Handle every departure as a clean handover of work, knowledge, access and goodwill
A complete exit and offboarding toolkit for HR teams, founders and managers: the method, the workbook, the forms, the letters and the exact words, from stay interviews to alumni.
- A 10-chapter e-book teaching a seven-step exit lifecycle, with one composite departure running through every chapter
- The Exit and Knowledge Hub: a 17-sheet Excel workbook with a leaver register, offboarding checklist by owner, access tracker, knowledge risk map, handover plan, exit interview themes, stay interviews, alumni and two dashboards
- 4 fillable PDF forms and 6 Word templates, including 43 scripts and messages, 7 leaver letters, a handover document and 29 AI prompts
- A Start Here map, 3 cheat sheets including dated law notes by country, a 6-sheet cost of turnover calculator, a 35-event notice-period calendar and a 32-task CSV
The Exit, Offboarding and Knowledge Transfer Kit · Bodhih Pro Kits · 80 by Bodhih Training, trainers to 2,000+ companies since 2008.
What are the steps in a good employee offboarding process?
Confirm the resignation in writing, agree an exit plan within two days, map the leaver's critical knowledge and hand it over before the last day, remove and verify access, pay final pay on time and hold a neutral exit interview. The Exit, Offboarding and Knowledge Transfer Kit from Bodhih Training gives you a file for each step.
Want the full free guide first? Read Employee Offboarding Process: A Step-by-Step Checklist.
You already feel the problem. Here is what it is costing you.
Resignations arrive as emergencies
A letter lands on a Monday and suddenly everything matters at once: what to say, whether to counter, who takes over, when to tell the team. Without a plan, the first ten minutes often decide the next eight weeks badly.
Knowledge walks out of the door
One person understands the billing run, the client, the scripts. The handover document is written on the last afternoon, and the first month-end after they leave is when you find out what it missed.
Access that nobody removes
The login is disabled, but the shared password, the API key and the scheduled report under their name keep running. Nobody checks, because nobody listed them.
Exit interviews that change nothing
The notes go into a folder. Gallup reported in 2019 that 52% of voluntary leavers said their manager or organisation could have prevented their departure. The data to act on is there; it is just never counted.
No answer when leaders ask what turnover costs
Turnover rates, regretted loss, reasons and cost live in five places. A headline multiple from the internet does not survive a question from finance.
Different rules in every country
Final pay deadlines, notice, end-of-service payments and documents differ between India, the UK, the US, the UAE and the Philippines. It is hard to know what to check.
Picture the next few weeks with the kit open beside you.
Picture the Monday a key engineer resigns. Instead of reacting, you open the resignation form, thank him, ask why once and promise nothing. Within two hours HR knows, within two days the exit plan is agreed, and by Thursday his knowledge is scored on the risk map with three areas marked Act now.
Now it is week four. As you check the Handover Plan sheet on Monday morning, one item shows 'Too close to last day', so you move it. The receiver has shadowed one month-end and will run the next while the leaver watches. Every system he can reach is listed on the Access and Assets sheet, including the two API keys nobody remembered.
Imagine the last day. The handover was signed off a week ago with the receiver rating her confidence 4 out of 5. Access goes at six, a second person checks it on Monday, final pay is correct, and the leaver joins the alumni list on his way out.
And then the quarterly review. Leaders ask why people are leaving. You open the Reasons Dashboard and the Themes sheet, and the cost calculator shows what a regretted departure costs, assumptions on show. Whether you start with the e-book tonight or the Hub tomorrow morning, the next departure starts from everything this one taught you.
19 files that do the work for you
The e-book shows you how. The tools make it happen. Here is exactly what you download.
The Exit, Offboarding and Knowledge Transfer Kit (e-book, PDF)
The guide: methods, worked examples, scripts and exercises
Start here: exit and offboarding map
The whole exit job as seven steps with the file to open at each, your first hour, a 30/60/90 day use plan and links to measure your starting point.
Exit and Knowledge Hub workbook
17-sheet workbook that runs every departure: leaver register with last-day and alert formulas, offboarding checklist by owner, access and asset tracker, knowledge risk map, handover plan, exit interview themes, stay interviews, alumni, turnover by month and department, and two dashboards.
