Think back to your last day at a previous job. How was the transition? Was it smooth or did you spend hours figuring out who to hand over your work to? 

Maybe you’re still getting emails from your old workplace because someone forgot to disable your account. All the scattered goodbyes and loose ends can create real problems for both the company and the departing employee.

Good employee offboarding completely changes this picture. When companies handle departures thoughtfully, they protect their data, keep their teams stable, and often turn former employees into valuable connections.

In this article, we provide best practices for better employee offboarding that actually work for your company and your departing team members.

What is Employee Offboarding?

Employee offboarding is the process of managing someone’s departure from your company.  It starts the moment an exit is announced until the employee’s last day.

Be it a single resignation or a large-scale workforce reduction, how you handle departures affects both your company and the people leaving.

Employee offboarding includes:

• Transferring important knowledge before it walks out the door
• Protecting company data by properly removing system access
• Getting honest feedback that could help prevent more departures
• Managing legal and security risks
• Keeping relationships positive – you never know when paths might cross again 

A quick heads up: While most employees (98%) believe their exit feedback is valuable, only about a third actually participate in exit interviews. What’s more concerning is that 89% of former employees still have access to company data after leaving. That’s a security risk most companies aren’t addressing.

But why does all this matter? 

A well-executed offboarding directly affects your company’s success. When employees leave with a positive experience, they will recommend your company to potential candidates and customers. But when the process goes poorly, it can damage your reputation and even lead to security breaches — 60% of data breaches actually come from inside companies.

Now that you understand what’s at stake let’s look at how to make your offboarding process work better.

Best Practices for Employee Offboarding

Build an effective employee offboarding system with the best practices here.

Set up a knowledge base with offboarding resources

A good knowledge base saves your team from spending hours hunting down basic exit procedures. Most employees spend up to two hours daily searching for work-related information — and that time doubles during departures. Speed it up in a few steps:

• Create a knowledge base for both internal and external resources, covering everything from handover docs and system access guides to benefits information. 
• Include step-by-step processes, FAQ answers, and department-specific guidelines. 
• Keep it organized under ten main categories so people can find requirements quickly. 
• Ensure managers and existing employees can access transition areas easily. 

Provide continuous IT and HR support

The last thing anyone wants to do during employee offboarding is chase IT about laptop returns and bug HR about PTO payouts. What should they do instead?

• Put together a detailed admin checklist covering NDA signatures, resignation letters, and benefits paperwork. 
• Have dedicated support staff in both departments who can respond within hours, not days. 
• Use exclusive channels like Teams or Slack for exit support – this keeps all communications in one trackable place and prevents those “Who do I ask about this?” moments. 

Regularly update the offboarding checklist to align with current policies

Conduct a monthly review of your employee offboarding checklist with department heads. Most companies spot gaps only after slip-ups occur — like when a departing employee kept system access for days after leaving. 

Look at recent exits: Which steps caused delays? What was missed? Instead of scattered tools, keep everything in one master checklist. Include specifics like Zoom transfers, password resets, and expense report closures. 

Assign heads for each task, whether it’s IT, HR, or managers. Mark which items need same-day completion versus what can wait. Update whenever you add new tools or security guidelines.

Track offboarding data to find gaps and improve processes

Track employee offboarding data to expose process gaps. Start with three key areas: 

• System access removal times
• Knowledge transfer completion rates
• Exit interview feedback patterns

Have departing employees document their workflows through written guides or screen recordings — this prevents knowledge loss. Set up monitoring systems to detect any suspicious file access before departure while following privacy laws. The data reveals where to improve and helps with security maintenance. 

Treat departing employees with empathy and support

The most valuable company advocates are the former employees, so make their last impression as good as their first. Let them have proper closure with their team. 

• Schedule time for project wrap-ups and give them space to document knowledge at their own pace. 
• Be flexible with their remaining time — give them time to handle personal transitions.
• Address their career move positively when announcing it to the team. 
• Help with transition paperwork and answer compensation & benefits questions promptly. 

A positive departure creates the right environment for the remaining employees, too — they notice how you manage exits.

Ensure confidentiality with secure communication and access control

Data security in times of exits is serious — 87% of departing employees take company data with them. 

• Start monitoring data access patterns the moment an exit notice comes in.
• Remove admin privileges first, then gradually step down their system access as projects wrap up.
• Disable single sign-on accounts immediately after departure.
• Set up exclusive channels for exit discussions — never use group chats or email threads.

Secure company assets by revoking technology access during offboarding

One out of four ex-employees still have active accounts at old jobs. 

• Start with a detailed asset list: laptops, phones, badges, and credit cards. 
• Give clear dates for account deactivation so people can transfer personal files. 
• Revoke access in order: first, company social media and sales dashboards, then internal networks, and finally, email. 

Track everything — 49% of companies lose 5% of their tech assets during exits. Document each item’s return in your employee offboarding system to avoid expensive losses.

Conclusion

Employee exits are inevitable, but messy offboarding isn’t. 

When you handle exits thoughtfully, it benefits everyone involved — your security stays tight, knowledge stays in-house, and relationships stay strong. Set up your knowledge base, have clear checklists, and treat every exit with care. 

Because today’s departing teammate could be your tomorrow’s client, partner, or even rehire.

Guest writer.