Record the departure and its type, agree notice and the last working day, then run four parallel tracks: knowledge handover to a named receiver, asset recovery, access revocation, and final settlement with documents. Time revocation to the actual departure, not to a payroll date or a calendar guess. Close with an exit conversation.
A departure begins the moment it is known, not on the last working day, and the first act is to record it properly: the type, whether resignation, dismissal, redundancy, end of contract or retirement; the date it was notified; the notice that applies; and the intended last working day. Everything else keys off that record, which is why it belongs in the [core HR system](/hris) rather than in an email thread between a manager and HR. Agree the last working day explicitly, including any notice waived or bought out, and confirm it to the employee in writing. Disputes later usually turn on which date was agreed.
Because it is the only part where a delay creates exposure rather than inconvenience. Every day a former employee keeps a live account is a day of access to customer data, financial systems, source code or colleagues' personal information, and nothing flags it as a problem until something happens. Time revocation to the actual departure, not to a payroll date, not to month end, and not to whenever the queue clears. Build the list from the [employee record](/employee-database-software) and from what was provisioned at joining, then extend it to whatever was added since: tools bought on a team card, shared logins, personal devices holding company mail, building passes, remote access certificates, and administrative rights held over other people's accounts.
Name the receiver. A handover written into a document with no recipient gets filed and forgotten, whereas a named colleague who will have to answer for the work asks the questions that surface what is genuinely undocumented. Start early enough in the notice period that the two overlap on live work rather than only talking about it, and transfer ownership explicitly: open tickets, running projects, supplier relationships, recurring meetings, scheduled reports, shared documents, and any account registered in the leaver's name. Where the leaver is the only person who knows something, that is a finding about the team rather than about the leaver, and it deserves a note for after they have gone.
A list generated from what was issued rather than from memory, and a date against it. Laptop, phone, peripherals, access cards, keys, uniform, tools, company card, and anything issued for working from home. For remote employees, arrange and pay for collection instead of expecting somebody to organise a courier during their last week. Wipe and reassign devices through a documented step, since a returned laptop sitting in a drawer with the previous owner's mail still on it is the same exposure as an unrevoked account. If you intend to withhold anything from the final payment for unreturned property, the rules vary by state and change, so confirm the current position with a qualified advisor before assuming it is permitted.
It runs last, because it depends on everything else closing: attendance and leave finalised, recoveries known, assets accounted for, notice position agreed. The calculation brings together outstanding salary, any leave encashment the policy provides for, deductions and recoveries, and the statutory items that apply to a leaver, which in India typically involve provident fund, gratuity where the employee qualifies, tax on the settlement, and the associated returns. Rates, thresholds and timelines for all of those are set by statute, vary by state and change, so confirm the current position with a qualified advisor or the relevant authority before releasing anything. Running it through [payroll](/payroll-management) rather than as a manual transfer keeps the deductions and the record consistent with every other payment.
A relieving letter confirming the end of employment and the last working day, an experience or service certificate stating role and dates, the settlement statement showing how the final figure was reached, and the tax and provident fund documentation the person needs for their own filings and for their next employer. Issue them promptly and to a personal email address, since the work account is closed by then. Delaying documents as leverage over an unreturned laptop is a common instinct and a poor one: it holds up somebody's next job, it does not recover the laptop any faster, and it converts a routine exit into a dispute.
For information you can act on, which means running it with somebody the leaver has no reason to manage, usually HR rather than the departing person's own manager. Ask about specifics: what would have kept them, when they first started looking, what they told their manager at the time and what happened next. Expect a softened account and read it alongside other evidence rather than as testimony. Then decide what the relationship becomes: keeping in touch with people who left well costs nothing, and rehires and referrals both come out of it. Somebody whose last week was handled badly will describe it accurately to every candidate who asks.
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