Time to give the same love to both of HR's book-ends?

off-boarding also needs some attention

I read a post on LinkedIn re an ulitimately distressing retirement process for a long term valued team mamber, that was swallowed up by corporate process to the point where it was devoid of thought, care, or empathy. No thanks , no goodbye. Just tears. The inevitable conclusion reached was that everyone is replacable, not valued, and that the years of caring about results, the blood sweat and tears were for nothing.... because you are, ulitimately, just a number.... until you are not even that anymore. One disillusioned individual who gave their all for a large corporation that, ultimately, was perceived not to care.

There was a hell of a lot to unpack from this story; the emotional baggage that had left scars that had taken a while to heal; the lines of causation - corporate or individual; the brand damage; and the whole question of the wisdom of wasting energy on work before family and friends. Far too much to answer here.

It did get me thinking about how much time and care we now put into making sure that on-boarding is a smooth and well-designed emollient process for all - from interactions at recruitment stages through to having everything in place on day-one to inducting a team member smoothly into the business. Brilliant. Makes sense.

At the other book-end of the people process is off-boarding (really? is this the best we can do to describe this process?) ... the process of managing a team member's exit from a business. It's easy to understand the love for on-boarding ... it's positive, a start, something new, and done well it can be a springboard for speedy performance of an individual. Whats not to like?

Whereas off-boarding in general drags along the baggage of negativity, poor performance, resignation to go somewhere better, disciplinary processes etc. Of course, it's not all bad news .... happy retirements, career advancement and family career breaks are all also part of off-boarding. Inevitably off-boading is burdened with the tasks of debriefing leavers, recovering car keys , mobile phones, and laptops, not to mention dire warnings of legal retribution should confidentiality or restrictive covenants be breached. The ominous list goes on. Yet underneath these processes is an individual; with feelings and emotions, who also needs to be in good shape for the next step in career or life and, at least morally, employers have some obligations in that regard.

Is it any wonder that we spend our HR teams time on designing great on-boaring whilst enduring the off-boading part through gritted teeth. But here's the thing - we will all go though both processes at least once. And both of these HR bookends impact individuals emotions and wellbeing equally. Off-boarding done badly, damages brands, opens liabilities and damages people. Costs of collateral damage can be huge.

I have seen both book-ends done brilliantly and, less than brilliantly. I have been guilty of sometimes paying less attention to off-boarding as a process with minimal future interest other than for the individual concerned.

Maybe it's time to check that your exit process is as brilliant as your entry process. It might be time well spent in securing future wellbeing, corporate reputation or just limiting liability (legal or emotional). After all, we are all going to go through it ourselves.

Maybe it is time to give the same love to both of HR's book-ends?