Offboarding: turning the end of one story into a fresh start!

Offboarding is a company ritual designed to properly support an employee's departure. This practice - which echoes onboarding - brings together all the measures a company takes to turn the end of one story into a new point of departure.
With offboarding, employees can leave the company on a positive note, which makes it a flagship lever for the employer brand. It can strengthen the company's reputation as a responsible organisation that listens to its employees.
Offboarding is a cornerstone of the Morning company culture. The HR team makes a point of looking after an employee's departure just as much as their arrival (onboarding). On that note, Marie Barbier, Head of HR at Morning, tells us in detail about what is at stake with this offboarding.

Question #1: "In practical terms, how does offboarding work?"

"At Morning, we offer genuine support when someone leaves.
When a person wishes to go, we agree as a matter of principle that their departure takes the form of a mutually agreed termination. This opens up certain rights for the departing employee, including a statutory severance payment calculated according to their length of service, unemployment benefit entitlements and free continued coverage under the company health insurance scheme. 

On top of this mutually-agreed-termination payment, Morning offers a supplementary payment, which varies according to the employee's length of service. We also give departing employees the chance to benefit from coaching or a skills assessment.

And finally, every former member of the company can come and work in our offices at a preferential rate. That way, they are sure to stay in touch and to be in a stimulating environment. 
Some people have entrepreneurial projects, a need to train or to take a break in their professional life; this leaving programme makes things easier for them, and it's a helping hand that is far from negligible."

Question #2:"Offboarding: what's in it for the employee?"

"Most of the time, an unmotivated employee will lose confidence in themselves. That is the worst thing that can happen, because they become unable to picture their future and put themselves in a position where they cannot win over a future employer. You have to help them share their doubts and their thoughts.

The majority of employees dread this moment: fear of not receiving unemployment benefit, of not finding another job straight away… Offboarding is there to dispel fears, to ease this much-dreaded moment. But it can only work in a climate of trust. Trust is, moreover, an essential value at Morning; it forms the bedrock of our culture.

Offboarding has now been in place at Morning for 4 years. Since it was rolled out, people don't leave any more than before, but they broach the subject of feeling demotivated or wanting a change in a more transparent, more open way. Because departures are experienced in a healthy way, people speak more freely. Members of the team regularly come to see me to talk about their aspirations, their future projects. This transparency allows the HR team to support them better, whether that means helping them grow with us or helping them move on. Our aim at Morning is to have people on our team who are 100% motivated.

I should point out that we always try to find solutions before it comes to a departure. But situations where a departure becomes unavoidable are very real, there's no point hiding it. So you have to talk to each other and find solutions that benefit everyone. In reality, no one has anything to gain from a situation in which the employee stays on reluctantly. Neither the company nor the employee."

Question #3: "What arguments do you use to win over those resistant to offboarding? Your tips for putting it in place?"

"Employees no longer spend 30 years at the same firm. That era is over. Today, the generations arriving on the job market love change and envisage several professional lives. There's nothing wrong with that, quite the opposite. Simplifying the question of leaving is also a way of being in step with the times and adapting to a curious generation.

As for advice, I think it's important to demystify this painful moment in order to turn it into a good one. The experience of working life should be pleasant from beginning to end, departure included: just as we look after onboarding, we must also look after offboarding! It is absolutely essential to turn this potential source of stress into something positive, to make this ending a fresh start.

Another important piece of advice: knowing how to show humility. There are times when the company is no longer right for the employee, and vice versa. You simply have to accept it in order to make conversations easier and to help each other move on to something else."

*****
Now you know all about offboarding at Morning!
If you have any criticisms, questions or ideas to enrich the subject, do feel free to leave us a comment in the field below!
******

READ ALSO:
☞ Morning onboarding: 3 days to get on board!
☞ Internal mobility and cross-disciplinary roles at Morning.
☞ The company culture at Morning.