The offboarding process is just as important as onboarding - a sloppy offboarding procedure can leave your organization wide open to data security threats. While most employees who leave your organization are going to do so on good terms, it’s important to practice strict offboarding processes after an employee leaves.
This means not only removing employees from G Suite, but also revoking mobile and account recovery access, transferring important files and data, and permanently deleting their account. Here’s how to properly remove an employee from G Suite.
Security first: Revoke mobile and password recovery access
The first step in removing an employee from G Suite is to protect the integrity of your organization’s data. Before you even think of deleting their account, you first need to wipe their mobile device (you can choose to erase the entire business device or just wipe your business data) and revoke password recovery access by removing their recovery email and phone number.
You should then change the user’s password to ensure that they no longer have access to the account, and proceed to reset the user’s sign-in cookies to further minimize the chances of their accessing the account. If the employee was issued security keys, these also need to be revoked by an admin. From there, you’ll be free to transfer the data and move on to deleting the account.
Transfer important files, data, and shared calendars
Before you delete a user’s account, you’ll first want to transfer any important files, data (such as emails) and shared calendars owned by the user to ensure that your business doesn’t permanently lose them. Any G Suite admin can transfer ownership of the user’s Google Drive files prior to account deletion - this can be done easily, ensuring that all files and documents will be retained for the long-term. Files and mail simply need to be transferred to a specific user account, and the process can be done in bulk.
If a super admin is handling the offboarding process, they can transfer files during the account deletion process. If you’re in the process of offboarding multiple users, super admins can also export the files of multiple users. Whether transferring ownership of one user or multiple users, an email will be sent to the admin and the new owner of the files informing them of whether the transfer has succeeded or failed. Shared calendars also need to be transferred, which can be done simply by giving another user permission to make changes to and manage sharing on the calendar. The deleted account’s personal calendar will be deleted 20 days after account deletion.
Removing an employee from G Suite
Now that you’ve taken care to revoke account access and transfer important files and data, you’re ready to permanently delete the G Suite account. You must do this through the G Suite Admin console, where you’ll navigate to the Users page. Locate the account that you wish to delete, check the box next to their name, select “More” and “Delete user”. If you’re removing multiple users from G Suite, check off the users that you wish to delete and select “More” and then “Delete selected users”.
From there, you’ll have to confirm that you understand the impact that deleting the account may have - once this has been done, the account will be permanently deleted. Super admins have the option to transfer ownership of user content during the deletion process, speeding up the process significantly. Keep in mind you only have 20 days to restore a recently deleted G Suite account, making it crucial that you consider the impacts that deletion may have.
Note: Using G Suite Shared Drives can help minimize the amount of work needed to be done during the offboarding process. Shared Drives allow your employees to continue accessing and editing important files without any downtime caused by offboarding, ensuring that the rest of your team isn’t waylaid by a sudden or unexpected departure.
The G Suite experts at UpCurve Cloud can help your business seamlessly onboard and offboard employees, ensuring that you don’t lose important files and that sensitive data is kept secure. It is advisable to have experts handle this process for you, as it is a case where trial and error can mean you lose valuable company data. To find out more about how the team at UpCurve Cloud can seamlessly implement and integrate cloud-based solutions like G Suite into your workplace, contact us today.
Contact Us to Learn More about Transforming Your Business