Employee offboarding is the process of managing an employee's exit, from their final tasks and knowledge handover to removing their access and learning from their feedback.
Offboarding is the mirror of onboarding. It covers everything that happens when someone leaves, whether they resign, retire, or are let go. The core steps are handing over work and knowledge, returning equipment, removing access to systems and data, running a final payroll, and holding an exit interview.
The two reasons offboarding matters most are security and learning. Leaving an ex-employee's accounts open is a real risk, so access removal should be fast and complete. And exit feedback is some of the most honest you will ever get, which makes it a direct source of ideas for keeping the people who stay.