PROTOCOL P-28 | Learning, Monitoring & Institutionalization

Contractor Offboarding Protocol

TRIGGER Before contractor departure from any project site or phase; before contractor demobilization at project completion.

STEPS

1. Initiate contractor offboarding at least two weeks before demobilization

   Do not wait until the last day. Knowledge transfer takes time. Begin at least two weeks before the contractor's scheduled departure.

2. Conduct a contractor knowledge transfer session

   Ask the contractor supervisor: (a) What concerns were raised by community members with contractor staff that were not formally logged? (b) What informal arrangements or understandings were made with community members? (c) What community relationships were built that the project team should maintain? (d) What signals did contractor staff observe that were not formally reported?

3. Log all previously unlogged concerns and signals

   Any concern or signal identified in the knowledge transfer session that was not previously logged must be entered in the Grievance Register or Signal Tracker immediately. Do not allow contractor knowledge to exit with the contractor.

4. Document informal arrangements

   Any informal arrangement made by contractor staff with community members (about employment, site access, noise mitigation, community benefit) must be documented and reviewed. If it represents a genuine commitment, it must be assigned to the continuing project team for follow-through.

5. Notify affected communities of the contractor's departure

   Communities that have regular interaction with contractor staff should be notified of the departure before it happens. Introduce the continuing point of contact. Provide updated contact details for raising concerns.

6. Conduct a Do No Harm Assessment for the departure

   Assess: are there ongoing concerns or commitments that the contractor's departure puts at risk? Are there community members who relied on contractor employment and now face livelihood disruption? Is there any risk that the departure will be interpreted as project withdrawal or abandonment?

7. Document the offboarding

   Record: date of knowledge transfer session, concerns and signals identified, informal arrangements documented, community notification completed, and continuing project team assignments.

PURPOSE

To ensure that SE-GRM knowledge, community relationships, open concerns, and informal agreements are formally transferred when contractors demobilize, preventing the loss of critical field intelligence and the community experience of sudden withdrawal. Contractor offboarding is the bookend to contractor onboarding: both are SE-GRM requirements.

Roles and Responsibilities

Conducts:

Actor: ComRel Officer / PCO
Responsibility: Conducts the knowledge transfer session; logs identified concerns and signals; coordinates community notification.

Participates:

Actor: Contractor Supervisor / Site Foreman
Responsibility: Participates in the knowledge transfer session; identifies unlogged concerns, signals, and informal arrangements.

Notified:

Actor: Project Manager
Responsibility: Receives summary of knowledge transfer findings; approves decisions on informal arrangements; confirms continuing project team assignments.

Field Notes and Adaptation Guidance

• Field Note — Contractor departure is experienced as loss

  For communities that have had daily contact with contractor staff over months of construction, contractor departure is a significant transition. Relationships built over time end abruptly. Employment ends. The familiar faces disappear. This is experienced as a form of abandonment, even when the project continues, and can produce a spike in signals if not managed. Manage contractor departure as a community engagement event, not just a logistics milestone.

• Field Note — Informal arrangements are binding in community perception

  A contractor supervisor who told a community member 'we'll make sure you get work when the next phase starts' has made a commitment, whether or not it was authorized. In the community's perception, the project made that commitment. When it is not honored, it becomes a grievance. Contractor offboarding identifies these commitments before they become grievances.

• Adaptation Guidance

  For large construction projects with multiple contractor transitions over time, consider making contractor offboarding a routine part of project management, not an exception. Include it in contractor contracts as a requirement with defined deliverables (knowledge transfer record, community notification confirmation). Contractors who know offboarding is required are more likely to manage community relationships in ways that make knowledge transfer possible.

Required Output / Documentation

• Knowledge transfer record: unlogged concerns and signals identified and entered in GRM system

• Informal arrangements documented and reviewed

• Community notification of contractor departure completed

• Continuing project team assigned to all open concerns identified in offboarding