Best Practices for Maximizing Offboarding Success Talya N. Bauer, Cameron Professor of Management Portland State University June 2015

SUCCESSFACTORS / WHITE PAPER BEST PRACTICES FOR MAXIMIZING OFFBOARDING SUCCESS

Best Practices for Maximizing Offboarding Success Talya N. Bauer, Cameron Professor of Management Portland State University June 2015

The Business Case for Strategic Offboarding

Boomerang employees make up between 10% and 20% of organizational hires.2

Traditionally turnover has been seen as a “bad” thing. In other words, it has been “framed as a win or lose scenario.”1 However, employees leave organizations for many reasons including poor performance, layoffs, retirements, and the desire to pursue new opportunities and to develop and expand their skills. Each of these factors have both pros and cons to them. For example, removing low-performing employees can strengthen an organization. Right sizing an organization can help it become more effective and focused. And, even losing a strong performer via retirement or to another organization does not mean that you’ve lost that employee forever and it gives an existing employee the opportunity to grow. More and more organizations are developing alumni networks for former employees. And, when it makes sense, rehiring these alumni at a later point in time can be a benefit for the organization and these “boomerang” employees. Even if the employee does not return to the fold, they may be more inclined to refer the products or serve as a customer in the future than those who have not been employees. Millions of employees depart their organizations each year. While some organizations tend to invest considerable time, energy, and money into recruiting, selecting, onboarding, and training new employees, offboarding continues to be a neglected part of the employee life cycle. This is unfortunate because when an employee leaves, he/she takes with them a great deal of human capital in the form of knowledge and skills developed on the job. To the degree that employees may consider returning at some future date, companies can benefit from maintaining positive relationships with those who leave the organization. New estimates indicate that boomerang employees make up between 10% and 20% of organizational hires2 and the trend continues to increase.3 In addition, estimates are that between 33% and 67% of recruitment costs can be saved when hiring a boomerang employee.4 And, the benefits don’t stop there, as hiring back former employees can add back skills, enhance creativity, help reinforce culture and even be used as a tool for recruiting.5 Consulting firms have been at the top of this trend in terms of developing alumni networks. For example, Deloitte has reported that their policy of hiring alumni (past employees) has saved them $3.8 million in search firm fees per year.6 Similarly, Shell Oil Company has invested in an online networking platform for former employees in their alumni network.7 Clearly there is a pattern for companies to embrace strategic offboarding. So when considering the offboarding process, we want to offer the following section for a list of do’s and don’ts to factor into decisions regarding the offboarding process.

SUCCESSFACTORS / WHITE PAPER BEST PRACTICES FOR MAXIMIZING OFFBOARDING SUCCESS

Offboarding Do’s

Hiring alumni has saved them $3.8 million in search firm fees per year.6

1. Keep effective offboarding records. 2. Conduct and analyze exit interviews. 3. Create and maintain a vibrant alumni network program. 4. Create a recruitment strategy around boomerang employees. 5. Leverage technology. When it comes to effective offboarding best practices, there are several do’s as summarized above. Keeping effective records, conducting and analyzing exit interviews, creating and maintaining alumni networks, and including boomerang employees in the recruitment plan are all important best practices. Leveraging technology can aid with all of these.

Sample exit interview questions include:8 • What made you look for another job? • How did the job match your expectations? • Did you feel that the work you were doing aligned with your personal goals and interests? • Did you have the tools and resources you needed to effectively do the job? • Would you recommend this as a great place for a friend to work?

Offboarding Don’ts 1. Don’t take departures personally but realize employees may depending on the situation. 2. Don’t close the door completely—maintain relationships. 3. Don’t forget that retiring workers may appreciate the opportunity to be helpful in the future. 4. Don’t just file exit interview information. 5. Don’t forget that exiting employees may be future customers or clients or sources of future talent/referrals.

Conclusion In conclusion, successful offboarding serves to make the employee feel as good about his or her departure as possible and also serves to enhance the employment brand and future recruitment and client source for organizations. Organizations able to offboard employees effectively set themselves up for future success. The use of technology to accomplish the twin goals of individuals and organizational success is critical in today’s competitive landscape.

Author Biography Talya N. Bauer (Ph.D., Purdue University) is the Cameron Professor of Management at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon as well as the Program Director for The Conference Board’s Onboarding Talent Council. She is an award-winning teacher who conducts research about relationships at work in general and recruitment, selection, and onboarding in specific. She has published in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Personnel Psychology, works with organizations, and has been a Visiting Scholar in France, Spain, and at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA. She is the former Editor of the Journal of Management and incoming Associate Editor at the Journal of Applied Psychology. She serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Management and Personnel Psychology. Her work is cited by numerous media outlets such as New York Times, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review.

Endnotes 1. Somaya, D., & Williamson, I. O. (2008). Rethinking the “war for talent.” MITSloan Management Review, 49, 29-34.

2. J. Loan-Clark, J. Arnold, C. Coombs, R. Hartley, & S. Bosley (2010). Retention, turnover and return: A longitudinal study of allied health professionals in Britain. Human Resource Management Journal, 20, 391-406; P. Weaver (2006). Tap ex-employees’ recruitment potential. HRMagazine, 51, 89-91.

3. Tugend, A. (2014). Employees who leave increasingly return to the fold. The New York Times. 4. Zimmerman, E. (2006). The boom in boomerangs. Workforce Management Online. 5. Dishman, L. (2014). Did you let a good one go? The benefits of boomerang employees.FastCompany. 6. Zimmerman, E. (2006). The boom in boomerangs. Workforce Management Online. www.workforce.com/section/06/feature/24/25/79/index.html

7. Weaver, P. (2006). Tap ex-employees’ recruitment potential. HRMagazine, 51, 89-91. 8. Kelly, L. (2015). 4 things you should ask an employee who’s leaving. themuse. https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-things-you-should-ask-an-employee-whos-leaving

9. FastCompany (2015). Arbitration agreements, audits, and records retention: Legal experts address these topics. http://www.fastcompany.com/65243/arbitration-agreements-audits-and-records-retention

10. Smith, J. (2012). You quite your job. Now they demand an exit interview. What do you say? Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/07/31/you-quit-your-job-nowthey-demand-an-exit-interview-what-do-you-say/; Weber, L. (2013). The one question to ask in an exit interview. The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2013/02/21/ the-one-question-to-ask-in-an-exit-interview/ 11. Frase-Blunt, M. (2004). Making exit interviews work. HRMagazine. http://www.shrm.org/publications/ hrmagazine/editorialcontent/pages/0804agenda_empstaffing.aspx 12. Frase-Blunt, M. (2004). Making exit interviews work. HRMagazine. http://www.shrm.org/publications/ hrmagazine/editorialcontent/pages/0804agenda_empstaffing.aspx 13. Somaya, D., Williamson, I. O., & Lorinkova, N. (2008). Gone but not lost: The different performance impacts of employee mobility between cooperators versus competitors. Academy of Management Journal, 51, 936-953. 14. Zimmerman, E. (2006). The boom in boomerangs. Workforce Management Online. 15. Shipp, A. J., Furst-Holloway, S., Harris, T. B., & Rosen, B. (2014). Gone today but here tomorrow: Extending the unfolding model of turnover to consider boomerang employees. Personnel Psychology, 67, 421-462. 16. Wang, M., & Shultz, K. S. (2010). Employee retirement: A review and recommendations for future investigation. Journal of Management, 36, 172-206.

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