HR's Ultimate Offboarding Checklist

A lot of time and energy goes into getting employee onboarding right, but offboarding is just as important. This process should be about more than formalities. It’s an opportunity to ensure a positive experience until the final step of an employee’s journey. 

Whether or not they’re leaving on good terms — or are impacted by terminations and layoffs — each employee departure should be handled with care, compassion, and empathy. A standardized offboarding process can help take care of the paperwork so HR teams can focus on the person. In this guide, we’ve shared how to create consistency during offboarding, including a comprehensive checklist.

What is offboarding?

Offboarding is the process of managing an employee’s departure from an organization. 

It involves various steps, including logistics like deactivating systems access and collecting company property. It also covers exit interviews, finalizing paperwork, and celebrating an employee’s achievements. 

Why You Need an Offboarding Process

Whether an employee is resigning, being terminated, or impacted by layoffs, offboarding is the last step of their journey with an organization. But the offboarding experience is about more than closing the chapter. “It’s about ending things on a positive, professional note,” said Ellen R. Slane, VP of HR operations at Employers Advantage LLC. 

“The goal is to make offboarding a human-centered process, not just a checklist of tasks,” she added. One way to achieve this is by using standardized processes. Slane said this ensures that departing employees feel respected and valued, even as they exit the organization. “It helps maintain morale for remaining team members, protects company assets, and supports a smooth transition,” she explained. 

“Checklists provide structure and accountability, covering everything from compliance tasks to employee experience feedback,” said Slane. “They can help managers and HR stay aligned, ensuring a smooth exit process for every employee, no matter the circumstances.” 

Slane added that this kind of consistency helps prevent oversights, reinforces professionalism, and leaves the door open for future rehires or positive referrals.

Ready for more details? Here’s our checklist for all employee exit scenarios, plus some tailored tips for specific situations. 

General Offboarding Steps For All Exit Scenarios

Follow these offboarding steps for all employees leaving the company. 

1. Notify relevant departments.

_Some employees tell their managers they’re planning on leaving the company. Others go straight to human resources. No matter who’s notified first, it’s important to inform all relevant departments, including:

• HR
• IT
• Payroll
• Finance 
• Security
• Direct supervisors

HR generally leads this process while maintaining open communication with the departing employee’s manager, who’s typically responsible for informing other team members.

2. Make a plan to communicate the departure.

While HR will manage most offboarding processes, a departing employee’s manager will typically communicate a departure to the rest of their team. Managers should have a conversation with the departing employee about when and how to communicate this information, plus who should be informed. 

During these conversations, strike a balance between transparency and discretion. Avoid oversharing personal details without a departing employee’s consent. Depending on the nature of the departure, these conversations may look different, but managers should focus on ensuring everyone feels informed and respected in equal measure. 

3. Schedule and complete exit interview.

Exit interviews are one of the best ways to gather information about why an employee is leaving. But they’re also a powerful way for exiting employees to feel heard. Because they’re leaving, they may feel comfortable sharing details that current employees might not. These kinds of insights are vital for improving the employee experience while also uncovering issues that might be impacting employee retention. 

In addition to an in-person or virtual exit interview, asking departing employees to complete an exit survey can be useful. This survey can collect details they might not want to cover during a face-to-face discussion. 

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4. Review employment agreement.

During the onboarding process, employees sign an employment agreement. But it could be years since they last checked what it contains. 

Now’s the time to review that agreement and check that they’re aware of any post-employment obligations, for example, noncompete and nondisclosure agreements. It’s also important to review any exit clauses, including notice periods and confidentiality requirements. 

5. Prepare final paycheck and benefits.

An employee’s final paycheck should include any unused leave, bonuses, and reimbursements. To ensure this process goes smoothly, HR should check that the payroll department has all the information, including the employee’s notice period, end date, and any outstanding holidays. 

HR should also communicate details about benefits like healthcare and retirement plans. If employees hold company equity, this should be managed in line with company equity agreements. 

This is also a good time to confirm up-to-date address and contact information so you can issue tax paperwork at the end of the year. 

6. Collect company property.

Most employees have some kind of company property. To make collecting this as easy as possible, create an up-to-date list of assets for each employee. Then, during offboarding, tick off items as they’re collected. Company property is typically split into physical and non-physical assets. 

Physical assets:

• Tablets
• Laptops 
• ID badges
• Cellphones 
• Access cards 
• Parking passes 
• Company clothing 
• Company credit cards

Non-physical assets:

• Expense accounts 
• Corporate software subscriptions 
• Memberships to gyms, co-working spaces, or other company-paid subscriptions

For in-office employees, physical assets are easily collected. For remote employees, HR leaders should decide on a standard process, for example, shipping mailing labels or arranging for a courier. As company equipment is returned, ask departing employees to sign an inventory. 

7. Deactivate system access.

Once a leaving date is confirmed, HR should communicate with IT so they can prepare to deactivate the employee’s access to company systems. These typically include things like:

• Email
• Software
• Databases 
• VPN providers 
• Cloud accounts

This step can be easily missed, but it’s vitally important. One study of 2,000 US and UK workers found that 36% of employees still have access to data or IT systems after they’ve left their jobs. These security breaches can have serious implications. Shortly after an employee leaves, HR should confirm with IT that all access to company systems has been removed. 

8. Recognize departing employees.

Leaving a company is an emotional time for many employees. Alongside all the formalities, it’s important to recognize their achievements. What these celebrations look like should be informed by a departing employee's wishes — some will relish the opportunity for a farewell party, while others prefer a low-key sendoff. 