Cost of Turnover Calculator
Six-sheet calculator: the cost of one departure across exit, vacancy, hiring, ramp-up and knowledge risk with every assumption visible, a role comparison, and a retention business case.
Resignation acknowledgement, exit plan and offboarding checklist
Four-page fillable form: the manager's notes from the resignation conversation and counter-offer check, the exit plan (dates, announcement, backfill, key dates), then the offboarding checklist by owner across HR, manager, IT, payroll, facilities, security and the leaver, with sign-off.
Knowledge transfer and handover plan
Three-page fillable plan: a knowledge inventory with risk scores, the transfer plan by method, receiver and date, client and stakeholder handover, and a receiver sign-off with confidence ratings.
Exit interview form
Three-page fillable form for a neutral interviewer: consent and confidentiality script, ratings, seven open questions, and a coding page that turns the conversation into themes for the Exit Interviews sheet.
Stay interview guide
Two-page fillable guide for managers: preparation, six open questions that find out why people stay and what might pull them away, and an action page with flight-risk rating and follow-up.
Exit script and message library
43 ready-to-edit scripts and messages in 7 groups: resignation responses, counter-offer conversations, HR confirmations, team and client announcements, knowledge transfer requests, redundancy and retirement, farewells, references and alumni.
Leaver letter templates
Seven ready-to-adapt letters: resignation acceptance, acceptance with an agreed early last day, experience or relieving letter, factual reference, end of fixed-term contract, retirement acknowledgement and a final pay cover note.
Handover document template
Eight-section handover document the leaver writes and the receiver signs: role summary, recurring calendar, things only you know, live work, people and relationships, systems and access, where everything lives, and the first 30 days, with example rows.
Offboarding policy one-pager and alumni programme starter
Part 1: a one-page offboarding policy to adopt, with clauses on notice, counter-offers, handover, access, final pay, references, exit interviews, data and AI. Part 2: an alumni programme starter with purpose, consent, channels, a 12-month calendar and boomerang rules.
Worked example pack: Tunde leaves Corvane
The main forms and decisions shown completed for one composite departure, from the resignation conversation to the 30-day check, with the numbers, so you can see what good looks like.
AI prompt pack for exits and knowledge transfer
29 tool-agnostic prompts grouped by the steps of a departure, each with what to paste in and what to check before you use the output.
Exit decision card
If-this-then-that card for twenty common moments in a departure, plus three checks before any exit decision.
Offboarding mistakes to avoid
Mistakes-to-avoid card: twelve offboarding mistakes with the file that prevents each, and eight exit interview mistakes.
Exit and offboarding law notes by country (October 2026)
Dated quick reference to notice, final pay, redundancy, documents and AI rules across the UK, EU, US, India, Singapore, the UAE and other markets, with what to check.
30-day notice period plan calendar
35 calendar events for a 30-day notice period, from the resignation conversation to the 30-day check after the last day, each naming the file to open. Import into a new calendar and stretch the dates for longer notice.
Offboarding task board import
32 offboarding tasks as a CSV ready to import into Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira, with step, day, days from last day, owner, file to open and due date.
Chapter by chapter
Each chapter opens with a real situation, gives you a method and ends with something to do today, using the tools in your kit.
- Format
- PDF e-book + XLSX + fillable PDF + DOCX + printable PDF + ICS + CSV
- Files
- 19 files plus a one-click ZIP
- E-book
- 63 pages
- Workbooks
- 17-sheet hub and 6-sheet calculator, with sample data, formulas and dashboards
- Works with
- Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice, Word, Google Docs, Acrobat Reader, GoodNotes, Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner, Jira
- Best for
- Organisations of roughly 20 to 2,000 people, in any country and currency
Every Departure Is a Handover
Why a departure is really a handover, and the seven-step exit lifecycle on one page.
Exits Come in Different Shapes
Exit types, regretted and non-regretted loss, voluntary and controllable reasons, and logging every leaver in three minutes.
Keeping the People You Want to Keep
Stay interviews: six questions, one action and a rhythm that surfaces regretted exits while there is still time.
