Staff offboarding checklist for salons and studios

When someone hands in their notice, or leaves without warning, the access side is easy to get half right. Their login goes, but a shared password, a calendar sync or an old app key carries on. A staff offboarding checklist makes sure nothing is forgotten, whether you have two chairs or twenty.

It works with any booking system, with Remove and sign out in Bookatu as the worked example.

Before their last day

If you have notice, use it. Make a list of everything they can get into. It is usually more than you think.

• Their login to your booking system, and any shared login they use, such as one for the front desk.
• Shared passwords: the business email, the Wi-Fi, supplier and wholesaler accounts, your website.
• Email: their own address on your domain, or access to a shared inbox.
• Your social media accounts, and any tools used to post to them.
• Your Google Business Profile, if they were added as a manager.
• Calendar syncs and apps they connected to your booking system.
• Card machine and till logins.
• Door keys, alarm codes, a locker or a safe.

Then plan their upcoming bookings: who will see each client, and how you will tell them. A client who has seen the same person for years deserves a kind word, not a surprise.

If they rent a booth or chair from you, set the day their rent stops. In Bookatu, untick that they rent a booth or chair and pick the day under Stops renting from, in the Pay section of their card on Team. The help article Set up a booth or chair renter shows where.

Staff offboarding checklist: the day they leave

Do it in this order. The booking system comes first, because it holds your client list.

1. 01
   The booking system

   Remove their login and sign them out. Close anything they set up, such as keys, apps and calendar syncs.

2. 02
   Shared passwords

   Change every password they knew, starting with the business email, because email can reset almost everything else.

3. 03
   Social media and Google

   Remove them as an admin or manager of your social accounts and your Google Business Profile.

4. 04
   Email

   Close their address, or forward it to someone who will answer clients. Take them out of any shared inbox.

5. 05
   The till and card machine

   Remove their login, or change the shared code.

6. 06
   Keys and codes

   Collect their keys and change the alarm code. If a key is missing, think about the locks.

If they leave suddenly, do the first step straight away, from your phone if you have to. The rest can follow later that day.

Their upcoming bookings and clients

Do not cancel their bookings. A cancelled booking is a client who may not come back. Move each one to someone who can do the service, or leave it unassigned and reassign it on the calendar. In Bookatu each booking keeps its time, and nothing is cancelled.

Take them off your booking page too, so no new client books someone who has gone, but keep their history for whoever sees the client next.

Then tell the clients. Moving a booking to someone else at the same time sends the client no message in Bookatu, so a short personal note from you is the way to do it. Say who they will see instead, that the time has not changed, and that they can choose someone else if they would rather.

Staying in touch is how your business keeps those relationships. The post Your clients are yours: why your salon should own its client relationships goes further.

How Remove and sign out works in Bookatu

In Bookatu, Remove and sign out does the booking system part in one go. Open Settings, then Team, and scroll to Who can sign in. Tap Remove and sign out on their row.

1. 01
   Read the summary

   Before anything changes, you see their upcoming bookings, the keys and apps they made, and their calendar connections.

2. 02
   Choose what happens to their bookings

   Move them to a team member who can be booked, or leave them unassigned for you to reassign on the calendar. If the person you choose already has a booking at one of those times, that one is left unassigned instead.

3. 03
   Take them off the booking page

   Leave Take them off the booking page too ticked, so clients can no longer book them. Their card moves to Removed with its history, and can be restored.

4. 04
   Confirm

   Tap Remove and sign out with their name. They are signed out of this business on their next click, on the web and in the phone app.

5. 05
   Read the Done screen

   It lists what was moved, revoked and turned off, and anything left to sort out, such as classes they teach.

When you confirm, API keys they made stop working, apps they approved are disconnected, their Google Calendar is disconnected from this business and their calendar link is turned off. Other businesses they belong to are not affected, and the removal is recorded in your Audit log.

The owner, and admins who can manage the team, see the button on other people's rows, never on their own, and an admin never sees it on an owner's. Handing bookings over also needs someone who can edit the calendar. The help article Remove someone from your team and sign them out has every detail, and Moving or reassigning a booking covers the calendar side.

After they have gone

A few days later, check that nothing slipped through.

• Open the Security page. If anything they made is still live, Nothing left behind by people who have left appears, with a button to review it.
• If anything worries you, look through their last few weeks in the Audit log, which lists downloads, client changes and settings saves with who made them.
• Check that every service they did is still given to someone who can be booked. The post Choose who does each service, and give each person their own hours explains how.
• If they were an admin, check who else has that role, and whether your Role permissions, from the Team page, still suit the team you have now.
• If they had your whole-business calendar link on their phone, open Calendar sync and tap Get a new link under Whole business. The post See your bookings in Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar explains the links.
• Change any shared login you could not get to on the day, such as a supplier account.

If someone has left in the past year, it is worth a look today. Open Security in Bookatu and see whether anything was left behind.

The people side, briefly

A short exit conversation helps: what is in progress, which clients need a handover, and anything they know that you do not, such as a regular's preferences or a supplier contact. Ask them to add handover notes to each client's record before they go, where the next person will see them.

Final pay, holiday pay, notice and paperwork follow your country's employment rules, which differ from place to place. Check with your accountant or your local employment authority. This post covers access only, and is not legal advice.

Questions owners ask

What happens to a stylist's bookings when they leave?

That is your choice. With Remove and sign out in Bookatu, you move them to another team member, or leave them unassigned to reassign on the calendar. Nothing is cancelled.

Can a former employee still see my client list?

Not once you have removed them with Remove and sign out. They are signed out of your business on their next click, on the web and in the phone app. Anything they downloaded or wrote down before they left is another matter, which is one reason to give each role only what it needs.

Does removing someone affect other businesses they work at?

No. It applies to your business only. If they also work at another business on Bookatu, they stay signed in there.

Can I undo it if I remove the wrong person?

Mostly. Their booking page card moves to Removed with its history, and you can restore it. To let them sign in again, give them a login from Team, under Give someone a login. Revoked keys and apps stay revoked, and moved bookings stay where you put them.

Do I need to change shared passwords when someone leaves?

Yes, for anything they knew. The more of your business that uses one login per person, the less there is to change, because you remove one person instead of changing a password for everyone.