Sep 15, 2026 · 35 min · 13 segments
An employee’s experience doesn’t end on their last day Sarah Rodehorst, CEO and co-founder of Onwards HR, discusses how thoughtful offboarding can…
Sarah RodehorstGuest
Nicole BelynaHost
So we spend so much time talking about attracting and retaining talent, but offboarding often gets much less attention.
Why do you think organizations have historically underestimated its importance?
On the bright side, one in, in, uh, one in every 20 are actually ultimately rehired.
Additionally, more than 1.2 million layoffs, uh, were announced last year in 2025.
Um, but you asked, why has offboarding been so overlooked for so long? And I really actually don't think HR, uh, has underestimated it.
Leadership so often has invested where they see growth, right? We're hiring, we wanna recruit, we want to invest in our talent, um, onboarding and the like, and that's a lot of times where the technology investment has gone.
But if you talk to HR professionals, and I'm guessing you would relate to this, Nicole, is that actually managing workforce transitions or offboarding as a whole is really complicated, and it's really one of the hardest parts of, of HR.
It's something that we say that, you know, nobody really hopes to do, but it is a, a, a big part of, of the process.
Um, and so I think it's one of those things that bringing to light the complexity around offboarding, understanding the compliance around it, the state notices, all of the laws, the OBIPAs, the warrants and the like, um, is, is something that we need to bring to the attention of leadership because it really just takes one mistake to make headlines or to result in a lawsuit.
No, that's a really good point, and you're pointing out a lot of, um, very compliance-focused things that go along with offboarding, and there is a lot that, uh, is compliance-related that goes along with offboarding, right? You wanna do it the right way.
Um, but I always feel like compliance is sort of like table stakes, right? Really any part of HR, but, um, you know, but then we also then start to think about the experience.
And I know that you published an article with SHRM Labs that was titled Offboarding's Compliance Reckoning: Why HR's Hardest Job Deserves Better Tools.
And so for those listening, um, we have linked the piece to our podcast page, and I highly recommend the listen.
Uh, and so in your article, you point out that organizations have sophisticated tools for recruiting and onboarding and, you know, everywhere in between.
So why do you think offboarding has lagged behind the rest of the employee cycle?
Again, I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that Companies believe that HRIS really has offboarding handled.
So we spend so much time talking about attracting and retaining talent, but offboarding often gets much less attention.
Why do you think organizations have historically underestimated its importance?
On the bright side, one in, in, uh, one in every 20 are actually ultimately rehired.
Additionally, more than 1.2 million layoffs, uh, were announced last year in 2025.
Um, but you asked, why has offboarding been so overlooked for so long? And I really actually don't think HR, uh, has underestimated it.
Leadership so often has invested where they see growth, right? We're hiring, we wanna recruit, we want to invest in our talent, um, onboarding and the like, and that's a lot of times where the technology investment has gone.
But if you talk to HR professionals, and I'm guessing you would relate to this, Nicole, is that actually managing workforce transitions or offboarding as a whole is really complicated, and it's really one of the hardest parts of, of HR.
It's something that we say that, you know, nobody really hopes to do, but it is a, a, a big part of, of the process.
Um, and so I think it's one of those things that bringing to light the complexity around offboarding, understanding the compliance around it, the state notices, all of the laws, the OBIPAs, the warrants and the like, um, is, is something that we need to bring to the attention of leadership because it really just takes one mistake to make headlines or to result in a lawsuit.
No, that's a really good point, and you're pointing out a lot of, um, very compliance-focused things that go along with offboarding, and there is a lot that, uh, is compliance-related that goes along with offboarding, right? You wanna do it the right way.
Um, but I always feel like compliance is sort of like table stakes, right? Really any part of HR, but, um, you know, but then we also then start to think about the experience.
And I know that you published an article with SHRM Labs that was titled Offboarding's Compliance Reckoning: Why HR's Hardest Job Deserves Better Tools.
And so for those listening, um, we have linked the piece to our podcast page, and I highly recommend the listen.
Uh, and so in your article, you point out that organizations have sophisticated tools for recruiting and onboarding and, you know, everywhere in between.
So why do you think offboarding has lagged behind the rest of the employee cycle?
Again, I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that Companies believe that HRIS really has offboarding handled.
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