Picture a cleaning company in the northwest. A team lead gives notice on a Friday and her last shift is two weeks later. On the Monday after she leaves, the owner realizes she still has the alarm codes for four client buildings, the company fuel card is in her car, and she is the only person who knows the access instructions for the condo board account. None of it is malicious. It is just what happens without an employee offboarding checklist. Onboarding gets attention because it is exciting. Offboarding gets skipped because it is awkward, and that is exactly when things fall through the cracks.
This guide walks through the Alberta-specific pieces first, then the practical ones: access, gear, handover and records.
Start the employee offboarding checklist with notice
Alberta employment standards set minimum notice periods, and they are different depending on who ends the employment.
When the employee resigns
| Length of employment | Notice the employee gives |
|---|---|
| More than 90 days, less than 2 years | 1 week |
| 2 years or more | 2 weeks |
Resignation notice should be in writing. If someone tells you in passing that they are done, ask for it in an email or a letter so the date is clear.
When the employer ends the employment
| Length of employment | Minimum employer notice |
|---|---|
| 90 days or less | No notice required |
| More than 90 days, less than 2 years | 1 week |
| 2 years to less than 4 years | 2 weeks |
| 4 years to less than 6 years | 4 weeks |
| 6 years to less than 8 years | 5 weeks |
| 8 years to less than 10 years | 6 weeks |
| 10 years or more | 8 weeks |
Employers can give written notice, pay in lieu of notice, or a combination. Written notice must be addressed to the employee and include a termination date. Dismissal for just cause does not require notice, but the employer must be able to prove the cause, and that is a moment to get legal advice before acting.
These are employment standards minimums. Employment contracts and common law can require more, so get advice if you are ending someone's employment, especially a long-serving employee.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change, so confirm the details on the official Alberta termination and layoff page or call Alberta Employment Standards.
Final pay and vacation pay
Final earnings have a hard deadline in Alberta. The employer must pay them either within 10 consecutive days after the end of the pay period in which employment ended, or within 31 consecutive days after the last day of employment. The employer chooses which.
Final pay usually includes:
- Regular wages up to the last day worked.
- Any overtime owed.
- Vacation pay owed. Vacation pay is at least 4% of wages, or 6% once the employee has reached 5 years. It accrues on wages from the start, even for someone who has not been there a year. Wages for this purpose exclude overtime, general holiday pay, termination pay and expenses.
- General holiday pay owed, if any.
- Termination pay, if you are paying in lieu of notice.
One rule worth knowing: you cannot force an employee to use up vacation during their termination notice period unless you both agree. For the full breakdown of how vacation pay is calculated, see Alberta vacation pay explained for small employers. Construction employers have their own vacation pay rules, so check the construction exception on alberta.ca if that is you.
Put the final pay deadline in the calendar the day notice is given, not the day they leave. Two weeks goes fast, especially if your bookkeeper runs payroll on a set schedule.
The Record of Employment
When an employee leaves, you also need to issue a Record of Employment (ROE). The ROE is a federal form issued through Service Canada. Whoever runs your payroll should know how and when to file it. If you are not sure, check with Service Canada or your payroll provider rather than guessing.
Revoke access the same day
This is the part most small businesses get wrong, and the one with the biggest risk. Make a list of every system and code the person had, and close or change each one on their last day. Not the following week.
| Access | What to do |
|---|---|
| Company email | Disable login, forward mail to a manager, set an auto-reply if clients email them |
| QuickBooks and accounting | Remove the user, review recent changes if they had edit rights |
| Booking or scheduling software | Remove the user, reassign upcoming appointments or jobs |
| Shared drives and file storage | Remove access, transfer ownership of files they created |
| Point of sale | Deactivate their PIN or login |
| Door codes and alarm codes | Change shared codes, delete personal codes, including client sites |
| Fleet and fuel cards | Collect and cancel, or reissue to someone else |
| Company social media | Remove them as an admin, change shared passwords |
| Supplier and portal accounts | Change any shared logins they knew |
| Group chats | Remove them from work group chats |
The hard part is knowing what they had. If you keep an access list per employee from the day they start, offboarding becomes reversing that list. If you do not, now is a good time to start one. Our employee onboarding checklist for Alberta includes the access request step, which is the other half of this.
Gear and keys back
Do a walk-through of what they were given. Common items:
- Keys, fobs and access cards for the shop, office and client sites.
- Laptop, tablet or company phone, wiped and reset after you have saved anything you need.
- Tools, testers and specialty equipment.
- Company vehicle, with a quick check of the condition and mileage.
- Uniforms and PPE where it makes sense to collect them.
Have them sign a short return list. It avoids "I already gave that back" conversations a month later.
Client handover
For client-facing roles, the handover protects your relationships. Picture a bookkeeper at a small firm who looks after twenty clients. When she leaves, those clients need a new contact, and the new contact needs to know where everything stands.
- List every client, job or account they were responsible for.
- Get a short status note on each: what is in progress, what is due, anything unusual.
- Assign a new owner for each and introduce them before the last day if you can.
- Move any notes or files out of their personal folders or inbox into shared ones.
The exit conversation
When someone leaves on good terms, a 15-minute conversation is worth having. Ask what worked, what did not, what they would change about training, and whether anything made the job harder than it needed to be. You will hear things current staff will not tell you. Keep it informal and do not argue with the answers.
Records and privacy after they leave
Alberta requires employers to keep employment records for at least 3 years from when each record is made, including payroll records showing hours worked daily, wage and overtime rates and deductions. CRA payroll records are a separate federal rule and are generally kept for 6 years.
Those records contain personal information, and under Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) you should keep them secure and use them only for reasonable purposes. Lock down the former employee's file rather than leaving it in a shared folder.
Offboarding is onboarding in reverse. If you tracked what they got on day one, you know what to take back on the last day.
Where Sidekick fits
Sidekick builds onboarding and offboarding systems for Calgary small businesses. When someone gives notice, one checklist kicks off: final pay dates flagged, accounts closed from the same list that opened them, gear tracked back in, and final paperwork handled in order. If you want to stop finding old door codes six months later, book a free 30-minute call.
Frequently asked questions
How much notice does an employee have to give in Alberta?
Under Alberta employment standards, an employee with more than 90 days but less than 2 years of service gives 1 week of written notice, and an employee with 2 or more years gives 2 weeks. Check the official Alberta page for shorter periods of employment.
When is final pay due in Alberta?
Final earnings must be paid within 10 consecutive days after the end of the pay period in which employment ended, or within 31 consecutive days after the last day of employment. The employer chooses which deadline to use.
Do I have to pay out vacation pay when someone leaves?
Vacation pay that is owed should be included in final pay. In Alberta it is at least 4% of wages, or 6% once the employee reaches 5 years, and it accrues even for employees with less than a year of service.
What should be on an employee offboarding checklist?
Notice and termination date, final pay and vacation pay, the Record of Employment, revoking every account and code, collecting gear and keys, client handover, an exit conversation, and securely storing the employee's records.
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