By creating a standardized yet flexible process for this step, HR can ensure all departing employees feel recognized while allowing for personalized celebrations. For example, HR may decide to thank people for their service with a company-wide email but allow managers to organize farewell parties, cards, gifts, and other celebrations. 

Some offboarding scenarios may be emotional, especially if an employee is laid off or terminated. HR teams should make sure everyone has access to the support they need during this transition. 

9. Implement succession planning.

Succession planning identifies employees who want to develop their careers within the organization. Establishing this process helps build a talent pipeline and ensures existing employees have the knowledge and skills required to step into critical roles in the future. 

10. Update employee records.

Once an employee has left the company, their status should be updated in any HR system. Then, files should be archived using the process outlined in the post-departure checklist below. 

Scenario-Specific Offboarding Tasks

HR’s offboarding tasks will differ depending on the circumstances around an employee’s departure. Below, we’ve outlined the steps for resignation, termination, and layoff. 

Resignation

When an employee leaves a company voluntarily, they typically inform their manager or HR. Either way, these are the steps to follow. 

• Acknowledge resignation. Verbal communications from a departing employee should be accompanied by a formal resignation letter. Acknowledge this with a letter from HR or the employee's manager, and confirm the employee’s last day in writing. The notice period will depend on company policy but may also be impacted by unused leave. 
• Facilitate knowledge transfer. Once an employee’s last day is confirmed, managers should create a transition plan. This might identify key responsibilities, ongoing projects, and typical workflows. Knowledge transfer sessions during handover allow departing employees to share specific details with other team members, including new hires. 

If possible, ask the departing employee to update any standard operating procedures and manuals, plus ensure everyone on the team knows where to access documents and files. 

Termination

Employees can be terminated for a range of reasons, including misconduct, poor performance, and attendance issues. 

• Prepare documentation. HR teams should collect all documentation relating to a termination. This might include performance or attendance records, individual development plans, disciplinary actions, or written warnings. 
  During this stage, it’s important to ensure compliance with regional labor laws and company policies. Following a consistent, documented process can help avoid any allegations of unfair treatment. 

• Communicate termination. Once HR and management have agreed on the reasons for termination, it’s time to notify the affected employee. This should be done in a professional, respectful manner, including ensuring they have a clear understanding of the reasons for termination.
  Typically, terminated employees aren’t expected to work a notice period, but this can vary depending on the region, employment laws, and contractual agreements. 

• Ensure legal compliance. HR teams need to ensure the termination process adheres to regional legal processes, which may include non-discrimination and non-retaliation clauses.

Layoff or Reduction in Force

Layoffs can be tough — for employees and HR. But in recent years they’ve been relatively common, with Lattice research finding that 41% of respondents’ organizations had to lay off staff in 2023. Having a consistent process helps make this difficult scenario as smooth as possible. 

• Review and confirm business justification. Before any layoff, organizations must ensure the decision is legally sound. Layoffs must be justified by the needs of the business. For example, if there’s been a period of financial struggles, the decision to downsize is justified. 
• Provide notice. Once the decision to lay off employees has been made, HR must provide advance notice in certain circumstances. This should be in line with both company policy and legal requirements, like the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires most US companies with at least 100 employees to give 60 days’ notice for mass layoffs. 
• Communicate with employees. Impacted employees should be notified in a compassionate, transparent way. Offering support and resources helps make this difficult process a little easier. For example, some companies offer counseling, severance and benefits, job search support, and outplacement assistance. 
• Offer outplacement assistance. This service helps departing employees prepare for finding a new job. It can include access to career counseling services, resume writing support, and interview coaching. 

Tips for Maintaining Compassion and Transparency

No matter the reason, leaving a job can be stressful. HR teams are uniquely positioned to provide support and empathy during this process. As Todd Riesterer, chief people officer at Huntress, explained: “Treating people like humans means not only doing the ‘nuts and bolts’ like final pay, deactivating system access, and so on but also letting them know that their contributions were valued.”

He added that this can be something simple but with a personal touch. For example, you could:

• Deliver a handwritten note, a call, or a final, heartfelt thank you. 
• Collect messages from teammates to create a farewell card.
• Ask departing employees how they’d like communications to be handled. Some might prefer face-to-face meetings, while others might prefer emails.
• Publicly recognize the departing employee’s achievements and impact in their final team meeting. 

Riesterer also noted that transparency is key, especially in tough situations like layoffs or terminations. “Let people know why it’s happening and how it’s being handled. People remember that as much as they remember their last paycheck.”

Post-Departure Checklist

For HR, offboarding doesn’t finish on an employee's last day. It’s a good idea to create a post-departure employee offboarding checklist, including the following items:

Post-Departure Follow-Up

For a period after departure, HR should maintain communication with former employees. This includes checking if there are any outstanding issues, for example:

• Completion of tax forms
• Retirement fund transfers 
• Validation of contact information 
• Requests for reference checks or employment verification 
• Invitations for former employees to join alumni networks, if applicable 

Archiving Records

Once an employee leaves a company, their files and documents should be securely archived and stored according to company policy and legal requirements. These records include personal information, hiring details, performance data, and post-employment data like:

• Resignation letters
• Exit interview records 
• Termination documents 
• Signed exit agreements 
• Completed offboarding checklists 

How long to retain these documents depends on country-specific regulations, plus the type of record. For US-specific guidelines, read our article How Long to Keep Employee Files: A Guide for 2025. 

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