Making the Case for Compassionate Offboarding
One possible outcome of the economic stress brought about by the COVID pandemic is that your organization might need to make staff reductions. More than ever, employers are looking for a way to offboard employees in a manner that is different – that shows compassion for the employee and maintains their dignity.
How can you offboard employees in a way that goes beyond just offering severance pay and wishing them good luck?
As an organization, you have an onboarding process. That process might include identifying mentors for new employees, designing and implementing training modules as well as organizing “meet and greet” activities. The goal is to make a good first impression. Similarly, you want your employees to have an equally good last impression as they move on to their next employer and tell the story of their departure in the larger community. Treating the departing employee with compassion will go a long way towards helping you succeed.
Offboarding in this way, starts with a plan. Details of the when, where, and how need to be decided. Training the management team conducting the meetings will help the process go more smoothly and will give the confidence needed to address the unexpected. Meeting in a private space and having tissues on hand demonstrate a caring attitude. At this time many organizations will have to conduct layoffs via video call. Although not ideal, safeguarding privacy, having direct management on the call, giving the employee some time to respond, sending hard copies of all documents, and a providing a contact that can be called should questions arise will show your exiting employee that you have been thoughtful under difficult circumstances.
Providing local career transition services (AKA outplacement) is another way that you can create a positive last impression. A local career transition provider can do so much more than a virtual outplacement program can. To provide a link to a website with little or no personal support often adds insult to injury during a time of great stress. Imagine if you routinely had new employees only go to a website to figure out how to navigate their way around your organization, meet their new team, or get training! Yet employers often have this mindset when offboarding.
The Corridor HR Solutions’ consultant is a local advocate who understands the job seeker’s community and appreciates why that job seeker wants to stay in the area. Tools such as LinkedIn and other technical elements are part of a comprehensive job search plan. Local support does not mean low tech!
We’ve all been in enough Zoom meetings to know that connecting in this manner easily leads to miscommunication! By meeting in person, our consultants can catch non-verbal cues and other indicators that your departing employee may be having a difficult time moving forward. The consultant is a trusted advisor who can help the job seeker remove barriers that might prevent them from landing a new job in a timely manner. Our consultants walk with your employee through the cycle of grief that comes with job loss and is on hand for a pep talk or for developing strategy.
Local career transition consultants know the ins and outs of local business community. They know who the major employers are and often have connections within those organizations. Brainstorming lists of potential employers is a productive and targeted exercise. Our consultants don’t need to Google it!
If you are thinking about how to offboard employees with compassion, I encourage you to learn more about us at corridorhrsolutions.com.
