Employee transitions, whether joining or leaving, are crucial moments in the employee lifecycle. Good onboarding sets the foundation for long-term success, while thoughtful offboarding protects your company's reputation, encourages return employees, and builds valuable knowledge transfer. Understanding the importance of these processes is essential for attracting and retaining talent.
After all the average cost to replace an employee can range between 6 to 9 months of their salary, encompassing recruitment expenses, training, and lost productivity*.
Here, we explore the best practices for both onboarding and offboarding, which, if successful, should streamline transitions, reduce turnover, limit disruption, and build a positive workplace culture even when an employee leaves.
Onboarding: Building a Strong Foundation
A positive onboarding experience is critical for new employees as it sets the tone for their future within the company. It sets expectations of what is expected of them and in return what they can expect of you as the employer. It allows new employees to settle in and become productive quickly.
Here’s how to build an effective onboarding process:
Pre-boarding: Prepare Before Day One
The onboarding process should begin before the employee’s first day. Pre-boarding alleviates many first-day jitters and prepares new hires for a smooth entry into the team.
Examples:
Welcome emails with essential information (schedule, dress code, team contacts).
Add the employee to any relevant WhatsApp or Slack groups.
Provide access to important documents and platforms to fill out forms in advance.
Send an introduction to the team to foster early connections which helps to familiarise the new employee and engage with them.
Ensure that all accommodations are made ahead of time if the employee requires them, alleviating any first day awkwardness.
Provide a Structured Onboarding Plan
A concise onboarding plan is essential for helping new employees acclimate quickly. These efforts should span their first few months, not just the first week. Only 29% of new hires feel adequately prepared and supported after completing their onboarding experience**, so it’s important to build a robust plan.
Key Components:
Orientation: Company culture, mission, values, and policies.
Role-specific training: Providing the tools, resources, and training necessary for employees to succeed.
Check-ins: Scheduling regular one-on-one meetings with supervisors to discuss progress, challenges, and feedback.
Integrate New Hires Socially
Feeling a sense of belonging in a new environment is a significant part of onboarding success. Social integration helps new employees feel like they’re part of the team from day one.
Best Practices:
Assign a mentor or buddy: Having a designated person for questions can significantly ease the transition.
Team introductions: Plan a casual team meetup or virtual coffee breaks to encourage relationship-building.
Celebrate milestones: Recognise early wins and milestones (e.g.completing the first project or celebrating the first month).
Leverage Technology for a Seamless Process
Use technology to streamline the onboarding experience, especially in hybrid or remote work environments. For HR, automating parts of the process ensures nothing slips through the cracks and ensures all employees are treated equally and fairly.
Tools to Use:
HR software for onboarding task lists and document management.
Video tutorials or self-paced training modules for role-specific learning.
Collaboration tools (Slack, Microsoft Teams) to foster communication and team cohesion.
Encourage Feedback to Improve the Process
Continuous improvement is critical. Request feedback from new hires about their onboarding experience to identify areas for improvement. Have a feedback structure in place, so check-in with them after a week, a month, 6 months, and then yearly.
Examples:
Use anonymous surveys or one-on-one conversations to gather feedback.
Review the onboarding experience every six months to ensure it aligns with changing company goals or employee needs.
Offboarding: Preserving Relationships and Knowledge
While onboarding is about integrating new employees, offboarding focuses on ensuring a respectful exit. Even when employees leave, they continue to shape your company’s reputation. Effective offboarding protects your organisation’s knowledge base and ensures departing employees become brand advocates, not detractors.
Exit Interviews
Exit interviews are helpful in providing valuable insight into why employees are leaving and giving them the opportunity for feedback that can lead to improvement. This format can reduce future turnover and even encourage return employees.
Recommendations:
Ask open-ended questions about the employee’s experience, management, and workplace culture.
Use a neutral third party (e.g., HR or an external consultant) to encourage honest feedback.
Analyse trends from exit interviews to identify common pain points or areas for improvement.
Knowledge Transfer Process
When key employees leave, they take important company knowledge with them. A knowledge transfer process prevents disruptions and preserves critical information.
Key Steps:
Document projects, responsibilities, and workflows before the employee leaves.
Schedule a transition period where the departing employee can train their replacement or remaining team members.
Use shared drives and project management tools for ongoing access to essential knowledge.
Celebrate Departing Employees
Whether an employee is leaving on good terms or less than ideal circumstances, how you handle their departure will impact how they talk about your company after they’re gone. A respectful, positive exit can turn former employees into brand advocates. It could even bring them back to the company one day.
Best Practices:
Plan a small farewell in person or virtually to recognise their contributions.
Offer to write recommendations or provide LinkedIn endorsements, where appropriate.
Create an alumni network to maintain connections and foster positive long-term relationships with former employees—this could encourage “boomerang” employees.
Address Security and Compliance Concerns
20% of businesses have experienced data breaches connected to former employees, underscoring the need for structured offboarding processes***. Employee offboarding must include a checklist to meet the company’s security and compliance requirements.
Best Practices:
Revoke access to company systems, software, social media platforms, and sensitive data immediately after the employee’s departure.
Retrieve company property, such as laptops and ID cards.
Ensure final payroll and severance are processed accurately.
Follow Up Post-Exit
Post-exit communication can help maintain relationships with former employees, especially if they may return to the company or refer new candidates. It also reinforces a positive employer brand.
For example, if appropriate, keep alums updated on company news or changes and invite them to company events or webinars.
Why Streamlining Transitions Matters
Effective onboarding and offboarding are not just administrative tasks, they are critical moments in the employee experience that can shape your company’s reputation, culture, and performance.
Companies that invest in thorough onboarding and offboarding strategies benefit in several ways:
Boosted retention: Employees with a positive onboarding experience are likely to stay long-term. Similarly, respectful offboarding leaves the door open for potential rehires.
Improved employer branding: Former employees can become your greatest brand advocates or detractors depending on how their departure is handled.
Knowledge retention: Offboarding processes ensure crucial information stays within the company, minimising disruption when employees leave.
Legal and compliance protection: Onboarding and offboarding involve essential legal considerations, from employment contracts to data security. A streamlined process ensures compliance and protects your company from potential risks.
Investing in the End-to-End Employee Experience
Cultivating positive onboarding and offboarding experiences is essential to creating smooth employee entrances and exits.
When talent is in high demand, and people's options for jobs are increasing, providing positive onboarding and offboarding transitions will be a competitive advantage that ensures your company stands out in the marketplace.
Do you have the capacity within your HR function to create seamless, impactful onboarding and offboarding experiences?
Our HR Servicesteam can provide the specialised support you need, with associate consultants who seamlessly integrate with your in-house team to launch or refine these critical processes. Whether it’s setting up a structured onboarding plan or establishing effective offboarding protocols, we work with you to streamline transitions, protect company knowledge, and maintain a positive employer brand—without pulling resources from your daily HR responsibilities. Contact Catherine Hingstonto discover how we can help.