The State of Workforce Transformation
Workforce restructuring is no longer an occasional crisis event but a continuous operational mandate.
Despite heavy enterprise investment in recruitment, onboarding, and talent management platforms, the processes governing employee exits remain the most fragmented, manual, and legally vulnerable touchpoints in the enterprise tech stack.
U.S. employees experienced layoffs in 2025 alone.
Exit events now run concurrently across local, state, and international jurisdictions — and involve six internal functions at once.
This report explores
Where organizations are today and what’s holding them back
Top risks and common mistakes
Where current tools fall short
What leading organizations are focusing on next
How mature are today’s offboarding processes?
of organizations have not reached an automated or fully-integrated offboarding process.
Benchmark your offboarding process
Answer five questions to compare your process against what HR professionals told us in May 2026.
Inside the Report
Onwards HR partnered with SHRM to survey HR professionals to understand how organizations are managing offboarding and workforce transitions today — and where they see the biggest challenges, risks, and opportunities.
Chapter 1: The Maturity Gap
Most organizations are still early in their offboarding process maturity.
Chapter 2: Complexity Is Outpacing Process
Compliance, coordination, and risk continue to be major challenges.
Chapter 3: The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Gaps in offboarding create real financial, legal, and cultural impact.
Chapter 4: The Technology Gap
Many organizations rely on manual processes and disconnected tools.
Chapter 5: Building a More Mature Process
A connected, compliant, and compassionate approach is within reach.