Every year, school pupils, students and seasonal staff leave your stores. With good offboarding, you gain ambassadors, customers and sometimes even colleagues who come back. That saves you time on recruiting and onboarding.
Take Tim. After three years of Saturdays and holidays, he works his final shift. His store manager tells the team what Tim meant to them. Two months later, Tim buys his winter coat from you again. And he tells his little sister to apply.
A colleague who leaves takes more than a reference letter. They take a story with them too. About your store, your team and what it was like to work there. They tell that story at home, at birthday parties and online.
A good goodbye gives you three things:
And don't forget the colleagues who stay. They're watching. How you say goodbye tells them how they will be treated too.
People who are leaving have little to lose. That's why an exit interview often gives you the most honest feedback you'll ever get. Plan it in their last week and set aside half an hour.
Five questions for your exit interview
- Why did you decide to leave?
- What made a working day here a good one?
- What would you have liked to learn here?
- What would ever make you come back?
- What should we change, starting tomorrow?
Put the answers from different leavers side by side. Do you often hear that people leave because there's no next step? Then you know where to start. Five of our customers showed how career development works without promotion.
A warm goodbye falls flat if the last day is chaos. A short offboarding checklist keeps things clear:
Passing on knowledge belongs on that list too. Tim knew exactly how to dress the window for the new collection. Let him take a colleague along in his final weeks. That way, the know-how stays in the store. Beyond that, keep it light. A goodbye shouldn't turn into a pile of paperwork.
Say it out loud: you're welcome to come back. As seasonal staff in December, for example, or after your studies. Then stay in touch with former colleagues you'd love to see again. A quick message when a new vacancy opens. An invitation to the Christmas drinks.
The store manager plays the lead role here. A personal thank-you on someone's last day takes five minutes and stays with them for years. After all, showing appreciation doesn't have to cost an extra hour.
Does a former colleague come back? Then onboarding doesn't have to start from scratch. With a short, smart onboarding, they're up to speed again in no time.
What if former colleagues stayed part of your brand? Picture a community for ex-employees, with game elements that reward taking part. Points for referring a candidate. A badge for sharing a product experience. An invitation to the launch of a new collection. That's how a former colleague becomes an active ambassador.
To be fair, this barely exists in retail yet. Not among our customers either. That's why we're looking for a retailer to develop it with us. You bring your former colleagues and your brand. We bring our experience in learning, game elements and engagement. Together, we'll build something nobody has yet.
Plan an exit interview with that colleague and ask the five questions. On their last day, tell them what they meant to the team. And let them know the door stays open.
Want to develop an alumni community for former colleagues with us? Let us know and we'll sit down together.