The secret to high hardware recovery rates isn't persistence — it's removing friction entirely.
If an employee has to find a box, print a label, source bubble wrap, and locate a local drop-off point, your recovery rate will fall below 40%. The average offboarding employee is busy, stressed, and not thinking about your asset register. They're thinking about their next role.
The single biggest lever you can pull is making the return effortless — to the point where refusing to participate requires more effort than actually sending the device back.
Timing is everything. A return kit that arrives on the employee's last day competes with leaving drinks, handover documents, and final payslips. Send it 5–7 business days before exit, and frame it as part of the offboarding checklist. Recovery rates jump by over 30% with this change alone.
Nobody should need a degree in origami to pack a MacBook. Custom-fit padded protection moulds around any device shape without requiring the employee to judge how much bubble wrap is "enough." Self-seal, self-explain, done.
Requiring employees to print a label is a recovery killer. A significant portion of the UK workforce no longer owns a home printer. Pre-printed labels eliminate this barrier entirely and ensure the device is sent via the correct tracked service.
Not everyone lives near a convenient drop-off point. Providing a free doorstep collection option converts borderline compliers into confirmed returns. Removing the logistical burden from the employee removes their last excuse not to return the device.
Make the hardware return a formal, tracked step in your HR or IT offboarding workflow. When it sits alongside "return your ID badge" and "complete your exit survey," it becomes normalised. Use your portal to mark it as outstanding until the tracking number confirms receipt.
Implement these five changes and a 90%+ recovery rate is not a target — it's an expectation.
Industry average recovery rates hover around 60–70%, but organisations that remove friction from the return process — sending kits before the employee's last day, using pre-printed labels, and offering collection — can consistently achieve 90%+ recovery rates.
Send it 5–7 business days before their last day, not on their final day. Recovery rates jump by over 30% with this timing change alone, since it avoids competing with leaving drinks, handover documents, and final payslips.
Usually not defiance — friction. Needing to find a box, print a label, source packaging, and locate a drop-off point is enough to stall most returns. Removing each of these steps is what drives recovery rates up.
Yes. Not everyone lives near a convenient drop-off point, so offering free doorstep collection removes the last logistical excuse and converts borderline compliers into confirmed returns.
