Employee Offboarding Checklist

A thorough employment offboarding checklist is a vital part of any human resources department. Performing it incorrectly can not only burn valuable bridges permanently but cause major security risks and alienate the rest of your team. 

If your offboarding process is bad, more people will start to quit and it will become harder to find quality candidates in your hiring processes.

Whether the employee has chosen to resign or is being involuntarily terminated, this checklist will enable you to execute the process in an efficient, compliant, and respectful manner.

Learn more about employee onboarding with Process Street.

Request the employee to write a resignation letter that states he/she is leaving the company along with the effective date of resignation.

Companies usually request a minimum of two weeks notice when possible. 

You can use the email template below to send the request without delay. 

This is to make sure that both you and the employee have a set date in your records for when they submitted their resignations and when they planned to leave.

When the employee has provided you with a resignation letter, attach it below and record the date of resignation. 

Notify the human resources office as soon as the termination is confirmed so that the process can get underway.

Notify your network administrator or other appropriate IT staff of the date and time on which to terminate the employee’s access to computer and telephone systems.

Make arrangements for how their accounts will be routed to ensure that your organization will not lose contact with clients and customers.

Once the company’s network administrator has been notified, confirm that all of the employee’s online accounts have been terminated. 

These may include:

Effective on the date of termination, whether immediately or at a mutually agreed upon end date, you need to cut off the employee’s building access.

Depending on your access methods:

• Disconnect the employee’s building entry code
• Disable the entry swipe card
• Collect the employee’s keys

If the employee needs to access the building for a few more days, provide them with a temporary access card that they can return on the date of termination.

Resigning employees are required to turn in all company property. Follow the sub-checklist below to ensure that nothing is taken with them.

Make sure you record exactly which items have been returned by the employee. 

Check with your insurance provider to ensure that you are complying with COBRA requirements.

In a nutshell, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) requires employees with over 20 employees to offer extended benefits to employees for a certain amount of time following their termination. These include retirement plans, health insurance, life insurance, outplacement, unemployment insurance, HSA or HRA, and expense account plans. 

If you feel unsure about COBRA compliance, check out this detailed article on what employers need to know about this federal law.

Next you need to request a letter from HR detailing the benefits status of the employee.

You can use the email template below to immediately request the letter from HR.

Ensure that the letter covers life insurance, health coverage, a retirement plan, expense account plans, and clearly states the employee’s COBRA status. 

Click here to read a sample benefit termination letter

Record a copy of the letter using the form field below.

Review confidentiality and non-compete agreements to make sure that the employee understands what is expected of him/her upon termination.

Even if the employee never signed such a document, most employee handbooks have a clause or code of conduct paragraph about non-disclosure of company-related confidential information or trade secrets. Review this and remind the employee that any breach of this confidentiality will be addressed effectively.

Ensure that copies of all signed agreements are kept in company records, should you need to refer to them in the future. 

Make a record of the tasks and duties the old employee was responsible for using the form fields below. This is the key difference between employee termination and offboarding.

By making a record of everything the old employee was responsible for you’re able to make sure that all critical tasks are being covered until a replacement for them can be found. Meanwhile, all non-critical tasks will still be recorded to make sure that the replacement can pick them up once they’re trained up.

Now make sure that all critical tasks performed by the old employee can be taken over by someone else. Use the form field below to record who will be handling these critical tasks.

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All tasks should ideally be handled by team members without impacting their own tasks too much. If that’s not possible, consider getting rid of some of their less important tasks in order to give them time to cover the critical ones from the old employee.

Record any training that employees will need to go through in order to perform (at least) the critical tasks that used to be covered by the old employee.

This can include any training for a new hire who will be replacing the old team member – the point is to highlight the training that any employee will need in order to handle the tasks that need to be covered.

Issue the employee their final paycheck.

Items to include in the final paycheck are:

Your state law will tell you when you need to send the check. It might be on the date of termination, the next payday, or a different date (e.g. 3 days after termination). 

Resigning employees are encouraged to participate in a confidential exit interview with the Human Resources department.

Exit interviews are an important process you can use to gather information regarding the working environment in your organization. When notified that an employee is terminating employment, your HR office will schedule an exit interview; record the date of this interview using the form field below.

All information gathered is confidential and is reported periodically in summary form.

Resigning employees, who plan to seek employment elsewhere, must sign a form giving the company permission to provide reference information when potential employers call.

Record the signed document by uploading a copy to the form field below.

Give the employee an address update form to fill out if they move. Especially for multinational companies, or those with high turnover, W-2s will come back as non-deliverable if the address has changed.

As a backup, verify that the employee’s emergency contact information is up-to-date and that you can contact that person if you have trouble getting their W-2s to them.

All documentation, including receipts for returned items and termination letters, need to go into the employee’s file. 

Also include documentation regarding disciplinary action such as verbal or written warnings, as well as performance reviews that help show why the employee has been terminated. 

Although a farewell party is not always appropriate, it can be a good thing to do when sending off an employee. 

It provides you with an opportunity to show your appreciation for the work they have done, while also improving company morale as other employees see how you value and appreciate the work done at the business in general.  

• Rachel Blakely-Gray – Employee Termination Checklist: How to Stay Compliant & Professional
• Susan M. Heathfield – Checklist for an Employment Termination Meeting
• UpCounsel – Employee Termination Checklist: Everything You Need to Know
• Miles Charles – 7 Things to Include on Your Termination Checklist
• Patricia Lotich – 6 Things to Include in an Employment Termination Checklist
• Athena Koelmeyer – Best Practice Guide to Termination
• Dan Wisniewski – The Firing Checklist Every HR Pro Should Use
• Adrian Richards – 11 Steps to a Smooth Termination Process

• Employee Discipline Checklist
• Office Conflict Resolution Checklist
• Performance Review Checklist
• Office Safety Inspection Checklist
• Office Risk Assessment Checklist
• Records Disposal Checklist
• Budget Preparation Checklist
• Employment Termination Checklist
• Landlord Offboarding Checklist