Employee offboarding checklist
Leavers get forgotten faster than joiners. The work is less pleasant, the person is already half gone, and an open account can sit live for months.
Runs from the day notice is given to a few weeks after the last day. A dismissal or a sudden exit follows a different sequence, usually with access handled first and handover second.
OFFBOARDING SOP — [Company name] Subject: [leaver name] · Last working day: [date] · Initiator: [HR] WHEN NOTICE IS GIVEN [ ] Resignation or notice acknowledged in writing HR [ ] Last working day agreed and recorded HR [ ] Manager, IT and finance told HR [ ] Leave balance calculated and shared HR [ ] Replacement or cover decided Manager HANDOVER PERIOD [ ] Handover document written and reviewed Leaver [ ] Live work reassigned, by name Manager [ ] Clients and suppliers told who takes over Manager [ ] Documents moved out of personal drives Leaver [ ] Ownership of repositories and files transferred Leaver [ ] Recurring payments and subscriptions reassigned Finance LAST WORKING DAY [ ] Laptop, phone, card and keys returned Leaver [ ] Condition checked, serials matched, form signed IT [ ] Email, chat and tool access revoked IT [ ] Building access removed Admin [ ] Attendance terminal enrolment removed HR [ ] Exit conversation held HR AFTER THE LAST DAY [ ] Final settlement processed Finance [ ] Mail forwarding set for [30] days, then stopped IT [ ] Shared accounts the leaver knew: passwords changed IT [ ] Reference approach agreed and noted HR [ ] Employee record archived HR [ ] Exit notes reviewed with the department head HR A NOTE ON TIMING Access ends when the last day ends, not a week later and not a week early. Revoking early, before handover is done, is the mistake that costs the most.
Before you send it
- Separate the last day from what follows. Access and hardware belong to the last day; settlement and forwarding do not, and mixing them leaves both late.
- Add the shared-account line even if you think you have none. Someone always knows a login that is not in the password manager.
- Final pay, settlement and anything owed at exit follow your local rules and the contract. Treat this line as a prompt to ask finance, not as guidance.
- Write the exit conversation into the list so it happens. Held on the last morning it is honest; held a week after, it does not get held at all.
- Off-boarding and Post-Offboarding are two separate processes in the live PeopleMuster instance. That is the split between the last day and the fortnight after it, as it looks in practice.
Questions people ask about this letter
Why separate offboarding from what happens afterwards?
Different owners and different clocks. The last day is IT and HR working to a deadline. The weeks after are finance and admin working to a settlement date, and lumping them together means the tail gets dropped.
When should access be revoked?
At the end of the last working day, unless there is a specific reason to move faster. Early revocation stops handover dead, and handover is the part you cannot redo.
Who should hold the exit conversation?
Not the line manager, in most cases. People say more to someone from HR or a skip-level, especially when the manager is part of the reason they are leaving.