When an employee leaves, several people have work to do. The manager hands over projects, HR handles the departure plan, IT manages accounts and equipment, and payroll checks the final payments. A shared checklist keeps those jobs from falling between teams.
Start with one coordinator, a confirmed last working day, and an exact access cutoff. Give every task a named owner and a deadline. The steps below are a starting point: adjust them to the departure, your policies, and the requirements that apply to the employee's location.
For a planned departure, begin the handover as soon as the dates are confirmed. For an immediate departure, HR and IT coordinate access changes first, then arrange the remaining handover and administration. Keep personal information and separation details in restricted systems; the shared checklist usually needs only the action, owner, deadline, and status.
Before the last working day
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Confirm the dates and name a coordinator.
Owner: HR coordinator, working with the manager. Timing: when the departure is confirmed.
Record the last working day, the employment end date if different, and the access cutoff with its timezone. Name the people responsible for the remaining steps. One coordinator should follow the process through to the end, while each specialist verifies their own work.
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Prepare a handover for active work.
Owner: manager. Timing: before the agreed handover deadline.
List open projects, customer relationships, approvals, and recurring responsibilities. Give each a new owner and record the current status, next action, deadlines, and useful links. Ask the receiving person to confirm they can continue the work. For customer accounts, our sales-to-customer-success handoff guide gives a useful structure for transferring context and introducing the new owner.
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Inventory accounts, equipment, and administrative responsibilities.
Owner: IT lead, with the relevant application administrators. Timing: before the access cutoff.
Include identity accounts, email, Slack, shared files, business applications, devices, keys, and building access. Check for shared inboxes, billing contacts, integrations, and recurring meetings that depend on the departing person's account. Arrange their new ownership before or alongside the access changes.
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Set the payment and benefits deadlines.
Owner: payroll lead, working with HR. Timing: before each applicable deadline.
Confirm final-pay timing, any applicable leave treatment, expenses, benefits communications, and required records. These deadlines may fall before departure. For US employees, the Department of Labor's final-paycheck guidance is a starting point; HR or payroll should confirm the state requirements that apply. Track payment deadlines separately from equipment return and the other checklist items.
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Arrange the employee conversation and return instructions.
Owner: HR coordinator. Timing: as agreed in the departure plan.
Explain equipment return, documents, points of contact, and any optional exit-feedback process. For remote employees, send the shipping or collection instructions and agree on a return date. If you hold an exit interview, ADP's offboarding guidance offers practical considerations for the conversation.
On the last working day and at the access cutoff
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Confirm the handover has been accepted.
Owner: manager. Timing: by the agreed handover deadline.
Check that each active responsibility has a new owner who understands the next action. Include less visible work, such as on-call rotations, approval chains, and recurring reports. Record anything that still needs follow-up rather than treating a sent document as a completed handover.
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Remove access at the agreed time.
Owner: IT lead. Timing: the exact cutoff agreed with HR.
Carry out the approved identity, application, session, device, and physical-access changes. Check systems administered separately from your main identity provider. Record which administrator completed each action.
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Collect equipment or track its return.
Owner: IT or operations lead. Timing: the agreed return deadline.
Check returned items against the inventory. For remote staff, track the shipment through to receipt and give any outstanding return its own follow-up date.
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Send the agreed communications.
Owner: manager or designated relationship owner. Timing: the time agreed in the departure plan.
Tell the team, customers, and partners who their new contact is and how work will continue. Share only the information each audience needs.
Access removal, data transfer, and data deletion are separate actions. For example, suspending a Google Workspace user blocks their access without deleting their data; existing collaborators retain access to shared documents. Coordinate any later deletion with your retention requirements.
In Slack, deactivating a member signs them out and prevents access without deleting their messages and files. The team can continue coordinating after that account is deactivated. Check account-dependent apps as part of the transition.
After departure
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Verify access changes and business continuity.
Owner: IT lead. Timing: promptly after the cutoff.
Confirm that the required access changes completed and that the result is recorded. Check that shared files, inboxes, meetings, and essential integrations remain available to the people taking over.
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Verify payment and benefits records.
Owner: payroll lead, working with HR. Timing: each applicable deadline.
Confirm that required payments and communications were handled on time, including those due before departure. Keep the records in the appropriate system and assign any remaining questions to a named person.
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Close the checklist and improve it.
Owner: coordinator. Timing: after outstanding steps are resolved.
Confirm equipment receipt, completed records, and any continuing responsibilities. Note what was missing or unclear so the next departure starts with a better checklist.
Where should the checklist live?
Use a place the people doing the work can keep current. An existing HR system may already cover the process. A shared document can work when the coordinator regularly checks it. If the team works in Slack, Lists and checklists let you organize the steps alongside the conversation.
For individual prompts, our Slack reminders guide explains the available options. When choosing a setup, check how it records ownership and completion as well as how it sends reminders.
Running the checklist with Chaser
Chaser turns a reusable checklist into assigned tasks in Slack. Add the HR, manager, IT, and payroll steps to a template, then confirm the actual owners and dates when you run it for a departure. Our guide to Chaser templates walks through the setup.
Use specific task names such as “Accept the client handover,” “Verify application access changes,” and “Confirm equipment receipt.” Owners can acknowledge and complete their tasks in Slack, while Chaser sends automatic follow-ups and gives the coordinator a shared view of progress.
Chaser coordinates the work; the relevant administrators carry out access changes and payroll actions in their own systems. Keep sensitive HR details in the approved record system, and have each owner verify their step before the coordinator closes the process.
Alex Steshenko is the co-founder and CTO of Chaser. Drawing on his experience building products and leading teams, he writes about task management, workflow automation, and helping growing businesses get more out of Slack. His focus is practical: making ownership clear, reducing manual follow-ups, and helping teams turn everyday conversations into completed work. More articles by Alex Steshenko
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