Offboarding at KI

When an employee resigns, you as a manager are responsible for initiating the offboarding process as soon as possible.

Do the following:

• Ensure the employee registers the termination in the HR system (PA-web) upon their resignation / application for leave of absence 
• Confirm notice period and employment conditions

During the notice period, as manager your should ensure knowledge transfer and planning of the employee’s offboarding experience.

Do the following:

• Plan and document handover of tasks and responsibilities
• Save all necessary documents and files to a shared drive
• Book and prepare for the exit interview
• Ask your local HR department to send out the Exit Survey
• Inform IT and Security about the upcoming departure
• Review vacation balance and salary adjustments
• Plan a farewell party/ sendoff/ retirement party, if the employee wishes

In the final days, you as a manager must ensure all access, equipment, and administrative tasks are completed.

Do the following:

• Conduct and document an exit interview, and compile lessons learned
• Ensure they have received the exit survey from HR
• Ensure the employee hands back their computer, phone, and any other KI equipment
• Ensure that their security badges are returned
• Ensure all necessary documents and files are saved to a shared drive

Telephone

The employee should:

• Wipe and reset the phone
• Return it
• Provide passwords/codes

Access cards and physical security

The employee should:

• Return the access card to the responsible party for deregistration (usually reception or the facility manager).

OneDrive and email account

When an employee or student leaves KI, their account is deactivated. How long they retain access to the account and how long information is stored depends on their role type. Emails and documents will be deleted—this also applies to storage spaces such as OneDrive.

Do not forget to ensure that permissions have been handled in the HR system according to the established routine.

As a manager you should see to that you have captured insights and completed the offboarding process.

Do the following:

• Check with your local HR department that they have received the exit survey
• Capture and share insights from exit interview
• Ask your local HR department to help you provide relevant certificates and documents (certificate of employment, testimonial and employer certificate)

Purpose

A structured handover reduces the risk of knowledge loss, creates clarity in responsibilities, and contributes to an effective transition when a role changes or ends. It provides better conditions for a replacement or temp-staff to quickly get up to speed and ensures that operations can continue without unnecessary disruptions.

Document description

This handover template is used when an employee leaves their position, changes roles, or takes extended leave, to ensure a structured transfer of tasks and responsibilities. At an early stage following notice of resignation, role change, or leave application, HR or the immediate manager should conduct a handover discussion focusing on transition and operational continuity.

The template is a support tool; it is not necessary to use all questions, and the manager may add questions if needed. Documentation is voluntary.

The handover discussion and this template do not replace and should not be confused with an exit interview. Unlike the exit interview, which aims to capture the employee’s experiences and feedback, the handover discussion has an operational focus. Its purpose is to ensure that tasks, responsibilities, knowledge, and resources are transferred in a structured way.

The template supports documentation of:

• tasks and areas of responsibility 
• ongoing projects and deliverables 
• files, systems, access rights, and contacts 
• critical competencies and ways of working 
• needs for knowledge transfer, onboarding, or recruitment of a replacement 

The template can also be used as a basis for job postings or for planning onboarding and competence development.

By conducting an exit feedback process, we can gain valuable information about the reasons for an employee's departure, their level of job satisfaction, and their perceptions of KI. All employees leaving KI are expected to be offered an exit interview by their direct line manager, and also sent a HR-exit survey by their local HR representative.

Exit surveys and interviews can also help us identify trends and patterns in employee turnover, allowing us to make data-driven decisions about how to address these issues. For example, if multiple employees cite a lack of career growth opportunities as a reason for leaving, we might need to revaluate our professional development programs or policies.

Target audience

The target group for the exit survey includes all employees at KI. The previous target group only included employees employed for more than 6 months, there is now no minimum criterion for length of employment.

The insights gained from exit interview as part of our off-boarding process can help us identify areas for improvement. By giving employees the opportunity to provide feedback in an exit interview, we can demonstrate how much we value our employees' opinions and are committed to continuously improving the workplace. Overall, exit interviews are an important tool for us to gather valuable feedback from departing employees and improve their workplace culture and practices.

Who is responsible for offering the exit interview?

It’s the line managers responsibility to offer exit interviews to staff, however should the employee prefer another person to carry out the interview they can request that HR or a more senior manager conduct the interview. This does not apply to post docs. 

Your local HR representative is responsible for sending out the exit survey, these are a compliment to the exit interviews. Surveys are sent out via the HR-Puls system.

Doctoral students are not expected to receive the exit survey as they use a separate system.