The Resignation Conversation
The first ten minutes and first 48 hours after a resignation, and a counter-offer policy decided in calm conditions.
Planning the Notice Period
The exit plan meeting, early release and garden leave, the backfill decision and telling the team and clients well.
Mapping Knowledge Risk
Explicit and tacit knowledge, a knowledge risk map with scores, and finding single points of failure before anyone resigns.
Moving Knowledge from One Head to Another
The transfer ladder from handover document to reverse shadowing, receiver sign-off, client handover and safe AI help.
The Offboarding Checklist: Access, Assets, Pay and Paper
Tasks by owner dated from the last day, access removal verified twice, equipment, remote leavers and final pay in general terms.
Exit Interviews That Change Something
Exit interviews with a neutral interviewer, seven questions, coded themes and a quarterly review that leads to action.
Hard Exits Done with Dignity
Redundancy and dismissal in brief, end of contract, retirement and references, all handled with dignity.
Alumni, Boomerangs and the Numbers
Alumni, fair boomerang rehiring, turnover metrics, cost of turnover with stated assumptions, and comparing countries.
The Last Day Is Not the End
What you now have, the three habits to keep, and your first hour.
Turnover Metrics Definitions
Plain definitions for the turnover and knowledge-risk measures used in the workbook.
Using AI Safely in Exits and Knowledge Capture
Six rules for using AI safely in exits and knowledge capture, with a prompt for turning a walkthrough into a process note.
Not just reading. Tools you will actually open again.
E-book
- The Exit, Offboarding and Knowledge Transfer Kit: 10 chapters, 2 appendices and 6 hand-drawn figures (PDF)
Start here
- 00-Start-Here-Exit-and-Offboarding-Map: the job as seven steps with the file to open at each, your first hour and a 30/60/90 day use plan
Spreadsheets
- Exit and Knowledge Hub workbook (17 sheets): Start here, Settings, Reasons, Leaver Register, Task Library (33 tasks), Offboarding Checklist, Access and Assets, Knowledge Risk Map, Handover Plan, Exit Interviews, Themes, Stay Interviews, Turnover by Month, Dept Turnover, Alumni, a Dashboard with 18 live measures and a trend chart, and a Reasons Dashboard
- Cost of Turnover Calculator (6 sheets): cost of one departure across exit, vacancy, hiring, ramp-up and knowledge risk, role comparison and a retention business case
Fillable PDF forms
- Resignation acknowledgement, exit plan and offboarding checklist: the first conversation, counter-offer check, exit plan and tasks by owner
- Knowledge transfer and handover plan: knowledge inventory with risk scores, transfer methods, client handover and receiver sign-off
- Exit interview form: consent script, ratings, seven open questions and a coding page
- Stay interview guide: six questions, agreed actions and a flight-risk rating
Word templates
- Exit script and message library: 43 scripts and messages from the first response to alumni invitations
- Leaver letter templates: 7 letters including resignation acceptance, experience or relieving letter and factual reference
- Handover document template: eight sections with example rows
- Offboarding policy one-pager and alumni programme starter
- Worked example pack: one composite departure shown from resignation to the 30-day check
- AI prompt pack for exits and knowledge transfer: 29 prompts, each with what to paste in and what to check
Cheat sheets
- Exit decision card: twenty if-this-then-that moments
- Offboarding mistakes to avoid: twelve offboarding and eight exit interview mistakes
- Exit and offboarding law notes by country, dated October 2026
Calendar and import
- 30-day notice period plan (ICS): 35 events for Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar
- Offboarding task board import (CSV): 32 tasks for Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira
When you have worked through it, you will be able to…
Every outcome is practised with a worked example and a tool, not just described.
- Respond to a resignation calmly, follow a written counter-offer policy and confirm the last day in writing
- Agree an exit plan in one meeting: last day, announcement, backfill decision and key dates
- Score critical knowledge, spot single points of failure and plan its transfer by the right method
- Get a handover signed off by the receiver at least five days before the last day
- Remove and verify every access, return equipment and get final pay and documents right
- Run neutral exit interviews and turn them into counted themes with owners and dates
- Hold stay interviews with the people you most want to keep
- Report voluntary and regretted turnover, reasons and the cost of turnover with stated assumptions
Know your starting point. Prove your progress.
