“In everything, it is the end that is essential”proclaimed Aristotle in his Poetic. However, the collective imagination retains sad ends in business only a botched farewell: dismissed employee carrying his business card crestfallen, hypocritical leaving drink based on tepid sparkling wine and embarrassed speeches…
“Offboarding” wants to be a solution to these bad starts: complementary to “onboarding” – standardized strategy for integrating young company recruits – it designates the support of an employee about to move on to other horizons, whether it is the end of a fixed-term contract, a retirement or dismissal.
The follow-up starts badly: the word literally designates the fact of “being landed”. “It’s badly chosen, we should rather talk about a soft landingjudge Jenny Gaultier, director general of the Mercato de l’emploi, a network of recruitment consultants. The watchword is to give a clear vision to the collaborator who is leaving. »
The pot !
The roadmap, simple and known to all, therefore translates into a series of tasks, to be carried out, for example, during the month preceding the end of the contract. Internal communication is a good start: whoever is leaving will notify their team, which will break taboos and allow the next step to be organized with less stress (handover of missions to successors, reassignment of tasks, etc.).
The administrative aspect is not negligible: you must not forget anything, from the Pôle Emploi certificate to the access badge, not to mention this humiliating reminder message which tells you that you will lose your access to the mailbox in twenty, fifteen, ten days…
An exit interview, face-to-face and standardized, marks the end of the course. Attention, no question of golden parachute for some or plastic glider for others, the landing package is the same for all: an official inventory, where the starter gives his opinion on the box, which offers him return a “feedback”.
When the departure is forced, like a job safeguard plan (PSE), the employer can choose – great lord – to offer a skills assessment. Of course, the best was saved for last: the pot! Everything, except organized in a hurry, it will feature all the colleagues of the one who leaves, in a framed timing: aperitifs, speeches, parting gift and a few dance steps.
Network Ambassadors
But why thank, for example, an employee dismissed for professional inadequacy or a brilliant young executive who goes to the competitor? Offboarding enthusiasts answer in two words: employer brand. In the case of a departure on bad terms, the protocol can avoid a scandal and raise a reputation in danger. Marcel, a surly trade unionist, will be bought – sorry, blissful – with a magnificent trip to the Galapagos Islands. The end justifies the means.
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