Employee offboarding for company phones: the checklist
When an employee leaves, IT should get the phone back and wipe it. Settle any device balance. Decide whether the number stays. Then cancel the line or move it to another employee, and check the next bill to prove it changed. Neura Wireless runs company phone offboarding for businesses, including financed phones, and checks with you first.
On this page
- Why do company phones keep billing after people leave?
- What’s on the company phone offboarding checklist?
- What about tablets and hotspots?
- What happens to a financed phone when someone leaves?
- Should you keep a departing employee’s phone number?
- When should HR tell IT that someone is leaving?
- Where does Neura Wireless fit?
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources and checked dates
Why do company phones keep billing after people leave?
Often because no one owns the phone. HR closes the job and IT closes the email. The line keeps running.
It can run a long time. In 2010, New Jersey’s state comptroller found the state had paid for a former employee’s wireless line for almost six years after she resigned. [S1]
Three common gaps:
- HR tells IT late, or never. By the time IT hears, the line may have billed for months.
- No one owns the phone. IT owns the device, finance owns the bill, the manager owns the person.
- The phone isn’t paid off. Canceling the line makes the full device balance due, so the line stays on.
What’s on the company phone offboarding checklist?
Eleven steps in three stages: before, on and after the last day. Copy them into your offboarding ticket. Give every step a named owner.
Before the last day
On the last day
After the last day
The lines are closed at step 10, when the bill is checked.
What about tablets and hotspots?
Give each one its own steps. A tablet or hotspot has its own line and can have its own device balance. Run steps 2 to 11 for each one, the same as a phone.
What happens to a financed phone when someone leaves?
Do this step before you cancel. Canceling a line with a financed phone makes the full remaining device balance due, even if promo credits were on it. The financing is with your company, so the phone can move to another user.
Ask the carrier for the balance left on the device. Then pick one path:
| Path | When it fits |
|---|---|
| Pay off the phone, then cancel the line | No one needs the line or the phone |
| Keep the line and give the phone to a new hire | You are hiring for the same role soon |
| Keep the line and move it to another employee | Someone needs a phone now |
Write down which path you chose and why. Finance will ask.
Should you keep a departing employee’s phone number?
Usually not. Most companies cancel the line and give the next hire a new number.
Keep it if customers, vendors or job sites call it. Then move the number to the new hire’s phone before you cancel anything.
If you cancel a number and change your mind, the carrier can usually bring it back within about 90 days. It is uncommon, so don’t plan on it.
When should HR tell IT that someone is leaving?
The day the last day is set, well before the person leaves.
A good fix is a trigger: when HR records a leaver in its system, a phone offboarding ticket opens on its own. If that isn’t possible, add “company phone?” to the HR exit form, with IT copied.
Where does Neura Wireless fit?
Offboarding is part of what Neura Wireless runs, including lines with financed phones. Neura Wireless checks with you before a line changes. Neura Wireless builds custom workflows for each customer, including offboarding that starts from HR, and its automated agents follow each line change until it’s done, keep a record of it, and check the next bill.
See how Neura Wireless runs company phones.
Hand off offboarding.
Book a callFrequently asked questions
What if the employee doesn’t return the phone?
Lock it through your MDM. If no one will use the line, cancel it, and settle the device balance. Note it in the ticket so finance knows.
Can a departing employee take their work number?
It’s possible, but rare. It is a company decision, so put the rule in your phone policy before anyone asks.
Can offboarding start automatically from our HR system?
Neura Wireless builds custom workflows, including offboarding that starts from HR. Which HR systems connect is set up with you.
Does Neura Wireless replace our MDM?
No. Neura Wireless works alongside the MDM you already run.
Sources and checked dates
- [S1]New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, “Comptroller audit finds state government wastes millions annually due to unused phone lines,” press release, July 7, 2010. https://nj.gov/comptroller/news/docs/oit_press_release_07_07_2010.pdf (checked 2026-10-03)