IT HELP & GUIDES

An Employee Is Leaving: Email, Files & Account Access

Before deleting an account or cancelling a license, decide who needs the business information and how access will be removed.

Offboarding is easy to underestimate. The employee may have business files in OneDrive, access to shared folders, an office phone extension, and logins to applications managed by different suppliers. Removing one account does not finish the job.

This checklist is for the manager organizing the handover. Your administrator should confirm the steps for your subscriptions, configuration, retention requirements, and company policies.

Confirm the decision and the timing

Identify who is authorized to approve the account changes and when access should end. Record the systems involved and who will carry out each change. If there is suspected misuse or an account compromise, contact the person responsible for security promptly so they can handle access and preservation appropriately.

Decide what the business needs to keep

Ask where the employee kept working files and which conversations or documents need a handover. Agree who may receive access. Business information can be mixed with restricted HR, client, or other sensitive material, so access should follow a documented decision.

• Business email and calendar information.
• OneDrive files, shared documents, and locally stored work.
• Application records and shared folders.
• Equipment, phone numbers, and supplier relationships.

Plan the Microsoft 365 changes

Your administrator should review sign-in access, active sessions, business data, and mailbox arrangements. Blocking access, retaining data, changing mailbox access, and removing a license are separate decisions.

The right way to handle an ongoing email address may involve a shared mailbox or another approved arrangement. Confirm the requirements before deleting the account or changing subscriptions. Retention and licensing details depend on the service and configuration.

Microsoft provides an administrator overview for removing a former employee. Use the current guidance for the setup you actually have.

Check the accounts outside Microsoft 365

Review Windows domain access, approved remote desktop or VPN access, QuickBooks, HR applications, phone systems, and any supplier-managed portals. If the person could access a shared credential, arrange the appropriate change through the approved administrator.

For a property management company, include any agreed systems used across offices or properties. Keep the account list specific; assumptions about which systems someone used can leave unfinished work.

Collect and hand over equipment

Record returned computers, phones, storage devices, and other business equipment. Agree how business files will be recovered and how the device will be prepared for its next user. Backups and retained information should be handled under the business’s policy.

Give the receiving manager their own approved access. Passing on the former employee’s password creates an unclear record of who is using the account.

Close the checklist

• Access changes are completed at the agreed time.
• Approved business information is available to its new owner.
• Remaining application accounts and supplier tasks have named owners.
• Equipment and licenses have been reviewed.
• The business has a record of what changed and what remains outstanding.

See our Microsoft 365 support for help organizing accounts, mailboxes, and access changes.