Offboarding is a sequence, and the order matters more than any single step - mostly because payroll and access both have deadlines that are easy to miss.
The Order
- Confirm the termination date. Years of service, gratuity and every accrual are calculated from it.
- Close attendance and leave to that date, so balances are final rather than still moving.
- Settle commission - anything earned and unpaid becomes part of the settlement.
- Prepare the final settlement. Gratuity, leave encashment, pending commission, less any outstanding advance. See Final Settlement.
- Check the payroll run. A leaver should be settled, not paid a normal month. This is the step that costs money when skipped.
- Remove access. Change their status to terminated, which is what closes their reach.
- Reassign their work - owned deals, open tasks, approvals waiting on them, any department they manage.
- Retain the record.
Reassigning Before They Go
The step people forget, and the one that causes weeks of confusion afterwards.
- Deals they own - unowned deals route to nobody and vanish from every "my deals" view.
- Open tasks and approvals - anything waiting on them stalls silently.
- Departments they manage - a department with no manager breaks manager-chain notifications and leaves any shared inbox unowned. See Inbox Ownership and Auto Rules in the Operations section.
- Automations naming them - a workflow routing to a departed person completes and reaches nobody.
Caution
A department left without a manager is the quietest of these. Nothing errors. Approvals route to nobody, notifications resolve to nobody, and it is usually discovered weeks later when someone asks why nothing was approved.
Access
Setting status to terminated is what ends their reach. Do it on the last day, not a week later, and not a week early - people need their access until they stop.
Their own personal connections - mailbox, calendar - are theirs and disconnect with their account.
What You Keep
The record is archived, not deleted. Attendance, payslips, approvals, signed documents and commission history all reference it, and several of them you are legally required to retain.
Keep the compliance documents for whatever your jurisdiction requires. That retention period is usually longer than instinct suggests.
Probation Leavers
Someone leaving during probation follows the same sequence, but gratuity usually does not apply - vesting years are configured on the payroll profile and probation is normally below the threshold. The settlement reflects the rule rather than a decision.
Common Questions
They left last month and were paid a full salary. It happens when the settlement is prepared after the run rather than before. Recover it through the settlement, and move the check earlier next time.
Can we reactivate someone who returns? Reactivating preserves history but their service dates need care - continuous service versus a fresh start is a real decision with real consequences for gratuity.
Who should own their deals? Their manager by default, then redistribute deliberately. An imperfect owner routes; no owner does not.
Do we tell the system they resigned versus were terminated? The status is terminated either way. The reason belongs in your own records and, where required, in the settlement notes.
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