What to do with accounts and hardware when an employee leaves
Onboarding is usually buttoned up tight — offboarding much less often. And that's exactly the moment when a forgotten access stays active for months after someone has already left.
What to do on the day someone leaves
Cut off access the same day, not "sometime this week"
Email account, VPN, company systems, access to the network drive — all of it should be disabled on the last day of employment, regardless of how amicable the departure is. This is standard security practice, not a sign of distrust.
Secure the data before deleting the account
Before deleting the mailbox and cloud account, move company files to a shared resource and check whether the inbox contains correspondence that should go to someone else on the team. Deleting an account without this step can be irreversible.
Collect the hardware and wipe it before reusing it
The company laptop should be physically returned, not just "handed over" verbally. Before it goes to the next person, do a full factory reset — not just deleting the files off the desktop.
Check for access outside the main systems list
Beyond the company account, it's worth checking access to things that are easy to overlook: accounts in external tools (like a hosting panel or the company's social media), mobile apps with a saved password, or individually generated API keys.
Quick checklist
- Email account and system access disabled the same day
- Company data secured before the account is deleted
- Hardware physically collected and reset to factory settings
- Access to external tools and API keys checked and revoked
- A forwarding rule or auto-reply set up for the abandoned mailbox
- The list of people with access to shared resources updated
Why this isn't just a formality
A forgotten, still-active account belonging to a former employee is one of the more common ways unauthorized access to company data happens — not through malice, but plain oversight. A written offboarding procedure takes a few minutes and removes a risk that can end up costing far more.
Is someone leaving your company soon?
We'll handle safely disabling access and resetting hardware — following a checklist, without skipping a step.