After onboarding, offboarding: Digital Learning to optimise the employee experience

In their steps to improve the employee experience, many companies take great care in onboarding new employees, making the most of possibilities offered by e-Learning. in particular. However, it is rare for companies to be interested in offboarding, which is an essential stage in the employee’s career. Here we explain why.

In recent years, the notion of employee experience has become a core concern for HR teams. And if companies nurture employees throughout their career, it’s because it may easily go beyond company boundaries.

Employee experience: repercussions outside the company

According to Hervé Henry, a consultant at Adhemis, a consulting, training and coaching firm that supports companies through changes:« With social networks in particular, any HR initiative, whether it is positive or negative, is soon shared and commented on. Fostering the employee experience also enhances the company’s image and its employer brand. This is a key challenge in the ‘talent war’ fought by certain companies. »

Offboarding, the last essential stage in the employee experience

The employee experience covers all stages in the employee’s journey through the company, until their departure. However, the process when the employee leaves– le offboarding – is given much less attention than onboarding.

The company must support an employee through their departure, especially if the company is downsizing or the role is changing, in which case the employee would not have the skills or inclination to develop. This is part of its social role, and even its direct responsibility, for example, when the departure is due to a company failing, as it has not been able to develop the employee »

Digital Learning to improve offboarding

Carbon footprint reduction and e-learning

By offering modules to assess the skills learnt, or even identify opportunities for retraining, Digital Learning may help support the employee in finding a new role, or in analysing their abilities and goals. This key stage before departure is sometimes quite difficult, but fun, customisable e-Learning programmes can make it easier.

Of course, offboarding is not without cost for the company. « But it must – and will – become more widespread, because today it is a key factor that sets companies apart, and also contributes to the company’s reputation. Then benefit can be felt as early as in the recruitment phase. What’s more, it can be based on Digital Learning because today, young talented professionals prefer companies that use digital tools », says Hervé Henry.

Onboarding: e-Learning is increasingly appealing

Although people are starting to talk about offboarding ,onboarding is still prioritised by companies because it is considered essential to help employees integrate and fosters their loyalty. And ultimately, it reduces the financial and operational consequences when turnover is too high.

These are challenges that Digital Learning has shown it can meet, whether in the traditional sense of training a new employee for their job, or more broadly:

– Presenting the company and its values

– Encouraging a feeling of belonging among new employees

– Sharing the same messages and ensuring integration is consistent for teams that are located far apart.

« In terms of onboarding, Digital Learning supplements and enhances traditional methods of induction and integration. But it doesn’t replace them »,says Hervé Henry.  In concrete terms, there is no question of cancelling induction days, for example, which are an opportunity for discussion and contact, or allowing a new employee to acculturate to their new organisation alone, in front of a screen.

« But used coherently within the entire course, Digital Learning remains ideal for disseminating and embodying certain specificities of the company… especially among the younger generations, for whom digital tools are a requirement ! »

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