People who measure before and after improve faster and can show it. AssessAll, our sister assessment platform, has AI-graded assessments that pair with this kit. Take one now, work through the kit, then re-take it.
Exit and Stay Conversation Assessment for Managers and HR Teams
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentEmployee Engagement Driver and Priority Assessment for Employees and Human Resources Teams
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentStrategic Workforce & Talent Planning
Take the assessment →JobularyHow a Jobulary development plan works
Make it a growth plan →A taste of Chapter 5
Some knowledge is explicit: it can be written down, and often already is. Procedures, configurations, contact lists. Some is tacit: the judgement, feel and pattern recognition built from years of doing the work. The philosopher Michael Polanyi argued that much of what skilled people know resists being written down, and anyone who has tried to write down how they decide whether a data file "looks wrong" knows what he meant. Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, writing in Harvard Business Review in 2004, called the experience-based judgement of veterans "deep smarts". Their argument was that this kind of expertise does not transfer well through slides, reports or training courses; it moves through guided experience, an expert coaching a learner through real work. That has a practical consequence for you: a handover document alone will capture the facts and miss the judgement.
The honest comparison
| Free templates and typical advice | This kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving a resignation | Improvise, and maybe counter-offer on the spot | A first-response script, a 48-hour plan and a counter-offer policy decided in advance |
| Handover | A document written in the last week | A scored knowledge risk map, shadowing and reverse shadowing, and receiver sign-off five days early |
| Offboarding | A generic checklist | 33 tasks by owner dated from the last day, an access tracker with second-person verification |
| Exit interviews | A questionnaire nobody reads | A neutral interviewer, seven questions, coded themes and a quarterly action review |
| Words to use | A resignation acceptance letter | 43 scripts and messages and 7 leaver letters for every moment |
| Law and AI | Not mentioned, or one country assumed | Dated notes for the UK, EU, US, India, Singapore, the UAE and more, and human-review rules for AI |
| Measurement | A turnover percentage | Voluntary and regretted turnover, tenure at exit, reasons, themes, process health and cost of turnover |
Made for you if…
- HR generalists and HR business partners who handle leavers alongside everything else
- People-ops teams in small and mid-size organisations that want one consistent exit process
- Founders and line managers who do their own HR
- Managers who rely on one or two people for critical knowledge and want a plan before anyone resigns
- Teams with leavers across countries, including India, the UK, the US, the Gulf, Singapore, Africa and Australia
- Organisations that want turnover, exit reasons and the cost of turnover on one dashboard
Probably not for you if…
- Anyone looking for legal advice: the kit teaches good practice and points you to your HR team, company policy and local law, with country notes dated October 2026
- Teams that need an HR system: the workbook runs the process alongside your HR software, it does not replace it
- Readers wanting a broad set of HR templates on many topics: The People-Ops Starter Kit covers that ground; this kit goes deep on exits
Built by trainers, tested in real rooms.
Bodhih Training has designed and delivered corporate programmes since 2008. Bodhih Pro Kits package what works in those workshops into a guide plus the exact tools we use, so you can apply it the same day without a facilitator in the room.
From here to using it in three steps
- STEP 1
Tap Get the kit
Name, email and country. UPI, card or netbanking in India; international cards everywhere else. No account to create.
- STEP 2
Download instantly
Your download page opens at once, with every file and a one-click ZIP. A permanent link lands in your inbox too.
- STEP 3
Open the first tool
Start with the quick-start chapter, then the main spreadsheet or planner. Most buyers use something from the kit the same day.
The next resignation is coming. Have the whole exit ready before it arrives.
Open the Start Here map, fill in the Settings sheet and log everyone currently serving notice. Whether you begin with the e-book this evening or the knowledge risk map with your most critical person tomorrow, the first hour is already planned.
Personal licence for the buyer's own use (and use with your own team or clients where the kit says so). Please don't share or resell the files. Team and company licences: solutions@bodhih.com.
The Bodhih family, when you are ready for more
The People-Ops Starter Kit
One template for each HR basic, for a first HR hire.
