An employee’s last day: the checklist, by who is responsible
Echipa HR 365 · reviewed 2026-09-05 · 5 min read
A leaver checklist has the same four owners as a joiner checklist and the same problem: without a name against each line, it gets half executed. The difference is that at departure the missing half is not noticed immediately — it surfaces months later, as access left open or as work nobody knows any more.
What happens before the last day
| Who | What | When |
|---|---|---|
| Manager | The list of work in progress and who takes over each piece | In the first week of notice |
| Manager | Handover sessions scheduled, not “whenever we can” | Two weeks before |
| The person leaving | Documents what only they know: procedures, contacts, work passwords | Across the whole notice period |
| HR | The calculation of remaining leave and what happens to it | A week before |
| HR | Scheduling the exit conversation | A week before |
| IT | The inventory of equipment to be returned | A few days before |
The last day
The order that works
- Manager — the final handover session, in the morning — not in the last hour
- IT — equipment returned, with a record and a check of local files
- HR — the documents, signed and handed over, not “we will send them”
- HR — the exit conversation, if it was not held the previous week
- Manager — the farewell with the team, if the person wants one — you ask, you do not organise it by reflex
- IT — closing access, at the end of the day
The last step is also the first to be got wrong, in both directions: either it happens in the morning and the person spends their last day unable to work, or it is forgotten entirely and access stays live for weeks. The end of the day is the moment that neither insults nor leaves anything open.
The handover that actually works
A handover done as a two-hour conversation is not retained. What works is a written list, filled in by the person leaving and checked by the person taking over, with three columns: what the work is, where the materials are, and who to ask if you get stuck.
The third column is the most valuable and the most often omitted. Most pieces of work have an external contact or a colleague who knows the context; without them, the successor starts from zero even with every file in hand.
What stays open after departure
- Email, redirected for a declared period — usually a month — with an auto-reply naming who takes over.
- Documents they signed that continue to have effect: identified and reassigned.
- Access to external platforms, which does not close along with the internal account.
- External contacts who look for them: told, rather than left to find out on their own.
Where to start
Take the last departure from your company and check the four things that stay open. If you find even one, you already have the reason a written list is worth it.
Then write the checklist with the names of your own people, not with roles. At the next departure, hand it over on the day the resignation is submitted — that is when everything can still be done in time.
Not all departures are the same
The checklist is the same, but the pace and the tone change depending on how the relationship ends. Three situations, with the differences that matter:
| Situation | What changes | What stays the same |
|---|---|---|
| Resignation with normal notice | The handover runs calmly across the whole notice period | Every line of the checklist |
| Company-initiated exit | The handover compresses; access may be narrowed earlier, by role | The documents, the equipment, respect in communication |
| Departure in conflict | The handover is documented in writing, not verbally; the exit conversation may be declined | Closing access and returning equipment |
What you learn from each departure
Every departure produces, for free, two pieces of information most companies lose: what only that person knew, and how hard it was to take over their work. Both get noted the same day, while they are fresh.
After three or four departures the pattern becomes visible: the same areas are always hard to hand over. Those are the company’s continuity risks, and departures are the only occasion on which they are measured without asking anybody.
How early do I close access?
At the end of the last day, as a rule. Exceptions depend on the role and the context — somebody with access to sensitive data or critical systems can be narrowed earlier, but narrowed rather than blocked entirely, so they can still do their handover.
What if they refuse to hand over?
You document in writing what was asked for and what was actually handed over, the same day. Not as a threat — so that a record of the facts exists, which is useful mainly if a discussion later arises about what was missing.
Do I organise a farewell?
You ask, you do not assume. For some it matters, for others it is half an hour of public discomfort. The rule is the same as everywhere: the person leaving chooses the form.
Offboarding tasks generated automatically, for each owner
When a departure is marked, IT, the manager and HR each receive their own list, with deadlines relative to the last day — so nothing stays open because somebody did not remember.
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