A new starter with no laptop on day one is a poor welcome. A leaver who still has email access a month later is a security problem. Both come from the same cause: no checklist and no notice.
Give IT notice
Most problems start with IT hearing about a start date the day before. Agree a notice period, such as a week for starters, and make telling IT a step in the hiring process.
For a new starter
Create the account and assign the licence. Add them to the right groups, shared mailboxes and Teams. Prepare the laptop and phone. Set up multi-factor authentication on the first morning. Grant access to business applications based on the role.
Use role templates
Decide what each role needs once, and write it down. Copying access from an existing colleague is how people end up with permissions nobody intended.
The first day
Have someone walk the new person through signing in, where files live, how to get IT help and how to report a suspicious email. Ten minutes here prevents weeks of small tickets.
For a leaver
Block sign-in at the agreed time and end active sessions. Reset or remove multi-factor methods. Forward or share the mailbox with their manager. Transfer ownership of their files. Change shared passwords they knew. Collect the laptop, phone and any access cards.
Don't delete too soon
Removing the licence starts a countdown to the mailbox and files being deleted. Convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox or archive the data first, and decide how long to keep it.
The forgotten accounts
Check the systems that sit outside your main sign-in: the bank, supplier portals, social media, software admin consoles and the alarm code.
When someone changes role
Remove the access they no longer need as well as adding the new. People who move around the business tend to collect permissions.
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