The reality of on & off-boarding
Using the best tools to limit pressure and personal impacts of an emotional process
Exciting Onboarding!
Onboarding is exciting! Doing it well is something I strive for and doing it consistently is critical to assure employees are prepared for their first day. Using workflows within Oomnitza allows me to streamline, schedule and deploy the person to the right places with the right access at the right time. Our people team works their magic to assist in securing these talented people and then passes the basics (via Lever and BambooHR) to Oomnitza.
Our Onboarding workflows take over;
- I need to document this process, let’s start with a Zendesk ticket.
- Onboarding, got it — stage them in Okta.
- USA employee, you get these apps.
- Marketing department, also get these apps.
- Oh, Google groups and shared drive for Marketing, check.
- You start in 2 weeks, no problem! We will prep you (no access yet) but are ready to go a few days prior to your hired date to access the core apps and verify you can meet with your manager and HR via Zoom and see the automated Slack welcome message on your first day.
- You need a computer? We have one ready to go, let’s get a FedEx label printed a week before you start to prep the technology to send out so you can receive it and get it up and running and tested during the weekend.
- Wondering where the laptop is? Check the FedEx tracking information and update the system to assure delivery.
- Send a personal welcome and configuration document via PDF to their personal email (no work email yet) and let them know what to expect and how to contact IT if something does not work as expected.
I have been providing a survey after a few days of work to see what I can do better and what I may have been doing well.
Nine months in, (on a scale of 1–5, 5 is excellent) and 40 employees;
- 94% said it was easy to set up and get started with their technology.
- 92% said the onboarding process overall was excellent.
- 86% said the process (considering previous experiences) was excellent
Emotional Offboarding?
Now obviously, this can be VERY emotional for the departing employee. Information Technology employees frequently get to know people well and interact with them more than most. Knowing someone is leaving the team is tough.
We need to be professional and sensitive. We often need to manage confidentiality and timelines. We need to assure that the process is consistent, secure, and well-documented.
How can this be done?
Our off-boarding workflows take over;
- We need to accurately and completely document the process in Zendesk
Oomnitza workflow and Zendesk ticket
- Collect the necessary termination information
Date and times
Responsible parties
Personal contact information
- We need to VERIFY that everything is proceeding as scheduled
- At the defined date and time, BEGIN the off-boarding process
- Do you have a computer? Which one?
Check Oomnitza
- You use SaaS and software daily?
Check Oomnitza and Okta
Oomnitza workflow and document in the Zendesk ticket
- We need to immediately disable, revoke, suspend or lock all accounts.
Oomnitza workflows and Okta, update the ticket
- We remove the person from any groups or mailing lists
Oomnitza workflows and Google, update the ticket
- We reset passwords and force the rest of the tokens
Oomnitza workflows and Google, update the ticket
- We need to lock the devices to avoid data loss
Oomnitza workflows and Intune/Jamf, update the ticket
- We verify the current mailing address to ship out a box
- We generate a technology return request
Oomnitza workflows and Retriever, update the ticket
- We direct future communication to the necessary parties
- We transfer files, calendars, Zoom meetings, and upcoming events
Oomnitza workflows, Google and Zoom, update the ticket
- Notify HR and Supervisors about the status of the user and accounts.
- We check the shipping status of the returning technology
Oomnitza workflows and Retriever
- We receive the technology and verify its condition
- We reset the device and return it to the inventory
Oomnitza workflow, Intune/Jamf, and update the record
- We notify HR that the technology has been returned
- We verify all the steps in the ticket have been completed and documented
Oomnitza workflow and Zendesk, update and close the ticket
Anyone in IT knows the offboarding process is draining and challenging. As you can see we update the ticket throughout the process to provide a “paper trail” and timestamp the whole process.
Ongoing security concerns around leaving an unknown vulnerability open are more real than ever and harder to be 100% confident in.
Using these workflows, managing them, and updating them as new or changing tools become part of the technology stack is straightforward and should provide confidence in the offboarding process.
