Lawson Software Smoothes Employee Exits

November 15, 2011 Alex Woodie

Getting new employees registered and situated with IT systems is critical, but perhaps just as important is the process of offboarding employees who are leaving the organization because they quit, were fired, or were laid off. Lawson Software, which is now an affiliate of Infor, last month unveiled Enwisen Offboarding, a new cloud-based solution that automates administrative tasks associated with the departures of employees.

Lawson acquired Enwisen for $70 million late last year, just before Infor swooped in with an acquisition offer ($1.83 billion) that Lawson couldn’t refuse. The deal brought Lawson Enwisen’s cloud-based human resources suite, including solutions for onboarding and offboarding employees, and about 260 customers.

The new Enwisen Offboarding solution brings more automation to the employee departure process. Departing employees will be able to view a step-by-step tour customized by the employer for certain locations, job roles, and types of separation. The tour is designed to answer common questions the employee may have regarding retirement plans, 401(k) balances, or other benefits, and is viewable by the employee from any Web browser for a period of up to 90 days.

The software also provides line managers and HR administrators with functionality. Line managers are provided workflow checklists and forms to help ensure timely completion of all departure-related tasks, while administrators have access to analytic dashboards and consoles that help them to monitor the workflow processes and use of the Web tours. In addition to streamlining the completion of required forms, Enwisen Offboarding helps identify the networks, facilities, and financial and payroll accounts that a department employee may have had access to.

“Offboarding typically requires significantly more steps and generates more questions than onboarding, so there is a need to streamline processes and reduce costs,” Lawson’s senior vice president of global human capital management products Larry Dunivan says in a press release.

Lawson also announced that the Mohegan Sun, the second largest casino in the country, has licensed Enwisen Knowledgebase. The Connecticut casino, which employs 8,500 people, will use Knowledgebase to replace manual, paper-based HR processes and help reduce time spent processing simple tasks, cut costs, and better serve its employees, Lawson says. Mohegan Sun employees will be able to update their personnel records over the Web, and also have access to company policies and information about their compensation packages.

“We chose Knowledgebase because it was the only solution that could work with all the systems we already had in place,” said Pamela Roland, vice president of HR for Mohegan Sun, which is a big user of IBM i servers and applications.