A good offboarding is finished well before the last day. The work, the contacts and the knowledge are with someone who can use them, access has been removed on schedule and the leaver has had a respectful exit. This checklist is for the notice period. Adapt it to the role and to what your employment contract says.
Day one of notice
- Confirm the last working day in writing, as per the contract and any agreement reached.
- Name who will receive the work. If several people will, name one coordinator.
- Tell the leaver what is expected in the handover, and how long they have for it.
- Agree who will be told, when and in what words, inside and outside the company.
Capture the knowledge
A list of files is not a handover. The knowledge that leaves with a person is usually the context around the files. Ask the leaver to write down, in plain language:
- Recurring tasks: what is done daily, weekly, monthly and yearly, with dates and the steps in between.
- Work in progress: each item, its status, the next step and who is waiting for it.
- Contacts: clients, vendors, internal approvers, with what each expects.
- Where things are: systems, folders, logins held in a shared place, templates.
- Known problems: things that usually go wrong and how they are fixed.
- Decisions pending: anything started that someone else must now decide.
If the leaver is reluctant, or time is short, a recorded walkthrough of a typical week can capture more than a form. See recovering knowledge when HR resigns for an example of what is lost when this is skipped.
Transfer, then test
- 1
Introduce the receiver
To the contacts who matter, in person or by message, before the last week.
- 2
Shadow
Receiver watches the leaver do a recurring task.
- 3
Reverse shadow
Receiver does the task with the leaver watching and correcting.
- 4
Check in the last week
Ask the receiver what is unclear, and fix gaps while the leaver can still answer.
- 5
Leave a way to ask
Agree whether the leaver can be contacted with a question after leaving, and how. Check this is consistent with their new obligations.
Access and property
Access removal should follow a list, not a memory. HR and IT, or whoever manages systems, should confirm each item with a date.
- Email, shared drives, messaging groups and collaboration tools.
- Business systems: payroll, HR system, CRM, finance, vendor portals.
- Shared passwords, bank or payment approvals, signing authority.
- Physical access: building, office, vehicle, fuel cards, keys.
- Company property: laptop, phone, ID card, documents.
The leaver who still had access describes what happens when this is left to chance.
People and paperwork
- Hold the exit conversation, using an exit interview that produces action.
- Prepare the final settlement following the settlement sequence.
- Give the documents the leaver is entitled to under their contract and the law, such as the relieving or experience letter, after checking what applies.
- Update the employee record and any reporting lines or approval chains the leaver sat in.
- Close or reassign recurring tasks in calendars, alerts and workflows.
Before the last day
Hold a short final check. Does the receiver have everything on the list? Is there any work no one has been told about? Has every access item been signed off? Is the settlement on schedule? If any answer is no, fix it that week.
Check the contract and applicable law for notice, return of property and settlement requirements. This checklist does not replace them.
