is advisable to send a farewell announcement.

 11. Follow-up

Bridge-burning is never a good idea. It is advisable to stay in touch with the employee, even if it is simply through LinkedIn. Maintaining a good working connection is always advantageous, even after a person leaves.

Why is Offboarding Important?

For several important reasons, it is crucial to address the offboarding process.

From the company’s point of view, it’s a chance to get feedback, learn about any problems that need to be resolved, plug any IT gaps, and make sure there are no loose ends.

From the employee’s point of view, it presents an opportunity to reflect on their time with the organization, impart their experience to the remaining employees, and part ways amicably.

Existing employees will have a more professional last image of the company if you give them a chance to offer feedback and help with a smooth handoff of their tasks to others.

As a result, they’ll be more likely to endorse your business as a great place to work.

Additionally, it helps open the door for rehiring boomerang workers—employees who depart the company to work elsewhere only to come back a short while later.

Conclusion

Unavoidably, onboarding and offboarding an employee cause disturbance for management and team members. Even if only one minor step is omitted from the procedure, both situations put your firm at serious risk.

However, much like anything else in business, the processes can be created and followed more efficiently to use fewer resources while ensuring everything is in order. Reach out to us if you require assistance developing your onboarding/offboarding policies or overseeing the actions contained within them. We have processes that have been well-tested and are secure across a wide range of businesses and demands, and we can put them into action with only one Help Desk request.