Why Offboarding Is the Most Important Process You’re Probably Not Automating
If onboarding is your council’s welcome mat, offboarding is the emergency exit – and it better work in a fire.
That was the big takeaway from our recent Flow & Tell session with Bay of Plenty Regional Council, where Senior Business Analyst Gill walked us through how they transformed their outdated leavers process into one of their most efficient, most visible, and most-loved workflows.
What started as a clunky, eight-year-old process sitting in Objective is now one of the most-loved workflows at the council – complete with automated handovers, built-in visibility, and zero manual emails.
So why should your council automate employee offboarding? Here are four reasons to make it your next automation project.
1. Offboarding is a compliance minefield
Offboarding is packed with compliance and security responsibilities. If a step gets skipped – like revoking system access, it opens the door to unnecessary costs and data risk. For many councils, there’s no single source of truth for tracking where the process is at or what’s been done.
By automating the offboarding workflow, councils can ensure that nothing gets missed. Built-in task assignment, visibility, and escalation paths mean every box is ticked, even if someone’s on leave or working remotely.
2. It’s prime real estate for automation wins
At Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the team rebuilt their leavers workflow in just a few days using Flowingly. Most of that time wasn’t spent building – it was spent aligning with stakeholders and updating the content. Once live, the process eliminated a heap of manual tasks, especially around email creation and follow-ups.
Pre-configured emails now go out automatically. Staff no longer have to copy-paste template text from Outlook or remember to send internal notifications. Everything flows in the background, triggered by a single form submission.
3. Visibility = less risk, less stress
One of the most frustrating parts of offboarding is the follow-up. HR teams end up chasing ICT for updates, reminding team leaders about final dates, or nudging people who’ve forgotten to complete their steps.
With automated nudges and status visibility built into the Flowingly dashboard, HR can now keep things moving without awkward follow-ups. Delegations are easy to apply, tasks can be reassigned instantly, and no one’s wondering, “Has that laptop been returned yet?”
4. You don’t need to be a tech wizard
The kicker? BOPRC’s team didn’t need developers or a giant IT project to get this done. They used Flowingly’s drag-and-drop builder, updated the workflow themselves, and can tweak it any time without calling in the cavalry.
That’s the kind of no-code empowerment councils need – especially with shrinking budgets and growing audit pressure.
👋 TL;DR: Offboarding isn’t just paperwork. It’s a critical, high-risk process that deserves automation love. If Bay of Plenty can turn it from bottleneck to breeze, you can too.
Need help getting started? Steal their offboarding workflow from our Process Hub or watch the Flow & Tell session where Gill walks through it here.