[10 Best Templates for Jira] Employee Offboarding Template

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Employee exits happen regularly. The way your company handles the offboarding process significantly impacts the departing employee, remaining team, and overall retention.

An organized offboarding process prevents disruptions, secures company assets, and provides valuable insights through structured exit interviews. Using Jira for offboarding replaces spreadsheets and siloed communications, centralizing tasks in one transparent, automated workflow.

This article explains how modern teams can use Jira, Smart Templates, and Smart Checklists to manage employee offboarding effectively, ensuring a smooth transition.

How to Build an Offboarding Template in Jira

An offboarding template in Jira organizes employee exits, from resignation letters to final pay, laptops return, and knowledge transfer.

Step 1: Create a Role-Based Offboarding Template

Start your offboarding process using a Jira work item from a Smart Template. Customize with dynamic fields:

• {{employee_name}}

• {{last_working_date}}

• {{offboarding_reason}}

Example template title:
Offboarding Plan | {{employee_name}} {{position}}

You can structure the work item as the parent task, with checklists and subtasks covering each department or step.

Important note: Ensure offboarding process starts only after the final decision has been communicated to the employee

Here’s a sample structure for your Smart Template that you can replicate in your Jira instance:

Offboarding Plan for {{employee_name}} {{position}}

##Offboarding Launch

• Assign responsible HR coordinator for offboarding for {{employee_name}} {{position}}
• Confirm offboarding date and reason for {{employee_name}} {{position}}
• Confirm notice period and payment conditions for {{employee_name}} {{position}}
• Validate if immediate access removal is required for {{employee_name}} {{position}}
• Collect initial info from manager for {{employee_name}} {{position}}: last working day, contract type, payout conditions
• Review the offboarding request {{employee_name}} {{position}}

Explore Smart Templates in Jira 

## Department-Specific Tickets (subtasks with checklists)

Structure the main offboarding issue clearly, creating linked tickets for each department involved:

• IT & Security: revoke access, deactivate accounts

• Legal: manage termination documents and non-disclosure agreements

• Finance: process final paychecks, reconcile accounts

• Hardware: recover company equipment

• Office/Operations: handle office access cards, insurance, and property returns

Step 2: Structure Offboarding with Smart Checklists

Once you create the main issue from your Smart Template, Smart Checklists clearly assign each step to HR and relevant teams, tracking tasks like:

• Confirming employee’s departure details

• Removing access from company systems

• Preparing legal documents

• Coordinating hardware return

• Conducting exit interviews and feedback collection

Example: Employee offboarding checklist assigned for responsible HR

## Offboarding for  {{employee_name}} {{position}}

• Create the task in Jira for offboarding of {{employee_name}} {{position}} {{last_working_date}}
• Add the relevant information about the offboarding to the ticket description 
• Assign this ticket to yourself (HR owner)
  
  
• Review the offboarding request
  
  
• Create and assign tickets for the teams involved in offboarding for {{employee_name}} {{position}} {{last_working_date} (Security, Legal, Finance, IT, etc.)  using the standard templates for these tasks
• Link all related subtasks for departments as child issues to the main ticket
• Ping the relevant teams about offboarding timelines for {{employee_name}} {{position}} (Security, Legal, Finance, IT, etc.), and main information

## Tools & Security

• Create an IT offboarding ticket for tools and access removal, add the {{last_working_date}}, {{employee_name}}, {{position}} to the ticket and assign it to the security team
• Confirm the access removal timeline with Manager and update the IT Security 
• Remind responsible teams to deactivate specific tools (e.g., Figma for designers)

## Legal

• Create the Legal offboarding ticket, add the {{last_working_date}}, {{employee_name}}, {{position}} to the ticket
• Create a Termination Agreement task and assign it to Legal
  
  
• Confirm document type based on the contract

## Hardware return

• Create the Procurement team offboarding ticket, add the {{last_working_date}}, {{employee_name}}, {{position}} to the ticket
• Coordinate the return of laptops, chargers, security keys, or other company assets
• Confirm pickup or delivery plan with Office Manager and IT Security on {{last_working_date}}

## Finance

• Create a Reconciliation ticket for payroll and assign it to the finance manager, add the {{last_working_date}}, {{employee_name}}, {{position}} to the ticket
• Notify Finance if the notice payment is required
• Confirm with Finance when the last payment will be released on {{last_working_date}}

