The IT Checklist for When an Employee Leaves

Employees leave. That's normal. What's not normal is small businesses that discover, three months later, that the ex-employee still has access to their email, Dropbox, and accounting software. That happens more often than anyone wants to admit, usually because there's no checklist, and the person handling the IT side just... forgot a few things.

Here's the checklist. Print it. Tape it inside your HR binder. Run it every time.

Same-Day (Non-Negotiable)

1. Disable Their Email Account (Don't Delete It)

In Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, disable sign-in and reset the password. Don't delete the account, you'll want the mailbox contents for record-keeping. Convert it to a shared mailbox (M365) or set up auto-forward (Google) so anything sent to their address still reaches the right person.

2. Reset Any Shared Passwords They Had Access To

Wi-Fi password. Accounting software. VPN credentials. Vendor portals. Any account where multiple people log in with the same password. If they had it, change it. Same-day.

3. Remove Them From Your Password Manager

If you use Bitwarden, 1Password, or similar, remove their user account. They won't be able to log in to see shared vault items anymore.

4. Revoke Multi-Factor Authentication Devices

In M365 admin, Google Workspace admin, and any other system with MFA, remove their registered phone, YubiKey, or authenticator app entries. Otherwise they could still receive login prompts.

5. Remove Them From Chat and Collaboration Tools

Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, project management tools (Asana, Trello, Notion), any shared file services. Deactivate or downgrade to guest as appropriate.

Within a Week

6. Recover Company Hardware

Laptop, phone, keys, badges, MFA hardware tokens, external drives. Get everything back. Before reissuing to a new employee, fully wipe and reimage the laptop, don't just delete their user profile.

7. Set an Email Auto-Response Pointing to a Real Human

Something like: “Rob no longer works at Acme Corp. For sales inquiries, please contact Sarah at sarah@acme.com. For urgent matters, call (502) 555-0100.” Do this immediately after Step 1, don't let inbound emails just bounce.

8. Update Internal Contact Lists and Org Charts

Remove them from email distribution groups, internal directories, org charts, phone lists, and the business's public-facing website (About page, Team page). Missed places tend to be: LinkedIn company page, Google Business Profile team info, printed business cards.

9. Update Vendor and Client Contacts

If they were the point-of-contact with any vendors or clients, update those relationships. Introduce the new person before the ex-employee's email starts bouncing.

10. Document Everything They Owned

What accounts did they administer? What client relationships did they own? What internal processes did they run? Capture this before they leave if possible; after they leave if you have to. This is what turns a chaotic offboarding into an organized one for next time.

One More Thing: The Exit Interview

Ask departing employees to walk you through anything they were the “only one who knows how” person for. Password reset processes, quirky vendor logins, weird workflow shortcuts. This is your last chance to capture tribal knowledge before it walks out the door.

The Cost of Doing This Wrong

A former employee still holding admin access to your M365 tenant is a serious liability. If they leave on good terms, probably nothing happens. If they leave on bad terms, or their old credentials get compromised by an attacker who realizes they're still active, you've got a real problem.

Ten minutes of checklist work same-day prevents months of cleanup later. Print this out.