Employee offboarding is the process of preparing for and managing an employee's departure from the company. It applies whenever an employee leaves the company, whether the departure is planned, voluntary, or initiated by the company.
The purpose of offboarding is to ensure that the employee's responsibilities are transferred appropriately, company information remains protected, and company property and access are handled correctly.
What does offboarding cover?
Employee offboarding covers several areas:
- Responsibilities: Employees, managers, HR, and IT each have specific responsibilities during an employee's departure.
- System and account access: Access to company systems and services is reviewed and managed when an employee leaves.
- Company property: Company-owned equipment and other property must be returned.
- Departure administration: HR coordinates the administrative activities associated with the employee's departure.
The specific responsibilities for each area are described on the related offboarding pages.
Key participants
The main participants in the offboarding process are:
- Employee: The departing employee is responsible for completing the required handover activities and returning company property.
- Manager: The manager coordinates the transfer of work and responsibilities and ensures that relevant information is available to the team.
- HR: HR coordinates the employee's departure from an employment and administrative perspective and provides the employee with relevant information.
- IT: IT manages company accounts, system access, and assigned IT equipment.
For more information about the responsibilities of each role, see Employee Offboarding/Responsibilities.
General principles
The following principles apply to employee offboarding:
- Business information and documents remain with the company.
- Company property must be returned when employment ends.
- Access to company systems is managed as part of the employee's departure.
- Important responsibilities and ongoing work should be transferred before the employee leaves.
- Offboarding information should be handled confidentially and shared only with people who need it.
