When an employee leaves your business, do you know who is making sure their access leaves with them?
Getting the laptop and office keys back is a good start. But think about everything that person used during the day. Their email. Customer information. Shared files. The app they used to schedule jobs or send estimates. Some of those accounts may still work even after the computer is sitting back on your desk.
This is where employee offboarding comes in. Your IT provider should help remove the departing employee's access, preserve the business information you need, hand their work to the right people and confirm what has been completed.
For those who aren't sure what that should look like, I want to walk through it in a way you can use with your own team. You shouldn't need to understand every setting in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace to know whether your business has a plan.
Start with who is handling the departure
Before anyone changes an account, agree on who can authorize the work and when access should end. Your manager or HR contact and your IT provider need the same instructions.
That could mean a planned handoff over the employee's final week, with access ending at an agreed time. An immediate departure needs different coordination. Either way, tell your provider through the appropriate private channel so they can prepare the right steps.
I would also name the person taking over the employee's work. That helps IT answer practical questions: who should receive new customer messages, who needs the project files and who will check that the handoff worked?
Write down those responsibilities before the last day. It saves your team from trying to figure them out while a customer is waiting for an answer.
Look beyond their email account
Imagine a dispatcher leaving a small HVAC business. This is a made-up example, but consider what that person might need to do their job.
They could use email, a scheduling platform, customer records, supplier websites and a company phone. They might also have access to a shared password manager or a door code. Closing their email account wouldn't tell you whether those other permissions had been removed.
Ask your provider to build the list with the manager who knows the person's day-to-day work. Include:
- Email, shared folders and company chat.
- Customer management, dispatch, estimating and accounting software.
- Remote access, such as the connection used to reach the office from home.
- Company phones, voicemail and business messaging accounts.
- Password managers, administrator accounts and any shared logins.
- Website, domain, payment and social media accounts, where relevant.
- Building or security-system access, coordinated with whoever manages it.
Some systems may be managed by another vendor. That's fine, as long as someone is assigned to contact that vendor and confirm the work. An account should not get missed because each provider assumed the other one handled it.
A password change may leave other access to check
An employee can already be signed in on a browser, phone or connected app. Your provider needs to consider those existing connections as well as future sign-ins.
For Microsoft 365, that means checking the appropriate password, sign-out and sign-in blocking controls. Microsoft documents that these actions can take time to affect existing access, so a provider should verify the result rather than promise that one click instantly disconnects everything. Microsoft explains the access controls and timing here.
Google Workspace also calls for reviewing recovery details, connected apps and existing sign-ins. Recovery details matter because they can provide another route back into an account. Google's employee-departure guidance covers these checks.
Then return to the other applications on your list. Don't assume changing a Microsoft or Google password also ends a separate login to your dispatch or accounting software.
If the employee knew a shared password or code, have the responsible person review whether it needs changing and who still needs access. Longer term, individual accounts make that responsibility easier to follow wherever the system supports them.
Keep the work your business still needs
Now think about the person taking over that dispatcher's responsibilities. They need to see the upcoming jobs, find the relevant customer correspondence and understand what has already been promised.
That's why removing access and deleting information need separate decisions.
Before deleting an account or changing its license, ask your provider to confirm how needed email and files will be preserved and made available to the authorized replacement. Microsoft includes mailbox preservation and access to the former employee's work in its offboarding process.
Be specific about what the next person needs. Giving someone responsibility for a project doesn't help if the working files are still accessible only through the departing employee's account.
Your business should also confirm any record-retention or legal-hold requirements with the appropriate adviser before information is deleted. Your IT provider can implement the agreed controls, but a general checklist can't decide those obligations for you.
This is a good time to check what your backups actually cover. We explain the distinction in our Microsoft 365 backup and retention guide, including a worksheet you can use with your provider.
Check the devices, too
Have a list of company equipment to recover, including laptops, phones and any sign-in security keys. Record what came back and what still needs attention.
If the employee used a personal phone for work, be clear about the difference between removing company access and erasing the whole device. The available controls depend on how that device was enrolled and managed. Google's guidance distinguishes removing organization data from a full device wipe. Review the supported options with your administrator.
Your provider should confirm ownership, authorization and the applicable company policy before taking action. “Remove work access” should never be treated as permission to erase someone's personal photos or other private information.
You can also use our printable employee offboarding checklist to assign each system, confirm completion and track anything still open.
Ask for confirmation you can understand
When your provider says the offboarding is complete, ask for a short written summary. It should show what was handled, who checked it and anything that remains open.
You can use this checklist to guide that conversation:
| What to check | What you want confirmed |
|---|---|
| Timing and approval | Who authorized the changes and when access was meant to end |
| Accounts and applications | Which systems were checked and whether another vendor still has work to do |
| Existing access | Whether active sign-ins, connected apps and recovery methods were addressed |
| Business information | Where needed files and email are kept, and who can access them |
| Customer continuity | Who is receiving new inquiries and taking over open work |
| Devices and shared access | What equipment was returned and which shared credentials were reviewed |
| Remaining tasks | What is still open, who owns it and when it will be checked again |
Keep passwords, recovery codes and private employee details out of a general checklist. Those belong in your business's approved secure systems.
Finally, have the person taking over check the handoff. Can they open the files they need? Are customer inquiries reaching the right place? Are there any applications they still can't access?
That gives you a much clearer picture than an email saying, “The account has been removed.”
Make the plan before you need it
You can start this conversation even if nobody is leaving your company right now. Ask your current provider to walk you through how an employee departure would be handled, what they need from you and which systems fall outside their responsibility.
At IT MGMT, we work with businesses of 5–100 users, with particular experience alongside trades and property management firms. Understanding the systems your team relies on is part of how we approach managed IT support.
If you aren't confident that your current process covers everything, book a Business IT consultation. We can discuss how your team works, where you need better support and which improvements deserve attention first. You'll receive written priorities you can use even if you decide to stay with your current provider.
