When a new employee joins your company, there is a lot to manage. A strong employee onboarding and offboarding process helps make sure technology doesn’t become an afterthought. From the computer they use to the systems they can access, the decisions you make on day one can affect your business long after their first week.
Good IT onboarding requires more than handing someone a laptop and creating an email address.
Who has access to your company data? Which applications do they use? Where do they store important information? And what happens to all of it when they leave?
When IT is part of the process from the beginning, those questions have clear answers.
Why Employee Offboarding Problems Often Start at Onboarding
When an employee gives notice, questions can pile up quickly.
Which accounts can they access? What company files do they have? Did they ever use a personal device for work? Are there passwords or software accounts that only they know about? What happens to their email and the information stored there?
If no one can answer those questions easily, the problem didn’t start when the employee resigned. It likely started when they joined the company.
A thoughtful onboarding process creates a clear picture from day one. Your IT team knows which devices the employee uses, which systems they can access, and what security measures protect those accounts.
That preparation makes employee onboarding and offboarding two parts of the same process. When someone eventually leaves, your business isn’t trying to reconstruct months or years of technology use from memory.
4 Onboarding Shortcuts That Can Create Problems Later
Even with the best intentions, it is easy to take shortcuts when a new employee starts. You need them working, they need access, and everyone has other things competing for their attention.
The problem is that a temporary workaround can quietly become a permanent part of how someone works.
Here are four common shortcuts that can make employee offboarding much harder later.
1. Letting Employees Create Their Own Software Accounts
An employee finds an online tool that makes their job easier. They create an account, choose a password, enter a company credit card, and get back to work.
Simple enough—until nobody else knows the account exists.
Your business may continue paying for forgotten subscriptions. More importantly, company information may live inside an account that your business doesn’t fully control.
Employees shouldn’t have to guess which tools are appropriate for company use. A clear process for approving and managing software helps your business know what employees use, who can access it, and where company information lives.
2. Allowing a Temporary Personal Device to Become Permanent
Maybe the new employee’s computer hasn’t arrived yet, so they use their personal laptop for a few days.
Then a few days becomes a few weeks.
Before long, that personal computer may contain company email, downloaded files, saved passwords, and access to business systems. If the employee leaves, separating company information from personal information can become much more complicated.
Whenever possible, employees should use properly configured company-owned devices. If your business allows personal devices, clear policies and appropriate security controls can help protect company information.
3. Sharing Logins
One account. One password. Several employees.
It may seem convenient, especially for a tool that multiple people need to use. But shared logins make it harder to know who accessed an account or made a change. They also create an immediate problem when one of those employees leaves.
Do you change the password and update everyone else? Does anyone know where that password is stored? And can you be certain the former employee no longer has access?
Whenever possible, each employee should have their own account. Individual accounts give your business better control over access and make it much easier to remove one person’s access without affecting everyone else.
Cornerstone IT Tip
One Login Per Person
Convenience today can create a security headache tomorrow. Give employees individual accounts whenever possible, and make sure your business—not an individual employee—controls the credentials and administrative access.
4. Keeping Important Business Information in One Person’s Inbox
Employees build relationships with clients, vendors, and partners every day. But important business information shouldn’t disappear when an employee leaves.
If conversations, contact information, or project details exist only in one person’s inbox, your company may lose valuable context when that person moves on. The next person handling the relationship may have to piece together what happened and where things stand.
Shared mailboxes, a CRM, and other centralized tools can help keep important information accessible to the business. The right solution depends on how your company operates.
The goal is simple: your business should maintain access to the information it needs, even when the people on your team change.
What Good Employee Onboarding Should Include
Technology onboarding should begin before a new employee sits down for their first day.
Your IT provider should know who is starting, what equipment they need, and which systems they should access. That gives the IT team time to prepare the device, create the appropriate accounts, apply security protections, and document access.
A good IT onboarding process may include:
- Preparing and securing the employee’s computer
- Creating company email and user accounts
- Providing access to the applications needed for their role
- Setting appropriate permissions
- Configuring multifactor authentication
- Documenting company devices and technology access
- Reviewing company policies for passwords, devices, and data
Not every employee needs access to everything. In fact, they generally shouldn’t have it.
Cybersecurity professionals call this the principle of least privilege. It means giving employees access only to the systems and information they need to do their jobs. Limiting unnecessary access can help protect company information and reduce risk. We’ve previously explored the business benefits of implementing the principle of least privilege and how it can help businesses better control access.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) definition of least privilege reinforces this approach: access should match what a person needs to perform their assigned tasks.
Employee Offboarding Shouldn’t Be a Scavenger Hunt
When an employee leaves, your IT provider shouldn’t have to guess which systems they used or what information they could access.
A documented employee onboarding and offboarding process gives your IT team a clear starting point. They already know which equipment the employee has, which accounts belong to them, and which systems they can access.
Depending on the employee’s role, the offboarding process may include:
- Disabling user accounts and removing access
- Collecting company-owned devices
- Preserving or transferring necessary files
- Redirecting or preserving company email
- Removing access to company applications
- Transferring important responsibilities or information to another employee
- Confirming that company data remains protected
Timing matters, too. Your IT provider should coordinate with the appropriate person in your company so they can remove access at the right time. That helps protect company information without unnecessarily disrupting business operations.
Good offboarding isn’t simply about shutting down an email account. It’s about making sure the employee leaves without taking your access to company information with them.
Make Employee Onboarding and Offboarding Part of Your IT Strategy
Employees will come and go. Your technology processes should be ready for both.
A strong employee onboarding and offboarding process helps new employees start with the right equipment, access, and security from day one. When someone leaves, that same process gives your business a clear plan for removing access, recovering equipment, and protecting company information.
The key is consistency.
If every new hire gets set up differently, every departure becomes a different puzzle to solve. A documented process gives your team and your IT provider a repeatable starting point. It can also evolve as your technology, staff, and business needs change.
Most importantly, your business shouldn’t have to figure this out from scratch every time someone joins or leaves.
Ready to Make Employee Transitions Easier?
Good IT management starts long before an employee leaves. By making technology part of the onboarding process, you can give employees the tools they need while maintaining control of your company’s devices, accounts, and data.
Cornerstone IT Professionals helps businesses take a proactive approach to technology. From preparing devices and managing access to protecting company data, we help make IT one less thing your team has to worry about.
Is your employee onboarding process setting you up for an easier offboarding later? Contact Cornerstone IT Professionals to start the conversation.