Employee Offboarding Automation

Let’s face it—saying goodbye to an employee is often more complicated than welcoming them. Managing employee departures involves more than a farewell party or bringing in donuts on their last day. You need to make sure that the transition is smooth and secure for all parties involved otherwise you risk opening your company up to data breaches, potential loss of revenue, and even legal trouble. 

Despite the potential for issues, many companies don’t have an offboarding process in place. In fact, a recent survey by Zippia showed that: 

• 71% of organizations have no formal offboarding process.
• 32% of organizations have a partially automated offboarding process, while only 5% have a fully automated process.
• 76% of IT leaders strongly agree that offboarding is a significant security threat. 

It’s time for a change—in this guide, we’ll explore offboarding and onboarding, how to automate these processes, and how Lumos can make employee lifecycle management effortless for your company. Let’s get started!

What Is the Employee Offboarding Process?

The employee offboarding process should be a structured workflow for managing an employee’s departure from your company. It includes various steps to protect company data, retrieve assets, and formalize the exit. This process should start the moment an employee resigns or is terminated. 

Why Is Offboarding Important?

Getting the offboarding process done right is important for security, operational continuity, and legal compliance. It should be a key component of safeguarding your company’s data and reputation. Remember that phrase “significant security threat” from the introduction? Let’s dig into that for a moment—what risks are you taking when you fail to offboard an employee correctly? The answer is a bit grim:

• Data Breaches and Loss of Intellectual Property: One of the most serious risks is unauthorized access to company data and systems. If a former employee still has access to email accounts, internal databases, or cloud services, they could intentionally or unintentionally misuse this access. This could lead to data breaches, loss of intellectual property, and other security incidents. For example, imagine a former engineer still having access to the company’s code repositories. They might download sensitive information or, worse, introduce malicious code. Even without malicious intent, an ex-employee with access to confidential data poses a risk. They might inadvertently share sensitive information, leading to data leaks that could damage the company's reputation and lead to legal issues.
  
• Financial Losses: Another risk is the financial cost associated with over-licensed software and unused accounts. When you fail to go through your tech stack and deactivate a former employee’s accounts, your company is still on the hook to pay for those licenses that aren’t being used anymore. Those costs add up. In fact, one report found that companies wasted an average of $18 million on unused SaaS licenses in 2023. 

• Disrupted Operations: If a departing employee’s tasks and responsibilities are not properly reassigned, it can quickly lead to disruptions and delays in projects. This can impact productivity and impact client relationships, leading to loss of revenue. 

• Compliance Risks: Inadequate offboarding can also affect compliance as many industries have strict regulations regarding data protection and access control. Failure to revoke access and manage data properly can result in non-compliance, leading to hefty fines and legal consequences.
  

Alright, after all that bad news, there is a light at the end: when done right, effective offboarding can minimize every one of these risks. With the right process and the right tools (hint, hint: Lumos), you can protect your data, avoid unnecessary costs, maintain operational efficiency, and stay compliant with regulations. But more on this in a moment! 

What Is the HR Offboarding Process?

HR plays an important role in the offboarding process, beginning with the formal notification of the employee’s resignation or termination. Your HR team is typically responsible for details like: 

• Documenting the entire process
• Conducting an exit interview
• Handling the final payroll 
• Addressing the continuation or termination of benefits
• Informing other departments of the employee’s exit, like the IT team 
• Coordinating the transition of responsibilities
• Following up with any questions or concerns

One of the most important roles of HR in the offboarding process is facilitating communication, particularly with the IT team. 

What Is the Employee Exit Process for IT?

The offboarding process for your IT department should focus on securing company data and minimizing security risks. This should include details like revoking access to all company systems, backing up and transferring the employee’s data, collecting company-owned hardware, and reassigning or deactivating software licenses. Throughout this process, IT needs to collaborate with HR and other departments to make sure the transition is smooth while maintaining security and compliance with company policies. 

What Are the Typical Offboarding Tasks for IT?

Your offboarding checklist should include: 

• Revoke Access: Begins by revoking the departing employee's access to all company systems, applications, and networks. This includes disabling email accounts, VPN access, and any other remote access tools. It's important to update or remove login credentials and change shared passwords immediately to prevent unauthorized access.

• Backup and Transfer Data Backup: Make sure that all data the employee was working on is backed up and transferred to the appropriate team members or managers. This step helps maintain continuity in ongoing projects and secures valuable company information.

• Recover Hardware: Collect all company-owned hardware from the departing employee—keep in mind that this step may be shared with the HR department. This includes laptops, mobile devices, security badges, and other equipment. The condition of the returned hardware should be assessed, and any necessary data wiped from these devices as a security precaution.
  

• Perform Software and License Management: Reassign or deactivate software licenses that were assigned to the departing employee. This helps optimize software usage and reduces unnecessary costs. It also makes sure that licenses are available for current and future employees.

• Do an Audit and Compliance Check: Conduct an audit of the employee's access prior to departure in order to identify any unusual or unauthorized activities. This helps you maintain security and compliance with company policies and regulations.

