After onboarding, now offboarding: Digital Learning to enhance the employee experience

In their efforts to improve the employee experience, many companies focus on refining the onboarding process for new hires, particularly by leveraging the possibilities offered by e-Learning. However, few pay attention to offboarding, an equally essential stage in the employee journey. Explanation follows.

In recent years, the concept of the employee experience has become a central focus for HR teams. Companies are now paying close attention to every step of an employee's journey throughout their career because that experience can easily extend beyond the company's boundaries.

Employee Experience: Impact Beyond the Company

This is the view of Hervé Henry, a consultant at Adhemis, a consulting, training, and coaching firm that supports business transformations. "With social media in particular, any HR initiative, whether positive or negative, is quickly shared and commented on. Taking care of the employee experience also enhances the company’s image and employer brand. This is a key issue in the 'war for talent' that many companies are engaged in."

Offboarding: The Final Essential Step in the Employee Experience

The employee experience encompasses all stages of a worker’s journey within a company, right up until their departure. However, the process surrounding an employee’s exit—offboarding—receives far less attention than onboarding.

According to Hervé Henry, this is a mistake: "The company has a duty to support an employee who is leaving, especially in cases of restructuring or when a role evolves in a way that the employee either lacks the skills for or has no desire to pursue. This is part of the company’s social role, and sometimes even its direct responsibility. For instance, if the departure results from the company's failure to help the employee grow."

##Digital Learning in Support of Offboarding By offering modules to assess acquired skills or even detect opportunities for career transitions, Digital Learning can facilitate the employee's support toward another position or help them analyze their abilities and goals. This is a key step before departure, though it can sometimes be difficult to navigate. Customizable and even interactive e-Learning programs can make this process smoother and more manageable.

Of course, offboarding comes at a cost for the company. "But it must—and will—become widespread, as it is now a strong differentiating factor and also contributes to the company’s image, even from the recruitment phase. This is especially true if it incorporates Digital Learning, as today’s young talent prioritizes companies that use digital tools," says Hervé Henry.

Onboarding: e-Learning Continues to Gain Popularity

While offboarding is starting to gain attention, onboarding remains a priority for companies, as it is deemed essential for enhancing integration and employee retention. Ultimately, effective onboarding can reduce the operational and financial consequences of excessive turnover.

Challenges where Digital Learning has proven effective include not only the "traditional" training of a new employee in their role but also, more broadly, to:

• Best present the company and its values
• Encourage new employees to develop a sense of belonging.
• Ensure sharing of the same messages and a homogeneous integration with geographically distant teams.

In terms of onboarding, Digital Learning complements and enriches traditional reception and integration mechanisms. Not to replace them,” warns Hervé Henry. In concrete terms, there is no question of abolishing welcome days, for example, which promote exchanges and meetings, or letting a new employee acculturate himself, in front of a screen, to his new organization.

But used consistently within the course as a whole, Digital Learning remains ideal to disseminate and embody certain company specificities... Especially among the younger generations, for whom digital tools are a requirement!”