About the policy

What needs to be done

1. Employees separating from their role

Employees leaving a permanent or temporary position within the department must ensure they complete the steps in this procedure to separate from their role.

Temporary employees do not need to request a separation if their current temporary engagement is ending, and they are starting a new temporary engagement within the department.

Contractors may need to complete only some of these steps.

1.1 Before separating

Employees may want to seek independent financial advice before nominating their last day of service.

1.2 Determine dates for last day of duty and last day of service

Employees must identify their last day of duty and last day of service before submitting a separation request.

1.3 Finalise leave and timesheets

Employees must ensure all leave applications have been submitted and approved. This includes any non-attendances, which should be recorded in SAP.

Employees must finalise their leave requests to ensure payroll can correctly calculate entitlements to pay out or transfer prior to separation.

Any remaining leave balances and entitlements will be paid out in the final pay (refer to Extended and long service leave).

1.4 Finalise pay claims (as required)

1.5 Check and update personal details

Employees must check their personal details in SAP and update them if required.

The department uses these details for administrative and payroll purposes, so it is important that they are up to date before leaving.

Refer to Change of personal information procedure.

1.6 Additional considerations for teachers (as required)

Teachers leaving the department may also wish to consider:

• how to maintain accreditation and get casual teacher approval if they intend to continue working as a casual teacher
• how to cancel their accreditation if they do not intend to continue working as a casual teacher
• whether they wish to relinquish their teaching position if taking a period of leave before separating.

Teachers wishing to continue in casual and temporary teaching roles may get more information from the Teacher Approvals Unit.

1.7 Submit a separation request

Employees (not including contractors) must submit a separation request through Employee Self-Service (ESS) in SAP.

Temporary employees can request separation from one assignment or multiple assignments in SAP.

Contractors must send an email notification to their hiring manager who will forward the information to Contractor Central.

Refer to Request or view a separation – QRG.

1.8 Complete an exit survey (recommended)

Exit surveys:

• are automatically sent to employees after their separation request is approved and is being actioned
• allow employees to provide feedback on their experience working for the department
• are intended to be completed by the employee during their notice period. A link to the survey will be sent to their department email address
• ensure responses are anonymous.

All employees are encouraged to complete the exit survey to allow the department to capture insights on why employees are leaving and their experiences of working in the department.

The survey data is aggregated by directorate or principal network area. The Corporate Recruitment team analyses the data for trends.

While exit surveys are the main way to collect information from exiting employees, the department also conducts exit interviews for specific cohorts of employees where this is a priority workforce focus.

1.9 Arrange transfer of knowledge

Employees and contractors must arrange a handover (transfer of knowledge) with their manager or a colleague.

When preparing for handover, the employee or contractor and their manager must consider:

• explicit knowledge – information that is easy to articulate and write down, such as processes
• implicit knowledge – best practices discovered from experience
• tacit knowledge – knowledge gained from personal experience that is difficult to express, such as skills developed from experience.

The employee or contractor and their manager may consider how the knowledge can be transferred, for example:

• writing notes and instructions
• recording audio and/or video of processes
• other employees shadowing the leaving employee
• the leaving employee mentoring and training other employees.

The employee is encouraged to:

• review and document their responsibilities
• identify what needs to be handed over
• train and mentor other employees as required work with their manager to transfer any other assets that the team will need.

Employees and contractors must also discuss with their manager whether they need to provide copies of any relevant emails or files from their personal OneDrive, email or other application, for use by the school or business unit after the employee’s separation.

1.10 Return department property

Employees and contractors must:

• return department-issued IDs, keys and access cards to their line manager
• return any personal devices issued or loaned to them by the department. These may include laptops, mice, and keyboards to be returned to IT
• consult with their line manager to determine the process for returning a mobile phone.

1.11 Request an employment separation certificate (optional)

Employees can request an employment separation certificate for Centrelink purposes (for example, to claim benefits such as the age pension) by:

• logging an online query with EDConnect. Under HR > Payroll and salary packaging, select the relevant employee type, then select Record of Employment/Employment Separation Certificate
• stating their last day of service and whether they are requesting an employment separation certificate or a record of employment.

Employees who no longer have access to the Staff Portal may call EDConnect on 1300 32 32 32 to request an employment separation certificate.

2. Managers

Managers may delegate these tasks to ensure offboarding is completed.

2.1 Finalise leave and timesheets

The manager must:

• review all leave requests in SAP and ensure the employee’s last day of duty and last day of service dates align to applied leave
• ensure all leave requests are approved
• ensure all non-attendances are correctly recorded in SAP.

2.2 Finalise payment claims

Managers must ensure all expenses and reimbursements are finalised:

• Review and action outstanding claims for payment of any additional hours worked (such as casual hours or overtime).
• Check if a request to cancel the PCard has been submitted to the PCard administration team, and if not Cancel a PCard QRG on behalf of an employee leaving the department.
• Ensure all PCard transactions have been fully acquitted and all direct debits/subscriptions linked to PCards have been cancelled.
• Review and finalise the employee’s travel or general expense claims (refer to Expenses and reimbursements).
• Review and finalise other financial claims.

2.3 Approve or reject a separation request

Managers must approve the employee’s separation request in SAP to initiate the offboarding process. Before accepting an employee’s separation request, managers must check the employee’s:

• personal contact details are up to date in SAP (including their personal email address and mobile number), in case the department needs to contact them after their last day of duty
• last day of duty is recorded correctly. If not, the manager must record a non-attendance before the employee’s entitlements can be finalised. Refer to Record, reverse and reconcile non-attendance records – QRG.

If an employee cannot submit a separation request in SAP due to illness or misadventure, the manager can assist the employee in the separation process by helping the employee fill out a manual separation form.

If an employee passes away, managers are advised to contact EDConnect, who will assist in the separation process.

For contractors, the manager must forward the contractor’s email message notifying of their separation to education.contractorcentral@det.nsw.edu.au.

If an employee under PES investigation submits a separation request, PES will be alerted and will review the separation request. In rare cases, the Executive Director, PES may refuse the separation request with a preference for dismissal.

2.4 Transfer of knowledge

The manager must:

• identify other employees to whom the knowledge can be transferred
• plan training or mentoring of other employees by the retiring employee
• identify other assets that the team will need, for example, system access, emails, files or records.

2.5 Return department property

Managers must complete an IT form to return equipment before the employee’s last day of duty:

• The IT team will contact the employee or their manager to arrange the return of the hardware to one of the IT offices.
• Employees may return IT hardware to any Sydney or regional office of the NSW Department of Education.

Managers must organise to collect the following from the employee on or before the employee’s last day of duty:

• mobile phone (which is not considered IT equipment)
• sim cards, which must be cancelled, or transferred using the Corporate mobile service transfer of ownership form (PDF 905 KB)
• security access cards
• ID cards
• keys
• fleet vehicles
• any other department-issued tools or property that the employee has used in their role.

The school or business unit of employees who do not return department property will be charged for the missing equipment.

2.6 Cancel system and software access

Mandatory tools and templates

• Service catalogue – Return Corporate Equipment
• Manage Staff Access request

Supporting tools, resources and related information

Policy contact