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On the porch of a Charleston house used as an office, a man in a light blue shirt hands a closed laptop and a phone to a woman in a navy blazer, with a small box holding a plant and a framed photograph on a wicker table beside them and Spanish moss in the live oak behind

Employee departure steps

Complete employee offboarding checklist for your business

CloudCentric handles accounts, licenses and devices when your staff move on, securing your business data.

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A woman in a charcoal blazer sits at a wooden table in a bright room with tall shuttered windows, a laptop open in front of her, while a grey-haired man in a white shirt stands beside her and points at the screen; a closed laptop, a phone and a key card on a lanyard lie in a row on the table

Standard departure steps

Securing company data when an employee leaves

Order matters when someone departs. Sign-in is cut off first, ensuring immediate security. Next, their mailbox and files are saved safely. Finally, their license is removed to save you monthly costs.

  1. 1

    Sign-in stops first

    Resetting passwords and blocking sign-in ensures former staff cannot access company systems after they leave.

  2. 2

    Mailbox and files saved

    Retaining emails and documents gives your remaining staff the information they need to continue working.

  3. 3

    License goes last

    Removed licenses can be reassigned or deleted from the subscription, starting a 30-day clock before data is permanently deleted.

Litigation hold and export Office and onboarding

Workplaces we support across the coast

Different businesses require different approaches to offboarding, but saving company information always comes first.

Select your workplace type

Microsoft 365 employee offboarding process

Microsoft outlines seven standard steps to secure data and remove a former employee. Following them in order prevents accidental data loss while shutting down access.

Microsoft's graphic of seven steps to remove a former employee from Microsoft 365: stop them logging in, save the contents of their mailbox, wipe and block their mobile device, forward their email to another employee or convert to a shared mailbox, give another employee access to their OneDrive and Outlook data, remove and delete their license, delete their user account
Microsoft's seven steps for removing a former employee safely. Microsoft Learn documentation.

View the seven steps

Microsoft 365 admin center: a user's panel with Reset password, Block sign-in and Delete user, Sign out of all sessions, and tabs for Account, Devices, Licenses and apps, Mail and OneDrive
User panel showing reset password, block sign-in and sign out of all sessions tools. Microsoft Learn documentation.

Understanding 30 days in Microsoft 365

Timers start running when licenses disappear or accounts face deletion. Knowing exactly what happens prevents permanent loss of company records.

Choose an action

CloudCentric backs up a departing employee's mailbox and OneDrive before license removal, because a disabled and unlicensed account can no longer be backed up by any product. Microsoft 365 backup

Two closed laptops, three phones, a key fob and a lanyard card laid in a row on a long wooden table in a sunlit porch room with palmettos outside, a hand in a navy sleeve setting the last phone in line

Securing hardware returned by departing staff

Laptops and phones require attention before you hand them to a new employee. Removing old data protects your company and prepares the hardware for its next user.

  1. 1

    Company phones

    Exchange administrators choose either an account-only wipe or a full wipe, then block access to ensure business data leaves the mobile device safely.

  2. 2

    Company laptops

    Microsoft Intune Wipe actions factory reset devices, removing organizational data, personal files, apps and configurations entirely to prepare them for new staff.

  3. 3

    Personal computers

    Administrators cannot wipe files downloaded to personal computers. Keeping company files strictly in OneDrive and shared locations matters greatly for securing information.

Intune device management

Handling Google Workspace departures

Google handles user departures differently, offering data transfer options and archive licenses to protect files. Securing your information requires specific steps inside the admin console.

Suspend first

Suspending an account temporarily blocks the user from accessing Google services, stopping them from creating or moving content during a data transfer.

Transfer the files

Deleting a user allows transferring Drive files and calendar data to another active account. Deletion stops safely if the transfer cannot complete.

20 days to restore

Restoring a deleted user works for up to 20 days, returning Gmail content and untransferred Drive files. Files in shared drives are never deleted.

Archive instead of delete

Assigning an Archived User license keeps departing user data safe while saving the cost of a full license. Deleting removes the data.

Users on litigation hold cannot be deleted until an administrator with Vault privileges lifts the hold, and lifting it can take up to 48 hours.

Google Workspace Help, delete or remove a userTransfer Drive filesGoogle Workspace backup

Let CloudCentric handle your employee departures

Sending us a single request handles accounts, licenses and devices in one go. Managing departures correctly keeps your company secure and organized.

  1. 1

    Send the leaving date

    Tell us when your employee finishes work, giving us the exact schedule for cutting off access.

  2. 2

    Back up the mailbox and OneDrive

    CloudCentric backs up the mailbox and OneDrive before license removal, keeping company records safe.

  3. 3

    Work through the seven steps

    Processing the standard Microsoft offboarding sequence prevents sign-in, wipes hardware and secures your tenant.

  4. 4

    Hand over the mailbox and files

    Giving access to the remaining team members ensures projects continue without missing important communications.

Common questions about employee departures

  • What should happen first when an employee leaves?

    Resetting the password stops access immediately. Blocking sign-in can take up to 24 hours to take effect, making a password reset the most reliable way to secure company accounts right away.

  • Does removing a license delete the mailbox?

    Removing a Microsoft 365 license holds user data for 30 days. Email, contacts and calendars are then deleted permanently.

  • Can a deleted user be restored?

    Restoring a deleted user works within 30 days in Microsoft 365, bringing back the account and mailbox fully. A license must be available to assign to the restored account.

  • Can email to the old address keep arriving?

    Converting a former employee's mailbox to a shared mailbox keeps existing email and receives new messages. Several people can open a shared mailbox, and it needs no license under 50 GB.

  • Does Google Workspace work the same way?

    Administrators transferring Drive files to a new owner in Google Workspace should suspend the account first. Deleted users have a shorter window, offering up to 20 days for restoration.

  • What about the leaver's phone?

    Exchange administrators can issue an account-only remote wipe or a full remote wipe to mobile devices, then block access. Doing so removes business data so the phone can no longer connect.

Office and onboardingLitigation hold and exportMicrosoft 365 backupHelp deskGoogle Workspace backupIntune device managementMicrosoft 365Charleston

Secure your company data today

Call CloudCentric to manage your employee departures safely and correctly.

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CloudCentric · Mount Pleasant, SC · serving Charleston and the Lowcountry(844) 422-7000