2.6 Offboarding

Onboarding and Offboarding are the bookends of a staff member's time at Catalpa. Offboarding is the process of helping someone leave Catalpa.

Essentially it's the opposite of onboarding - it’s a process that ensures there are no loose ends when a staff member leaves so you don’t find yourself emailing someone after they leave to ask for their laptop back for example.

The offboarding process is important because once someone leaves Catalpa, they have the potential to become an advocate for Catalpa…or a detractor. An advocate will speak highly of Catalpa and potentially recommend new employees in the future. Offboarding is also a great opportunity for Catalpa to find out more about what the employees' experience has been with Catalpa - what have they loved about working at Catalpa or what have they find frustrating so that we can look for ways to improve the way we do things around here.

Typically, beyond the administration of offboarding, and like onboarding, managers lead the offboarding process.

Here’s a quick run down on the key elements of how offboarding typically works at Catalpa:

Task	Responsibility
The staff member’s departure will be announced to all Catalpa by the staff member’s manager	Manager
The staff member’s departure is documented and saved on the employee file	P&C
The staff member works on handover with their manager (staff and manager) - this may include: Confirming location of documentation Recording all of the tasks they do on a weekly basis Determining who they collaborate with Writing down undocumented processes or guides that they use. Agreeing who will do the work in the immediate future. Clarifying if partners need to be advised	Manager
Recruitment may be commenced to replace the person	Manager
Consider starting a virtual farewell card using kudoboard	Manager
Arrange a final team farewell either virtual or in person	Manager
On the staff member’s last day their assets are collected	Manager/Finance
The staff member's access to systems such as email and slack is revoked	P&C
Liaise with Finance to arrange the departing staff member's final pay	P&C
Conduct and Exit Interview	P&C

Ultimately, it’s just as important to ensure the offboarding of a Catalpian is as successful as their onboarding. Creating a proper and graceful offboarding experience offers myriad benefits for a Catalpa beyond keeping the staff member’s exit as kind and friendly as possible. A successful offboarding process will help your former staff member and Catalpa tactfully and gracefully handle what can otherwise be an awkward, stressful and uncomfortable moment.

Exit Interviews

Nearly every exit interview should help you identify opportunities for improvement within the company. Key points from exit interviews will be shared with the manager and with Catalpa management.

Look for patterns in feedback from outgoing employees to identify possible organisational issues. For example, if you start hearing that many employees have left because the job was not what they expected to do when hired, it may be an indicator that we need to be clearer in our job descriptions and/or people management practices.

P&C will generally undertake exit interviews and consider trends and actionable feedback.