Today’s organizations often prioritize onboarding processes to ensure a positive employee experience. However, an often overlooked aspect is the offboarding process, when employees leave the organization. Failing to establish a clear offboarding process can result in significant financial losses and security breaches.
In 2021, 47.7 million people voluntarily left their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – largest number since 2001. By the end of 2022, an additional 50.5 million workers had quit.
However, despite the changes in the labor market, according to research conducted by Aberdeen, a lack of offboarding processes is still a major issue for companies and can lead to $300 million in lost revenue from employee theft and $8.3 million in cybersecurity breaches each year. Shockingly, only 29% of organizations have a formal process in place for managing a seamless employee offboarding strategy.
The experiences employees have during their time in an organization, including before, during, and after their departure, can leave a lasting impression. A robust offboarding process ensures that employees feel valued, which, in turn, makes them more likely to act as advocates for their former organizations and refer others to join.
One crucial aspect of offboarding is revoking access to both software and hardware assets. If access to network infrastructure, software applications, or unprotected hardware is not revoked in a timely manner, it poses significant security risks. Unauthorized access may lead to malware infections, data breaches, and other potential threats. To mitigate these risks, organizations must have the ability to provide or revoke access to software and hardware assets efficiently.
Efficient offboarding not only mitigates security risks but also enables the reutilization of devices and licenses, reducing redundant purchases. By recovering hardware assets, such as laptops, headsets, peripherals, monitors, and mobile phones, organizations can ensure that these resources are made available for other employees. Moreover, proper offboarding allows organizations to ensure that hardware is in optimal working condition for the next employee’s use.
To facilitate a smooth offboarding process, it is best to establish a checklist for teams to follow. This checklist should include key activities such as revoking access from servers, checking in hardware devices, reclaiming software assets, changing passwords, reassigning administrator rights, terminating VPN access, and discontinuing network access.
Maintaining an updated record of employee exit dates, voluntary resignations, retirements, and dismissals is crucial, and so collaboration between IT and HR departments is essential for effective offboarding. IT teams should set reminders before employees’ exit dates and generate lists of hardware and software assets assigned to existing employees in advance.
To streamline the process further, organizations can leverage IT asset management tools. Such tools and solutions can automate asset tracking for both software and hardware, centralizing management and providing visibility into the organization’s assets. ITAM tools can also ensure software compliance and updates, minimizing license violations and keeping employees up to date. By integrating with existing endpoints and identity management systems, it streamlines support and enhances efficiency in addressing employee requests.
A well-executed offboarding process is critical for organizations to save money, maintain audit readiness, and enhance security. The experiences employees have during their transition from an organization leave a lasting impression and can impact future referrals. By prioritizing smooth offboarding and implementing proper IT asset management tools, organizations can mitigate security risks, minimize financial losses, and ensure a seamless experience for both departing employees and the organization.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Syed Ali
Founder and CEO, EZO
Ali is the founder of EZO and head of all strategy and operations with the goal of optimizing asset-driven operations for companies worldwide. He has over 15 years of experience including leadership roles at Sun Microsystems and TRG. Ali is also the Senior Vice Chairman at P@SHA, the Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS. Additionally, he is a member of HEC’s National Curriculum Review Committee as well as previously teaching at his alma mater LUMS. He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Ali is based in San Francisco.