Why same day
At a small company the list of everything a person can log into usually lives in the founder's head. When someone leaves, a few accounts get closed and the rest stay open for weeks. This checklist closes every account on the last working day and leaves a written record that it was done.
Owners used below: Ops (the person running operations), Founder, Manager, Admin (whoever holds admin rights to each tool).
When notice is given
| Step | Owner |
|---|---|
| Confirm the last working day in writing | Manager |
| Record the exit in the HR and payroll platform, so final pay is calculated on the platform's rules for that country or state | Ops |
| Check the contract for notice period, return of equipment and any confidentiality terms | Ops |
| Plan the handover: open work, documents, client or vendor contacts | Manager |
| Schedule the exit conversation for the last week | Ops |
On the last working day
Access, removed the same day
| Account | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Company email and calendar | Suspend the account; transfer email and Drive or OneDrive files to the manager | Admin |
| Team chat (Slack or Teams) | Deactivate | Admin |
| Code and cloud (GitHub, GitLab, AWS, Google Cloud) | Remove from the organization; revoke personal access tokens and keys | Admin |
| Password manager | Remove; change any shared passwords the person could see | Admin |
| Project and design tools (Linear, Jira, Notion, Figma) | Remove the seat and transfer ownership of their pages and files | Admin |
| HR and payroll platform | Keep their record, end their access to company views | Ops |
| Company cards and expense tool | Cancel cards; submit final expenses | Ops |
| Any tool in the software register | Check every row with this person as user or admin | Ops |
Paperwork and equipment
| Step | Owner |
|---|---|
| Send the equipment return instructions and a prepaid shipping label | Ops |
| Contractors: check the final invoice against the contract | Ops |
| Hold the exit conversation and write a short note | Ops |
| Update the org chart, the software register and the contractor register | Ops |
| Tell the team, in the words the founder approves | Founder |
The week after
| Step | Owner |
|---|---|
| Confirm the equipment arrived | Ops |
| Confirm final pay went through on the platform | Ops |
| Re-check the access list once more, in case an invite or shared login was missed | Ops |
| One line in the Friday report: "Leaver X: all access removed on [date], equipment returned, final pay processed" | Ops |
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