As you’re considering this checklist, it’s important to notice how labor-intensive this process can be. There’s a reason why so many companies don’t do offboarding right—because it can take a lot of time and effort! Your IT department has a lot on their plate, and it can be difficult to allocate the resources to get offboarding done effectively.

What Are the Guidelines for Offboarding Effectively?

In addition to the specific tasks listed above, here are some key guidelines for your IT team to keep in mind when building an effective offboarding process:

• Communicate Proactively: No matter what your offboarding looks like, your IT team will need to work closely with HR and other relevant departments to coordinate the process. Clear, proactive communication helps facilitate a smooth transition without any gaps in the process.
  
• Invest in the Right Tools: Consider comprehensive employee lifecycle management tools that handle both onboarding and offboarding. These tools provide a centralized platform to manage user access, automate workflows, and maintain detailed records. Here at Lumos we’ve built a robust solution for automating the entire offboarding process, from deactivating accounts to managing hardware returns.
  
• Leverage Automation: Why do more work when you could use technology to do the heavy lifting? Look for tools that have comprehensive automation capabilities to streamline the offboarding process. Automated workflows can deactivate accounts, remove access, and notify relevant parties without manual intervention. This reduces the risk of human error, ensures a consistent, thorough process, and best of all, makes your workload a little lighter.
  
• Perform Continuous Training and Awareness: Regularly train IT staff on the latest offboarding procedures and security protocols. Keeping the team updated helps make sure that everyone is aware of their responsibilities and reduces the risk of errors.

How Do You Offboard a Terminated Employee?

The offboarding process for a terminated employee should be quite similar to the offboarding of any other employee: it should focus on prioritizing security and maintaining business continuity. One major difference is the timing and communication between departments. Your HR team and IT team need to be in close communication about appropriate timing for revoking access and recovering company assets, especially if there are any concerns about the employee not cooperating. 

How To Automate Employee Offboarding

The best way to automate employee offboarding is to choose the right software tool. When choosing a tool, it’s important to consider that offboarding is just one part of the entire employee lifecycle. Rather than selecting a “unitasker,” look for features that give you comprehensive and seamless management of employees from onboarding to offboarding and everything in between. Here are key aspects to look for when considering a platform:

• Integration Capabilities: The tool should integrate seamlessly with your existing HR, IT, and payroll systems. This allows for smooth data flow and coordination across different departments, reducing manual data entry and potential errors.

• Automation: Look for robust automation features that can handle repetitive tasks like account provisioning, access management, and offboarding procedures. Automation creates consistency, saves time, and minimizes the risk of human error.

• User-Friendly Interface: A user-friendly interface is essential for both administrators and end-users. The tool should be intuitive and easy to navigate, with clear instructions and support options available.

• Customizable Workflows: Look for the ability to create and customize workflows tailored to your organization’s specific needs. You need to make sure that the tool can adapt to the various scenarios and processes that are unique to your company.

• Security and Compliance: Make sure the tool has strong security measures in place, including data encryption, multi-factor authentication, and regular security updates. It should also help your organization comply with relevant regulations and standards, such as GDPR or HIPAA.

• Comprehensive Reporting and Analytics: The tool should have detailed reporting and analytics capabilities so you can track key metrics, monitor process efficiency, and identify areas for improvement.

• Scalability: Choose a tool that can scale with your organization as it grows. It should be able to handle an increasing (or decreasing) number of employees and integrate with additional systems or processes as needed.

• Support and Training: Look for a provider that offers excellent customer support and training resources. You need a partner who will make sure your team can effectively use the tool and will help you troubleshoot any issues that come up.

• Cost-Effectiveness: Evaluate the cost of the tool in relation to its features and benefits. Look for a tool that provides good value for money and fits within your organization’s budget.

• Employee Self-Service: An effective tool should offer self-service options for employees to request access to the resources they need on their own. This empowers employees and reduces the administrative burden on your IT team.
  

What Are the Steps of Offboarding with Lumos?

With Lumos, your offboarding process steps will be a breeze—streamlined, efficient, and user-friendly—all while reducing the burden on your IT team. Here’s how Lumos handles the offboarding process: 

• Initiate Offboarding Process: With Lumos, you can set triggers like status changes, end dates, or an API call to revoke access automatically according to your controls. For example, if you hired a contractor, you could set the end date and Lumos would automatically begin the offboarding process at that time.
  
• Revoke Access: Lumos automatically disables the departing employee’s access to all company systems, including email, VPN, and internal applications.
  
• Data/Asset Recovery: You can easily delegate manual tasks to your admins, as well as configure advanced actions like transferring user data to managers or wiping all session tokens.
  
• Manage Software Licenses: You’ll be able to track and manage the allocation of apps and licenses during employee transitions. Lumos helps you monitor usage to the entitlement and improve asset utilization strategically.

With Lumos in your toolkit, you can create a consistent, secure, and efficient offboarding experience. But the capabilities don’t stop there—you’ll have a tool that helps you effectively manage the entire employee lifecycle. 

