In this guide 6 sections
Use one shared sheet. It has three tabs, joiner, mover and leaver, and each line names the task, the owner in HR or IT, a due date and a sign-off box. Mailbox and licence, laptop handover, folder rights, forwarding and phone access each get a line, and the lines are signed in the order IT must do them.
Why HR and IT need one sheet
HR knows who is arriving on Monday. IT knows what the laptop needs. Without a shared sheet, IT hears about a joiner on the morning the person walks in, and hears about a leaver a week after the exit.
That gap is where the problems start. A new starter sits idle. A former employee keeps a working mailbox and a login to the shared drive for months, long after the exit interview, and nobody notices until an auditor asks. Nobody did anything wrong. Nobody had the whole picture, because it lived in two inboxes, one spreadsheet nobody updated and the memory of whoever happened to be away that week.
One sheet closes the gap. One owner per line. It also gives the managing director a single place to look when an auditor or a customer asks who still has access to which system.
The joiner tab, line by line
HR fills the top block when the offer is accepted: name, team, manager, start date, role and equipment grade, so IT can start from a record. A late chat message is no record.
The order matters. The mailbox and licence come first. Enrolment and multi-factor setup depend on them. Folder rights follow the role, copied from a named colleague only after the manager approves, never from whoever shouted loudest, and the sheet records both names.
Keep the laptop line honest. Record the serial number, the charger and any bag or dongle that goes out with it, so the leaver tab can ask for exactly the same items back. Nothing is argued about later.
- Create the user account and mailbox, and assign the licence
- Enrol the laptop, fit disk encryption and install the standard software set
- Add to the right groups and shared folders, and the team distribution list
- Set up multi-factor sign-in on the staff member’s phone at handover
- Hand over the laptop and charger, and record the serial number in the asset list
- Both HR and IT sign the line on day one
Movers are the line everyone forgets
Old access stays put. A person who moved from sales to accounts still opens the dealer price list and now also sees the payroll folder, which nobody planned. After a few moves, one login holds rights that nobody would grant on purpose, and nobody remembers granting them either, which is how audit findings begin.
Give movers their own tab, since they fit neither of the other two, with one column for access to add and one for access to remove. The new manager lists what is needed. The old manager lists what goes. IT changes both on the same day. The sheet shows the date.
Do not skip the small things. Include the shared mailbox, the distribution lists and the printer queue, because missed items cause quiet complaints a month later, when the weekly sales mail stops arriving.
The leaver tab and the order of sign-off
Leaving is a timed event. Agree the access cut-off with HR before the last day, with the end of the final working hour as the usual moment. Before then, the manager decides who reads the incoming mail and which files need a new owner, because both questions get harder once the person has gone.
At cut-off, IT blocks sign-in, ends every active session, removes the phone’s access to mail and takes the licence back, so no saved session reopens the account. The manager holds the mailbox briefly. The laptop comes back. IT checks, wipes and logs it.
- Manager names who inherits the mail and the files
- IT blocks sign-in and signs out phones and browsers
- Auto-reply set, forwarding agreed with HR, with an end date
- Laptop, charger, dongle and access cards returned and logged
- Shared passwords and the wifi key changed if the leaver knew them
Keep the sheet alive
A template works only if it is used for every change, including interns, contractors and part-timers who come in two days a week. Store it where both teams can edit. Keep each finished copy for audit and the next licence review, because a stack of signed sheets answers most questions about who had what and when.
Once a quarter, compare the list of active accounts with the HR headcount, and ask about any account with no matching employee that same day. Test it on your last two leavers. See what is still switched on.
Joiner, mover and leaver IT sheet
A spreadsheet with three tabs. Every tab has columns for task, owner (HR or IT), due date, done date and a sign-off initial, so a half-finished handover shows up at once. The joiner tab groups account, laptop, rights and phone into blocks, while the mover tab has one column for access to add and one for access to remove. The leaver tab adds a cut-off time, a mailbox decision, a forwarding end date and a line listing the laptop, charger and dongle to be returned.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Who should own the checklist, HR or IT?
HR owns the people facts and the dates, IT owns the technical lines, and each line has one named owner who signs it. HR checks the sheet every Friday. No half-finished handover survives a month.
How early should IT hear about a new starter?
Give IT at least a week. Laptops need ordering or preparing, and licences may need buying or moving across from a leaver, so a day’s notice leaves a new starter at an empty desk.
What should happen to a leaver’s mailbox?
Block sign-in first. Then keep the mailbox for a set period under the manager’s access, so customer mail is not lost while contacts learn the new address. Then archive it and free the licence.
Does a small office need all three tabs?
Yes, though short. Even with five staff, a mover or a leaver will turn up sooner than you expect, and the first one usually arrives without any warning to IT. A single sheet costs almost nothing. It ends access by chat message.