What is employee lifecycle

Last updated: 2025-06-04

Every employee goes through the same stages, which include everything from attraction on the labor market, job interview, selection, onboarding, adaptation, employee development and performance evaluation to the offboarding. At each of these stages, the organization should have the information needed to make decisions and deal with the employee

Basic Employee Lifecycle Stages

  1. A job applicant is a potential employee, candidate is an applicant after screening 
  2. New Employee: An employee in the onboarding and adaptation process
  3. Active employees are all employees during their employment
  4. Departing Employee: Describes an employee in the process of leaving
  5. Former Employee (Alumni): A former employee with whom the company should maintain a positive relationship

HR Processes During the Employee Lifecycle

Parallel to the employee lifecycle, the work of HR professionals is divided into these 6 basic stages of the employee management process.

  1. Attracting job applicants and candidates in the job market
  2. Candidate Selection and New Employee Hiring
  3. New Hire Onboarding and Adaptation to the new workplace
  4. Employee Growth and Development in a Career Path, Retention and Development, Training, and Performance Reviews
  5. Employee Offboarding
Employee lifecycle