Human-Centered Offboarding: Turning Goodbyes into Growth Opportunities

Last week, a journalist reached out asking me for my perspective on employee offboarding. Due to other deadlines, I was not able to contribute to that article. But it got me thinking: What is the role of offboarding in the context of employee experience? What does human-centered offboarding look like? I realized I hadn’t really written about this topic yet, other than in the context of layoffs .

So, I am making it today’s topic!

Let’s face it, offboarding is often overshadowed by its more glamorous counterpart, onboarding. Yet, the way an organization says goodbye to its employees can be just as critical as how it welcomes them. This is where the principles of design thinking can play a transformative role, turning offboarding from a routine administrative process into a human-centered experience that fosters continuous improvement and lasting relationships.

Why Human-Centered Offboarding?

At its core, human-centered offboarding is about empathy. It's an approach that places the departing employee’s experience at the forefront, aiming not only to streamline the logistical aspects of leaving but also to address emotional and professional needs during this transition. Why does this matter? Because every departure, whether voluntary or involuntary, is an opportunity to strengthen your brand as an employer, gather invaluable insights, and maintain a positive relationship with alumni who could become boomerang employees , brand ambassadors, or even customers.

Design Thinking in Offboarding

Design thinking offers a framework to innovate and improve the offboarding process. It involves:

1. Empathizing: Understand the emotions and needs of departing employees. Conduct exit interviews that go beyond the surface to uncover the real reasons behind their departure and their experience throughout their tenure. You might want to have these interviews conducted by an external provider who can serve as a neutral party. Complement these interviews with quantitative insights from your exit survey data.
2. Defining: Identify the key areas of improvement in your offboarding process. This could range from how you communicate the departure to the remaining team, to the support provided to the departing employee in their transition.
3. Ideating: Brainstorm ways to address these areas, focusing on creating a positive and supportive experience. For instance, developing a structured yet flexible offboarding checklist that includes career transition support, alumni networking opportunities, and ways to celebrate the employee’s contributions.
4. Prototyping: Implement new offboarding practices on a small scale to test their effectiveness. This could be as simple as a new exit survey or as complex as a comprehensive offboarding package that includes mentorship for transitioning employees.
5. Testing: Gather feedback from departing employees and adjust your practices based on their insights. Continuously iterating based on feedback ensures the offboarding process remains relevant and effective.

Real-World Example: The Offboarding Journey Map

Consider creating an offboarding journey map, a version of the employee experience journey map I’ve written about before. This map visually represents the offboarding process from the employee's perspective, highlighting key interactions and emotions at each stage. For example, one company discovered through journey mapping that departing employees felt a sense of abandonment in the weeks following their notice period. In response, they introduced a "farewell buddy" system, pairing the departing employee with a colleague to help navigate the offboarding process and maintain a connection with the team until their last day.

Conclusion

Human-centered offboarding is more than a checklist; it's a mindset that recognizes the value and dignity of every individual’s contribution to the organization. By applying design thinking principles, HR professionals can transform offboarding into a process that not only respects the departing employee's experience but also turns them into lifelong advocates for the brand. Let's not miss the opportunity to turn goodbyes into growth opportunities for both employees and the organization.

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Your Turn: What do you think? How have you seen design thinking applied to re-imagine offboarding? What innovative offboarding practices have you seen?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Design Thinking for HR is a biweekly LinkedIn newsletter that aims to inspire HR professionals to experiment with the human-centered design framework. The newsletter is curated by Nicole Dessain who is a talent management and employee experience leader, founder of the HR.Hackathon Alliance , and a Northwestern University instructor. Nicole is currently writing her first book about Design Thinking for HR. Join the Early Readers’ Community here .