What Is the Employee Onboarding Process?

The employee onboarding process is a structured approach to integrating new hires into a company. It begins the moment a job offer is accepted and continues through the first months of employment. Effective onboarding helps new employees acclimate to their roles, understand company culture, and become productive members of the team quickly.

Why are we talking about onboarding in this offboarding guide? Well, onboarding and offboarding are two sides of the same coin, forming the employee lifecycle. A smooth onboarding process sets the tone for an employee's experience at the company, while a structured offboarding process creates a secure and efficient exit. Both employee onboarding and offboarding processes are crucial for maintaining security and operational efficiency

How To Automate User Onboarding

The best way to automate onboarding is to use software that can handle the entire employee lifecycle. Employee lifecycle management software helps you create streamlined processes—from provisioning new employees quickly to changing permissions as people get promoted to offboarding employees effectively with minimal security risks.  

With employee onboarding automation, new hires have their accounts and access set up seamlessly, enabling them to start their roles without delays. Similarly, when an employee leaves, the same system can make sure that all access is revoked, data is backed up, and assets are recovered, securing company information and maintaining continuity. By managing employee onboarding and offboarding within a single platform, companies can create a single source of truth, optimize their workflows, improve employee experiences, and enhance security.

How To Automate Onboarding and Offboarding Example

Employee onboarding and offboarding software like Lumos can help you create a smooth and secure employee lifecycle. Let’s take a quick look at a fictional example drawn from the real-life experience of our users: 

ClickZest, a rapidly growing SaaS company, found it difficult to keep up with onboarding new employees after receiving their next round of funding. And, since they were just a young start up with a small team, they haven’t had to offboard an employee yet. Their new HR and IT departments were struggling with too many manual tasks and worried about the security risks of quickly onboarding so many people. Seeking a solution, ClickZest partnered with Lumos to automate the entire employee lifecycle.

Onboarding Automation with Lumos

When ClickZest hired Emma, a new software developer, the HR team notified the IT department. Using Lumos, the IT team was able to quickly set up Emma’s user accounts, assign her permissions based on her role as a developer, and show her how to use the self-service app catalog in case she needed any additional resources. This automated onboarding process not only made Emma feel welcomed and prepared, but also saved ClickZest significant time and effort. 

Offboarding Automation with Lumos

A few months later, another developer, John, decided it was time to pursue a new opportunity. ClickZest used Lumos to manage his offboarding process. With Lumos’ tools, the IT team was able to quickly revoke access to all company systems, back up the data, and send alerts and manual tasks to John’s managers to make sure his laptop and other company assets were secured. With Lumos’ SaaS management tools, the IT team was able to reassign the software licenses that had been allocated to John, optimizing the use of resources and reducing costs.

Emma’s seamless integration into the team and John’s smooth exit showcased the power of Lumos in managing the entire employee lifecycle. The platform’s ability to automate and synchronize these tasks allowed ClickZest to focus on what they do best—developing innovative software solutions. By automating both onboarding and offboarding, Lumos significantly reduced the administrative burden on HR and IT teams. By leveraging automation, the company achieved efficiency, security, and a better overall experience for their employees. For ClickZest, adopting Lumos was a game-changer, proving that the right technology could significantly improve operational workflows and support business growth.

Lumos: To Effective Employee Lifecycle Management and Beyond!

Although we’re not quite as cool as Buzz Lightyear, we are pretty excited about all the capabilities we’ve built into Lumos. With our unified access platform, you’ll have employee lifecycle management tools that let you:

• Streamline IT Operations: Automate the setup of user accounts, provision of access to necessary software, and ensure new employees are ready to work from day one without delays or unnecessary expenditures

• Manage Identity Access: Track and manage the allocation of apps and licenses during employee transitions. Monitor usage to the entitlement and improve asset utilization strategically.

• Create HRIS-driven workflows: Support employee and contractor onboardings with ease. Set triggers such as status changes, event data (start date or end dates) or an API call to grant or revoke access according to your controls.

• Enforce Joiner-Mover-Leaver policies: Ensure entitlements are appropriately managed as part of your provisioning flows and delegate manual tasks to your admins. Configure advanced actions like transferring user data to managers or wiping all session tokens.

• Take control over internal changes: Set alerts and kick off onboarding workflows based on changes in title, team, or department. Advance mover processes to require micro-certifications, validating employees have the right access post-transition.

• Monitor progress across the entire lifecycle: Govern all JML processes before, during, and after they occur with a centralized view. Loop in managers to gain context around their reports, ensuring employee productivity.

But wait, we promised you more! That’s right, with Lumos you’ll have the tools you need for both identity management and SaaS management, including: 

• Identity Governance
• Privileged Access Management
• User Access Reviews
• CIEM
• Spend Management
• SaaS Discovery
• Onboarding and Offboarding
• ITSM Automation

Ready to see how Lumos can help you transform your access management? See it in action today.