It’s always a difficult moment when an employee leaves your company for another role. But after the farewell cake has been eaten, the employee’s equipment collected, and the keys to the company car returned, there is still one very important step. As long as a former employee retains their network access, your digital doors are left wide open.
What can you do to protect your business against data breaches and compliance violations? Have a detailed, easy to follow employee offboarding checklist! We’ve created a guide so that you know what IT steps you need to take when a team member moves on.
What Should Be Done When an Employee Leaves?
The offboarding process needs to be swift and thorough. Here’s what you need to do:
- Immediately revoke system access
- Secure all company devices
- Transfer ownership of accounts and files
- Monitor for suspicious activity
- Document and standardize the process
Why IT Offboarding Matters More Than You Think
After someone leaves, it’s not usually your first thought to immediately remove their digital access, but it should be. Without the proper offboarding process, your company is vulnerable to serious insider threats, whether those threats are intentional or accidental. It also introduces massive compliance risks, especially if your business handles HIPAA records or sensitive financial data.
A recent study found that 47% of former employees admit to using their old company passwords after their departure. An alarming 1 in 10 admit to using these old passwords to intentionally disrupt company operations. But even if their intentions aren’t malicious, the reusing of passwords or logging in to company subscriptions to save money creates endpoints that must be monitored.
These oversights can easily lead to network downtime, data loss, and lasting reputation damage. This is where an employee offboarding checklist comes into play. When you follow a standardized process, cybersecurity risk oversights are much less likely to happen.
A 10 Step Guide for Your IT Offboarding Process
Use this employee offboarding checklist as your starting point:
1. Disable User Accounts Immediately
Shut off access to primary networks and directories as soon as the employee’s time at the company ends. This stops them from logging into your systems and prevents unauthorized data access.
2. Revoke Access to Cloud Applications
Do not forget to remove access from third-party licenses and applications like Salesforce, Slack, or Google Workspace to prevent unauthorized cloud access. This has the added benefit of saving on software costs.
3. Transfer Ownership of Files
Remember to migrate important files and folders before deleting any user accounts. This ensures your team does not lose data or ongoing projects when onboarding a replacement employee.
4. Reset Shared Passwords
Always change any shared company passwords immediately. This step blocks hidden access routes to your social media accounts or vendor portals.
5. Collect Company Devices
Make sure all company-owned hardware, including laptops, mobile phones, and tablets, are collected from the employee. Don’t forget chargers, adapters, and digital security keys.
6. Secure and Wipe Devices
When you’ve got the devices back, wipe them completely clean of business data. Reset the hardware to factory settings before reassigning the devices to new staff members.
7. Remove Access to Physical Locations
Deactivate keycards, fobs, and physical office access codes. Digital security matters, but keeping your physical office safe is just as important.
8. Forward and Monitor Email Accounts
Don’t miss out on important client communication. Set up email forwarding to a direct manager. Keep the account monitored for a few weeks before scheduling it for permanent deletion.
9. Audit Recent Activity
To be on the safe side, review the employee’s digital footprint over their final weeks at the company. Look for unusual file downloads, mass deletions, or unauthorized data transfers.
10. Document the Process
Keep a clear log of the steps your team took for the offboarding process, when it happened, and who did it. A documented employee offboarding checklist is helpful during compliance audits and legal reviews.
Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly should access be removed after an employee leaves?
Access should be revoked immediately. Any delay is a dangerous window for potential data theft or accidental system damage.
What happens if you don’t offboard employees properly?
Without an employee offboarding checklist, your business is vulnerable to data breaches. You also risk heavy compliance fines, lost data, and significant operational disruptions.
Should IT be involved in employee offboarding?
Absolutely. Your IT department must lead the digital offboarding process. IT’s role is to secure and reassign all accounts, devices, and software licenses, offering your business reassurance that compliance requirements are met and both your previous employee and their replacement are able to happily settle into their new roles.
What systems should be included in offboarding?
Include everything an employee used to do their job. Think core networks, email accounts, cloud apps, CRM platforms, and physical security systems.
Get Offboarding Off Your Desk
When an employee leaves, it can feel like the end of an era, but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. By following an employee offboarding checklist, you keep your data safe, maintain your operational efficiency, and ensure the digital safety and smooth setup of your replacement employee.
If you’ve read through the above employee offboarding checklist and think it sounds like a lot, then Unity IT can take that pressure off your hands. Unity IT helps businesses manage user permissions and secure their digital assets. Reach out to our IT experts today to secure your business.