## Office Access 

• Contact {{employee_name}} if he/she has been working from the office 
• Ask Office Manager to agree with the {{employee_name}} on the card/key return

## Feedback sharing

• Ask the {{employee_name}} to submit the Experience Feedback Form
• Set reminder to check feedback responses and share it with the Manager 
• If the offboarding is regrettable for the company, schedule the Exit interview with HRBP

## Final Checks

• Post final day message in the company’s messenger on the last working day of {{employee_name}}
• Confirm all departmental tasks are marked as done, and send reminders if some are in progress
• Archive feedback/onboarding channels of {{employee_name}}

• Confirm with Finance that the final payment was processed
• Deactivate the Slack account of the employee

Pro tip: Creating a dedicated  Slack channel or other company messager would streamline the communication between all the parties and employee

This checklist keeps every stakeholder aligned and reduces the risk of delays or oversights in the offboarding process. Each step is tracked directly in Jira, making the process repeatable and transparent.

Step 3: Customize for Different Offboarding Scenarios

Employees leave for various reasons: resignation, layoffs, or contract ends. Adapt your offboarding template using Smart Variables:

• • {{employee_name}} – full name of the departing employee
    
    
  • {{offboarding_date}} – last working day
    
    
  • {{contract_type}} – employment or contractor
    
    
  • {{offboarding_reason}} – resignation, termination, contract end
    
    
  • {{office_location}} – for hardware or insurance-specific workflows
    
    

This customization helps streamline workflows for remote workers, onsite employees, or contractors.

Step 4: Automate and Monitor Tasks

Use Jira Automation to trigger offboarding tasks when an employee's departure is confirmed:

• Automatically create an offboarding issue based on a Smart Template
  
  
• Fill in variables like {{employee_name}}, {{offboarding_date}}, and {{contract_type}}
  
  
• Generate subtasks for departments like Legal, Finance, and IT
  
  

You can also trigger checklist creation inside the main issue so that HR or People Ops only need to review and assign deadlines.

Ensure critical steps like access removal and payroll processing are timely completed and transparently tracked.

Assign Owners and Set Deadlines

Each checklist item or subtask can be assigned to a responsible team member: legal, finance, IT, or HR. Set due dates based on the employee’s last working day to ensure critical steps (like tool deactivation or payroll processing) happen on time.

Example:

• Revoke GitHub access → due 2 days before {{offboarding_date}}
  
  
• Final payment approval → due on {{offboarding_date}}
  
  
• Archive Slack account → due 3 days after {{offboarding_date}}
  
  

Prevent Status Changes Until Critical Tasks Are Done

Use Smart Checklist’s blocker feature to prevent the issue from being marked “Done” until all mandatory offboarding tasks are completed. This is especially helpful for high-risk steps like:

• Termination agreement signed
  
  
• Access revoked
  
  
• Laptop returned
  
  
• Exit survey completed
  
  

Track and Monitor in Jira

You can use Jira dashboards to track:

• Active offboarding cases
  
  
• Checklist completion rates
  
  
• Time from offboarding notice to closure
  
  
• Status of department-specific tasks
  
  

This gives HR and leadership real-time visibility into the process and helps surface delays or missed handovers.

Final Thoughts

A structured offboarding template in Jira ensures every employee departure is handled professionally, maintaining company culture, securing company property, and reducing disruption. Using Smart Templates and Checklists simplifies handovers, making transitions smooth for departing employees and their remaining team members.

Explore Smart Templates in Jira 

FAQ: Offboarding Template in Jira

What is an employee offboarding checklist template?
An employee offboarding checklist template standardizes tasks to ensure human resources efficiently manage every aspect of the employee offboarding process, from revoking access to conducting exit interviews.

How does a structured employee offboarding process enhance the offboarding experience?
A clear employee offboarding process provides a consistent, respectful offboarding experience, ensuring smooth transitions and positively influencing company culture and retention.

Can offboarding be integrated with the onboarding process for new employees?
Yes, a structured offboarding workflow can trigger the onboarding process for new employees, ensuring a seamless transition within the employee lifecycle.

How can Jira help clearly identify the employee’s last day or end date?
Using dynamic fields like {{last_working_date}} clearly communicates the employee’s last day or end date, providing transparency and reducing confusion during the exit process.

How does a streamlined exit process support the employee lifecycle?
A streamlined exit process supports the entire employee lifecycle by providing valuable insights from departing employees, enhancing retention strategies, and improving onboarding for new hires.

Explore Smart Templates in Jira