First 90 Days as a Manager
For the managers your HR team supports.
AssessAll
250+ AI-graded assessments to measure skills and earn verified credentials.
Jobulary
Individual development plans that start from evidence and stay yours.
Bodhih Training
Run this topic as a live workshop for your team, in person or online.
Pewple
Book a vetted coach for career, leadership or communication. Pay per session.
Bodhih.org pathways
Certification pathways in Applied AI, Workplace English and management.
The Exit, Offboarding and Knowledge Transfer Kit: FAQs
Read the free guideAlready bought? Resend my linkWhat are the main steps in employee offboarding?
Acknowledge the resignation in writing, agree an exit plan, map and transfer critical knowledge, remove and verify access, collect equipment, pay final pay and issue documents on time, hold an exit interview, and stay in touch through alumni. The kit gives each step a chapter and a file, and the workbook tracks every task by owner.
How do I respond when an employee resigns?
Thank them, ask why once, listen, and promise nothing about pay or role. Tell HR within two hours, confirm the last day in writing and hold an exit plan meeting within two working days. Chapter 3 and the script library give you the exact words.
Should we make counter-offers?
Decide as a policy, not in the moment. Some organisations never counter once another role is accepted; others allow counter-offers with HR approval for defined reasons. Either way, apply it the same way for everyone. The policy one-pager has a clause you can adapt.
How do you transfer knowledge when someone leaves?
Score each knowledge area on how critical it is, how many people can do it and whether it is documented. Write down facts, record walkthroughs, and transfer judgement through shadowing and reverse shadowing, with the receiver signing off before the last day. The knowledge transfer plan and handover template are built for this.
How do I measure my starting point as a manager or HR lead?
AssessAll offers assessments that match this kit: the Exit and Stay Conversation Assessment for Managers and HR Teams, the Employee Engagement Driver and Priority Assessment for Employees and Human Resources Teams, and Strategic Workforce & Talent Planning. Take one now and again after a few exits to see what has changed. Links are on the Start Here map; the assessments are separate products and not included in the kit.
How do I turn this into a development plan for our managers?
Pick one or two skills each manager will practise, such as stay interviews or receiving resignations well, and build them into a personal plan. Jobulary explains how its development plans work, and the link is on the Start Here map.
How do I calculate the cost of employee turnover?
Add the cost of the exit, the empty role, hiring, the new hire's ramp-up and any knowledge risk, using inputs you can defend. The Cost of Turnover Calculator shows every assumption, compares roles and tests whether a retention action pays for itself.
Is this legal advice for my country?
No. The kit teaches good practice and keeps country specifics in one cheat sheet dated October 2026, covering the UK, EU, US, India, Singapore, the UAE and other markets. Rules on notice, final pay, redundancy and references change, so check your HR team, company policy and local law.
Which software do I need?
The workbooks open in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice and use no macros. The forms are fillable in Acrobat Reader and most PDF apps, the templates open in Word or Google Docs, the calendar imports into Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar, and the CSV imports into Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira.
What is the refund policy?
Digital kits are non-refundable once downloaded. The exceptions are corrupted files that are not fixed within 3 working days, duplicate charges, or failed delivery.
How much does The Exit, Offboarding and Knowledge Transfer Kit cost?
₹999 including 18% GST for buyers in India, or $29 for buyers outside India. One-time payment, no subscription, with an automatic invoice.
How do I get the files after paying?
Instantly. Your download page opens the moment payment succeeds, and a permanent download link is emailed to you. Download each file separately or everything in one ZIP.
What software do I need?
Any of the usual tools: Excel or Google Sheets for spreadsheets, Word or Google Docs for templates, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, Xodo or GoodNotes for the fillable PDFs, and Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar for the calendar plan.
Can I get a refund?
Because it is a digital download, kits are not refundable once downloaded. We always refund a duplicate charge or a failed delivery, and if a file is corrupted and we cannot fix it within 3 working days. Full terms: bodhih.org/refunds.
Can my company buy this for a team?
Yes. Team and company licences, and workshops on this topic run by Bodhih Training, are available. Write to solutions@bodhih.com or call +91 99000 11601.
