A Fond Farewell: How to Offboard and Celebrate Departing Agents

Did you know? There can be so much stress associated with saying goodbye and moving on to a new job role that in Japan there are now agencies that will handle this process for you – with the emerging trend for Resignation by Proxy.

That’s why our Editor – Megan Jones – spoke to Clare Santos, Dara Kiernan, Kim Ellis, and Nathan Dring – for a closer look at what it really takes to offboard and celebrate agents as they move on to pastures new.

Strive to Celebrate Offboarding Just as Much as Onboarding

First and foremost, if you really want to do offboarding well, it needs to be ingrained into your culture as a celebrated part of your employee lifecycle. Don’t just put all your energy into welcoming new recruits to the team!

A visual way to support this is to put a wall of fame up on your contact centre floor celebrating past employees and where they’ve headed next in their careers.

Not only does this show current agents that moving on is positive and celebrated, but it can also provide inspiration on what options are available to them internally and externally.

Dara Kiernan, leadership development and contact centre consultant — Dara Kiernan

“We used to have a wall of fame with photos of people who’d moved on to pastures new – so agents could see (for example) that Dan had moved internally into the Finance Department, or that Sophie had moved externally to study Marketing.

It really helped to keep it front of mind that moving on was inevitable, but also something to be celebrated (and not feared!) when their time came.” – Dara Kiernan, Leadership Development and Contact Centre Consultant

It’s not just about the agents who are left behind either! It can make a positive difference to have semi-regular communications in place specifically targeted at past employees.

For example, creating an Alumni newsletter of the latest news and updates, and even jobs, for anyone who is keen to hear how their ex-colleagues are getting on.

This approach can also help to keep past employees in the loop of new opportunities that might tempt them to return – such as news about a new or growing department.

It can also help support those agents who may start a new job and think “Oh no, I’ve really made a mistake here…” and want to backtrack on their decision and return to their original team.

Of course, the success of this approach isn’t just about celebrating the positive, it’s about nipping any negative behaviours in the bud too – such as leaders taking the news too personally and making agents feel guilty that they are leaving.

To stamp out these incidents of ill feelings in your culture, it can really help for all managers to adopt a mindset of “I’m here to help them grow” – particularly when there isn’t an abundance of internal opportunities for agents to progress toward.

Nathan Dring, Founder and Director of Nathan Dring and Associates Limited — Nathan Dring

Equally, it’s important that a leader weeds out any negative reactions in their own team, as Nathan Dring, People Development Lead at Customer Contact Panel explains,

“If people are bitter about someone moving on, you can’t ignore it and brush it off as saying “Sophie is always like that”. It’s not acceptable or professional behaviour.

So as a leader, you have to be prepared to step in, be brave, and have that difficult conversation to create a positive, more supportive culture for everyone in the long run.”

Proactively Futureproof Your Team to Take Some of the Pressure Off

An agent moving on to a new opportunity should not create mass panic! How do you make sure of this? Well, it all comes down to preparation! By getting ahead of the game to guarantee “business as usual” even when someone does hand in their notice.

It can really help to look at the bigger picture! If you can work towards your contact centre being perceived as a talent factory – where you want people to come in, build their skills and move on – this sets everyone’s expectations from day 1, defusing any potential for shock or friction.

We saw this approach in action on our Call Centre Helper site visit to Bupa’s Contact Centre in Staines, UK, where Jane Redgrave, Head of Consumer Retention, has recognized that securing 12 months’ to 2 years’ service from a colleague before they move into the wider business is a win–win for everyone involved.

Succession planning is also key! If you can build processes around continuously developing your people to step in and support their colleagues’ roles, there will always be someone waiting in the wings when a gap opens up in the team.

Clare Santos, Director, Knowledge & Quality, Customer Experience at Aviso — Clare Santos

“When a colleague hands in their notice, it’s about having that plan, making sure that people are prepared and not just thinking, “Argh, we’re losing Jessica, we don’t know what to do!”

This way, no one’s getting stressed, no one’s panicking… The groundwork’s been done and it’s just about rolling out the plan to make sure the work continues immediately after the departure.” – Clare Santos, Director, Knowledge & Quality, Customer Experience at Aviso

For advice on helping agents with leadership potential, read our article: How to Prepare Agents for Their First Leadership Role

Regular, open conversations about potential career paths and aspirations – even if they are outside of the contact centre – can also help to break down any perceived negativity around leaving, as Kim Ellis, Chief Learning Architect at Go Ginger Learning Solutions, shares,

“If someone is working in a contact centre and they decide, “I really want to be a chef,” a good manager will know this, but also be able to say “That’s very exciting. How can we help you? Do we need to look at how your shifts are structured so you can attend evening classes?” Because people will remember that!”

However, it’s also important to understand when agents are moving on for negative reasons. So be sure to have a consistent exit interview process in place too. Although, as a line manager, you don’t have to wait for a formal exit interview to find out more.

When an agent hands in their notice, why not try responding with, “Let’s go for a coffee to hear more about your next venture and find out what we could have done better too?” to kick-start a positive departure.

…And Make Those Last Few Weeks Count!

Then, do whatever you can to make their last few weeks with you as pleasant as possible. No ghosting them, overloading them with handover tasks, or making them feel guilty for leaving!

For example, a good habit to get into is simply to ask your departing agent “What can we do to support YOU now?”

Also make sure to discuss and celebrate their upcoming departure in your next team huddle to keep everyone in the loop of what’s happening as early on as possible.

Don’t just isolate the news to your team either. Make sure other key connections in other departments know about it in good time, so they have chance to talk to them about anything they might need too.

And finally, give them the nice send-off they deserve to say thank you for all their hard work! Send round a card, do a collection for a gift, and organize some leaving drinks, so everyone gets a chance to say a nice goodbye! Your efforts will be remembered long after they walk out the door!

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