Checklists
Employee Exit & Offboarding Checklist
An exit that goes badly is almost never about the resignation. It is about the laptop nobody collected, the shared login still working three months later, and the settlement that took eleven weeks because payroll was told after the cut-off. Three phases, in the order the work actually happens.
Who it is for
- HR managers running exits alongside everything else
- Founders handling their first few resignations
- Reporting managers receiving a handover
- Small businesses with no defined offboarding process
What it helps with
- Get a real handover instead of a document nobody reads
- Recover every asset while there is still leverage to recover it
- Close access on the last day rather than whenever somebody notices
- Give payroll what it needs before the cut-off, not after
- Leave the person able to say the exit was handled properly
Before the last working day
Everything here is easier while the person is still employed and still has access. After the last day, every one of these becomes a favour.
| Task | Owner | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resignation received in writing, and acknowledged in writing | HR | ||
| Last working day calculated against the notice period and confirmed to them | HR | ||
| Any notice shortfall or waiver decided, approved, and recorded | HR | ||
| Manager, HR, IT, Payroll and Admin all told on the same day | HR | ||
| Replacement or cover decided — backfill, redistribute, or leave open | Reporting manager | ||
| Handover document started, with a named person receiving it | Employee | ||
| Live work, deadlines and commitments listed with their real status | Employee | ||
| Client, vendor and internal contacts handed over, with introductions made | Employee | ||
| Shared credentials rotated — never transferred person to person | IT | ||
| Files moved out of personal drives into team storage | Employee | ||
| Recurring tasks, approvals and admin roles reassigned | Reporting manager | ||
| Handover reviewed and signed off by the manager, not merely submitted | Reporting manager | ||
| Leave balance calculated and confirmed to the employee in writing | HR | ||
| Pending leave requests approved or withdrawn | Reporting manager | ||
| Attendance regularised up to the last working day | HR | ||
| Leave encashment position confirmed against the policy | Payroll | ||
| Payroll told the last working day before the cut-off | HR | ||
| Recoveries listed: notice shortfall, advances, loans, unreturned assets | Payroll | ||
| Reimbursement claims submitted by a stated deadline | Employee | ||
| Final settlement worked out, and checked by a second person | Payroll |
On the last working day
| Task | Owner | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assets returned and checked against the asset register, line by line | Admin | ||
| Access card, keys and parking pass returned | Admin | ||
| Laptop, phone, accessories and SIM returned, and their condition noted | IT | ||
| Email, systems and building access revoked on the day — not next week | IT | ||
| Mailbox forwarding or a shared alias set up where the work continues | IT | ||
| Exit interview held, by somebody other than their reporting manager | HR | ||
| No-dues signed off by each department | HR | ||
| Personal belongings collected, desk cleared | Employee | ||
| Team told, and told who to go to for the work instead | Reporting manager |
After they have left
| Task | Owner | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full and final settlement processed within the timeline your policy states | Payroll | ||
| Relieving letter issued | HR | ||
| Experience letter issued | HR | ||
| Form 16 issued for the relevant year at the usual time | Payroll | ||
| Employee told how to transfer or withdraw their PF using their UAN | Payroll | ||
| Gratuity settled where the length of service qualifies | Payroll | ||
| Record moved to the leavers’ file, with its retention period noted | HR | ||
| Directory, org chart, asset register and payroll master all updated | HR | ||
| Exit interview themes reviewed monthly — not filed and forgotten | HR | ||
| Reference policy explained to the manager, so answers stay consistent | HR |
How to use it
- Open a copy the day the resignation is received, not the week of the last working day. Two-thirds of this list is only possible while the person is still here.
- Send the handover rows to the employee directly. A handover written by the person leaving is worth more than one reconstructed afterwards.
- Give IT the last working day in writing. Access removal is the one row where "roughly then" is not good enough.
- Walk the asset register physically on the last day rather than accepting a list. What is on the register and what is in the bag are frequently different.
- Keep the completed sheet with the leaver’s record. When somebody asks in eighteen months whether the settlement was paid, this is the answer.
What usually goes wrong
Access is revoked "in the next few days"
Which becomes the next few weeks. An active account belonging to somebody who no longer works here is the most common security gap in a small company, and it is entirely a calendar problem rather than a technical one.
Payroll finds out after the cut-off
The settlement then waits a full cycle, the ex-employee chases it, and a departure that was going fine becomes a grievance. Tell payroll on the day the resignation is accepted.
The handover is a document, not a conversation
A thirty-page handover nobody walked through is a filing exercise. Book the conversation, with the person receiving the work in the room, and have the manager sign it off.
Exit interviews are held by the reporting manager
Nobody tells their manager that their manager is why they are leaving. If you want the interview to tell you anything, somebody else has to hold it.
The themes are never read
Ten exit interviews filed separately tell you nothing. Read them together once a quarter and the same three sentences will be in most of them.
Questions people ask
At the end of the last working day, as a planned step with a named owner. If the person needs anything afterwards — a document, a handover question — it should come through their manager, not through an account nobody is watching.
A few days before is usually better. On the last day people are packing, saying goodbyes and thinking about the next job, and the answers get shorter.
Where to go next
Flabido keeps the everyday HR work of a growing Indian company in one place — people records, leave, attendance, payroll inputs, hiring and letters. See what it does or ask for a free trial.