Offboarding Checklist: What to Move Before Someone Leaves

An offboarding checklist is the list you run when someone leaves, so their logins, the bills on their card and the mail in their inbox all move to someone who stays. Start it the day they give notice, add the new person before you remove anyone, and check every account again a week after the last day.

Why the password is the easy part

Changing a password takes a minute. The harder part is everything tied to one person, like the card a bill charges, the inbox that gets the reports and the phone that gets the sign-in code. In a small business or a nonprofit, one helpful person often set up half the accounts, and nobody wrote down which ones.

Those ties break weeks after someone leaves, when a renewal comes due or a code goes to a phone that's gone. Domain companies have to send two renewal reminders, one about a month and one about a week before a name expires. If those reminders land in a closed inbox and the card on file is gone, you won't hear about it until the website and the email stop working.

Google Ads works the same way. Google's help says that when a payment declines, your ads might stop running until the payment goes through. So a card that leaves with its owner can stop your ads, and the warning email may land in that same closed inbox.

Where each tie hides, and how to move it

Every tool keeps its own list of users and its own bill, so each one needs its own check.

Account	What ties it to the person	The move
Google Ads	Their card, their admin login and their inbox on billing emails.	Set a business card as primary. Add the new admin, then remove the old login.
Business Profile	Their owner or primary owner seat.	Add the new person as an owner in week one. Google won't make a brand-new owner the primary owner for 7 days.
Domain name	Their card on the renewal and their email on the record.	Move the renewal to a business card, and put a shared business email on the account.
Work email	Their files, their Google logins and the mail people still send.	Change the password, forward the mail and transfer the files. Keep the account until every login has moved.
Phone system	Their voicemail and any forwarding to their cell.	Record a new greeting, and forward calls to someone who's staying.
Sign-in codes	Accounts that text a code to their own cell.	Move the code to a phone or an app the business controls.
Listings	Their name or cell number on a directory or a social page.	Swap in the main business number and a current contact.

Moving Google Ads and your Business Profile

Google Ads billing: Go to Billing, then Settings, and choose Add a payment method under Payment methods. Add the business card, open the Actions menu next to it and pick Set as primary payment method. Google requires a primary payment method at all times, so you add the new card before you remove the old one. While you're there, set a second business card as the backup, which Google charges only when the primary card fails.

Google Ads users: Go to Admin, then Access and security, add the new person and wait for them to accept. Once they can sign in, find the leaver in the list and choose Remove access in the Actions column. Keep two admins from your own team on the account. Google warns that an account with only one admin can lose access to its tags if that person becomes unavailable.

Business Profile: Open Business Profile settings, then People and access, and add the new person as an owner during the first week of notice. Google holds back a few powers from a new owner for their first 7 days, and an owner who tries to make them the primary owner in that window gets an error. So a handoff that starts on the last day can't finish that day. If the leaver is the primary owner, they pass that seat to the new owner once the 7 days are up, and then an owner removes the leaver. Their review replies and posts stay on the profile after they go.

The people side: pay, benefits and the laptop

Keep the usual HR steps on the list too, even though small teams more often get caught out by the accounts. Federal law doesn't require you to hand over a final paycheck right away, but some states may, so check your state's rule before the last day. If you had 20 or more employees last year and offer a group health plan, COBRA lets the person choose to keep that coverage for a limited time, so ask your plan administrator what notice to send.

Collect the laptop, the work phone, keys and badges on the last day, and wipe the devices before anyone else uses them. Then ask the person to write down the jobs only they do, like the monthly report they pull or the bill they pay by hand. That short list saves the next person weeks of guessing.

Mistakes that cost the most

These feel like small shortcuts on the day, and they tend to show up weeks later as a bill or a lockout.

• Deleting the work email on the last day, which can take their files and the Google logins tied to that address with it.
• Forgetting the card. Google keeps charging the card on file after its owner leaves, right up until that card closes.
• Skipping the list for someone you trust. A careful person can still forget a card or an admin seat, so run the same list for everyone who leaves.

If someone already left without a handoff

Start with the accounts that cost money or bring in customers. In Google Ads, any admin still on the account can add you and move the card. If you can't find one, ask anyone outside the business who has worked in the account, since any user with admin access can add you.

If you deleted their Google Workspace account in the last 20 days, restore it now and transfer the files. For a Business Profile someone else holds, go to business.google.com/add, find your business and select Request Access. Google emails the current owner, who has 3 days to respond, and if nobody does, you may get the option to claim the profile yourself.

How we handle access when we run your ads

The Google account is in your business name. We build and manage it. If we ever part ways, you keep the account and the call data. A staff change on your side is a good time to check who holds your admin seats and whose card pays the bill. Our PPC audit checklist covers account access along with the rest of an account review.

If you'd like a second set of eyes on who holds your Google Ads account, book a call with Miguel. He'll walk through who can get into the account today and what it would take to keep it all with the business.

Questions people ask

What should be on an employee offboarding checklist?

Start with access and money. Add the person taking over, move bills off the leaver's card, redirect reports and alerts, transfer their files and shut off their logins. Then cover final pay, benefits, equipment and codes, and check every account again a week later.

When should offboarding start?

Start the day someone gives notice. Some handoffs take time, such as a Business Profile, where Google won't make a brand-new owner the primary owner during their first 7 days.

Should I delete a former employee's email account?

Not right away. Change the password, forward the mail and transfer their files first. On Google Workspace, deleting a user deletes the Gmail and Drive files that user owns, and you can only restore the account for 20 days.

How do I remove a former employee from Google Ads?

Add the replacement first and wait until they've signed in. Then go to Admin, then Access and security, find the person and select Remove access in the Actions column. Move any card of theirs under Billing before you remove them.

See how we run Google Ads accounts

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