Exit & Offboarding Procedure template

2. Roles and responsibilities

• Manager: acknowledges the resignation, plans knowledge transfer, runs the last-day handover, and completes the manager items on the checklist.
• [HR/name/role]: owns the checklist end to end, confirms the state final-pay rules for this employee, schedules the exit interview, and closes the file.
• [Payroll/name/role]: calculates final wages including [accrued PTO where owed], schedules the final check to meet the state deadline, and triggers the benefits notifications.
• [IT/name/role]: inventories issued equipment and access on day one of the process and executes the last-day access shutdown in sequence.

3. On receiving a resignation

1. 1Acknowledge the resignation in writing the same day: confirm the last day of work, the notice period, and thank them — the acknowledgment is the record that starts every clock.
2. 2Open the offboarding checklist in [system] and notify [HR, payroll, and IT] the same day; late notification is the root cause of most offboarding failures.
3. 3Decide with [HR] whether the employee works the notice period or finishes earlier — [pay obligations for a notice period cut short vary with state law and what the employee was promised].
4. 4If a retention conversation is warranted, have it within [number] days — after that, treat the departure as final and focus on a clean exit.

4. During the notice period

• The employee and manager build a handover document: open work, statuses, contacts, passwords held (moved into [password manager/system], never handed over on paper), and where everything lives.
• Each open responsibility gets a named owner before the last day — "the team will absorb it" is how client emails go unanswered for a month.
• The manager announces the departure per [communication plan] once the employee has been consulted on timing and framing.
• [IT] reviews the employee's access [reducing especially sensitive access where appropriate], and inventories issued equipment against the asset register.
• [HR] schedules the exit interview and last-day logistics, and confirms a post-employment mailing address for the final pay statement and tax documents such as the W-2.

5. Final pay and benefits

• Confirm the final-paycheck deadline for the employee's work state before scheduling the last day — timing varies by state, some states require payment as early as the last day of work, and resignation and termination rules often differ; getting this wrong carries penalties in many states.
• Calculate final wages: hours through the last day, [overtime, commissions, bonuses earned under their plan terms], and accrued unused PTO [where state law or the PTO policy requires payout].
• Process final [expense reimbursements] on the same timeline as final wages.
• Notify the group health plan administrator promptly so required continuation-coverage election notices go out — see DOL COBRA guidance; state mini-COBRA rules may apply to smaller plans.
• Provide [any state-required separation notices — several states require written notice of unemployment insurance rights or separation information; check your state] and information on [retirement plan options].
• Deductions from the final check for unreturned equipment are made only [where lawful in the employee's state and agreed in writing] — state wage laws restrict this; check before deducting.

6. Last day — asset and access recovery

1. 1Collect all company property against the issued-equipment inventory: [laptop, phone, badge, keys, cards, tools, uniforms] — every line signed off, not "we think it all came back."
2. 2Disable accounts in the agreed sequence at [time]: single sign-on first, then [email, VPN, cloud apps, code repositories, payment and banking systems], coordinated with the employee's final hours so they are not locked out mid-handover.
3. 3Rotate any shared credentials the employee knew and transfer ownership of [files, distribution lists, integrations, on-call rotations] to named successors.
4. 4Set [email forwarding or an auto-reply per policy] and remove the employee from [directory, org chart, building access, emergency contact trees].
5. 5Walk the employee out properly: return of personal belongings, final-pay information in hand, benefits paperwork explained, and a named contact for anything that surfaces later.

7. Exit interview

1. 1Offer every departing employee an exit interview with [HR / a neutral party — not their direct manager], in their final week; participation is voluntary, and the invitation says so.
2. 2Use the standard question set — reasons for leaving, management, workload, pay and benefits, what would have kept them, anything the company should know — so answers are comparable across departures.
3. 3Record themes in [system] and report patterns to [leadership] [quarterly] in aggregate; anything alleging harassment, discrimination, or safety issues is escalated to [HR/role] immediately, not left in a survey file.

8. Records and review

The completed checklist, resignation and acknowledgment letters, handover document, equipment sign-offs, final-pay calculation, benefits notices, and exit interview record are filed in [system/location] and retained for [period] — payroll and tax records have their own retention rules; see DOL and IRS guidance.

This procedure is reviewed [frequency, e.g. annually], after any offboarding failure (missed deadline, undeleted access, unreturned equipment), and when state law changes. Owner: [name/role]. Next review due: [date].