Employee Offboarding Checklist
A complete employee offboarding checklist covering access revocation, equipment return, knowledge transfer, and final HR steps.
Checklist preview
- All system accounts deactivated (email, Slack, HR system)
- SSO and identity provider access revoked
- Cloud service access removed (AWS, GCP, Azure, SaaS tools)
- Code repository access revoked (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)
- VPN and remote access credentials invalidated
- Shared passwords and API keys rotated
- Physical access badges or keys collected
- Laptop and peripherals returned and inspected
- Company phone or SIM card returned
- Company credit card cancelled or returned
- Asset register updated
- Personal data wiped from company devices
- Handover document prepared by the departing employee
- Open tasks and projects handed to a new owner
- Key contacts and relationships documented
- Critical passwords or credentials transferred securely
- Internal documentation reviewed and updated
- Pending decisions or blockers communicated to the team
- Resignation or termination letter filed
- Final paycheck and accrued leave calculated
- Benefits termination date confirmed
- Non-disclosure and non-compete obligations reviewed with employee
- Employee record updated and archived in HR system
- Reference policy communicated to employee
- Exit interview completed
- Team notified of departure and handover plan
- Farewell or transition communication sent
- LinkedIn and directory profiles updated internally
- Offboarding officially closed in HR system
A thorough employee offboarding checklist protects the company and respects the departing employee. Done right, offboarding prevents security gaps, preserves institutional knowledge, and leaves the door open for future rehires.
This checklist covers the five areas that matter most: revoking access before or on the last day, recovering company assets, capturing knowledge before it walks out the door, closing HR and payroll, and running a clean exit.
Who uses this offboarding checklist
HR managers and People Ops teams responsible for the full employee lifecycle. IT administrators running a parallel IT offboarding checklist for access and device management. Department heads and team leads managing the knowledge transfer. Security teams verifying access revocation is complete.
How to run it
Open CheckRun in your browser, select this template, and start a run when an employee gives notice or on the day of termination. Work through each section with the responsible owners — HR, IT, and the manager often handle different sections simultaneously.
Run one checklist instance per departing employee. Each run saves with a timestamp and URL, giving you an auditable record of the offboarding process.
Adapting this HR offboarding checklist for your process
- Add a “Client Transition” section if the employee had direct client relationships
- Add contractor-specific items (e.g. invoice settlement, statement of work closure) for freelancer offboarding
- Extend the “Access & Security” section with tool-specific items for your stack
- Add a “Legal” section for regulated industries: data subject access requests, IP assignment confirmation, litigation hold check
Why offboarding needs a checklist
Ad hoc offboarding fails in predictable ways: a forgotten SaaS account left active, a laptop that never gets returned, a critical process that only the departing employee knew. A repeatable employee offboarding checklist ensures every exit follows the same secure, documented process — regardless of whether the departure is planned or sudden. Run it as a standalone hr offboarding checklist or in parallel with your onboarding process checklist to maintain a complete employee lifecycle record.
Related templates
- Onboarding Checklist — the full employee onboarding process from pre-arrival through 30-day check-in
- New Hire Checklist — focused on what the company sets up before and during the new hire’s first days