Phone System Leaver Checklist: What to Change

Tom Reed · Updated 18 October 2026

When someone leaves, don't just delete their phone account. First decide where their calls should go, then work through a short leaver checklist: reroute any inbound number that rang them, remove them from ring groups and queues, set forwarding or a handover for their extension, save or pass on the voicemail and call recordings you need to keep, move their caller ID, remove supervisor and recording rights, and only then remove the user and reclaim the seat. On SessionPBX you "manage extensions, seats and member permissions centrally" from the portal, and you can "give each inbound number its own route to a person, group, queue or call flow". Teams Phone and Teams Business are SessionPBX plans, not Microsoft Teams.

This guide covers the phone system part of a leaver process only.

Why does the phone system need its own leaver checklist?

The phone system is often where customers notice a leaver first. A caller rings a direct number and hears the old greeting. A ring group keeps waiting for someone who has gone. A menu option still says "press 2 for Sam". Colleagues keep dialling an extension nobody answers.

Most employee offboarding checklists deal with devices, email and software accounts. Our device onboarding and offboarding checklist covers laptops and phones as devices, while our guide to a user access review covers access across your wider apps. But a phone system holds settings that a general checklist rarely mentions: which numbers route to the person, which groups and queues they sit in, where their extension forwards, whose caller ID they send, and who can listen to their calls.

A dedicated phone system leaver checklist keeps those settings in one place, so nothing is left behind.

What should you decide before the person's last day?

Make the decisions before you change anything. Agree these points with the leaver's manager:

• Who takes over their calls and contacts. Name a person or a team.
• What happens to their direct number. It can stay and route to a colleague, move to a colleague permanently, or route to a team, a queue or a call flow.
• What to keep from voicemail and recordings. Decide which messages and recordings need saving, following your own retention policy.
• The exact cut-off time. Agree the day and the time phone access ends, so nobody changes routing too early or forgets it.
• Who signs it off. One owner, usually whoever looks after the phone system, works through the list and confirms it's done.

Then copy the leaver checklist below for each person who leaves. The "Who" column is a suggestion; in a small business one person may do most of it.

Phone system leaver checklist

Where should a leaver's calls and direct number go?

Start with inbound numbers, because they're what customers dial. List every number that reaches the leaver directly or through a group, then reroute each one. On SessionPBX you can "give each inbound number its own route to a person, group, queue or call flow". A known direct number is usually best sent to the colleague taking over, not to voicemail.

During the handover, set forwarding on the leaver's extension so nothing is missed. SessionPBX lets you "forward calls when you're busy, don't answer or need all calls sent elsewhere" and "choose an internal destination or external number". Point it at the colleague or a ring group, not at an external number you don't control. Our guide to business call forwarding explains the forwarding options in more detail.

Next, check your call flow. Look for any menu option, announcement or step that names the leaver or sends calls to their extension. A greeting that names them needs re-recording, not just rerouting. If your menus need more than a quick edit, our guide to changing your call flow safely covers drafting, validating and publishing the change.

Finally, decide what happens to the extension number itself. Reuse it for the replacement or retire it for a while; either works if it's deliberate. Our phone extension numbering plan guide helps you keep the scheme tidy.

SessionPBX doesn't supply phone numbers; they come from your own SIP carrier, so giving up a number entirely is arranged with your carrier.

How do you remove someone from ring groups and queues without breaking them?

A ring group that waits for someone who has left still works, just more slowly. A queue with the leaver as its only remaining member may not work at all. Work through it like this:

1. List every ring group and queue the leaver belongs to. Check the portal, not your memory.
2. Remove the leaver from each group and queue.
3. Confirm at least one member remains, and add the colleague who's taking over where it makes sense.
4. Check the unanswered routes. On SessionPBX, ring groups let you set "how long to ring and where unanswered calls go". Make sure that destination isn't the leaver's extension or voicemail.
5. Check queue overflow. Queues let you "manage queue members and pause their availability" and set "an overflow destination for callers who need another route". Confirm the overflow doesn't point at the leaver.
6. Place a test call from outside to each group or queue and let one ring out, so you see where it lands.

These checks are for you to run, not features of the phone system. Ring groups and queues are part of Teams Business. If you're reviewing how your queues are set up more generally, our hosted PBX call queues and IVR buyer guide is a useful reference.

Pausing queue availability is handy in the last days of notice, while the leaver finishes handover work.

What happens to their voicemail and call recordings?

Don't delete voicemail box contents or a user until you've saved what you need. Nothing in this leaver checklist assumes the system passes a leaver's voicemail or recordings to someone else for you. Treat it as a manual step.

Voicemail. On SessionPBX you can "listen to and download voicemail in the portal". Before the last day, ask the leaver and their manager to go through the voicemail box together, deal with anything outstanding, and download any message that needs keeping. If voicemail emails were on, copies may also sit in the leaver's email. During the handover, change the greeting so callers know who to contact instead; our guide to business voicemail setup has greeting examples.

Call recordings. On Teams Business you can "find recorded calls in the call log, then play back or download the audio from the portal". Download the recordings your policy says you need, such as calls tied to an open complaint, and store them where the right people can reach them.

How long you keep voicemail and recordings is your decision, based on your own policy. This isn't legal advice. Call recordings and voicemail can contain personal data, and the ICO's guidance on the storage limitation principle explains what UK GDPR expects about keeping personal data no longer than you need it. Our guide to softphone call recording compliance covers recording policies in more depth.

Which permissions and settings should you change on the day?

On the last day, at the agreed time, change the settings that give the leaver reach into your calls. For an unplanned exit, do it straight away.

• Outbound caller ID. SessionPBX lets you "set each member's outbound caller ID from your connected numbers". If the leaver sent a number as caller ID that customers recognise, set it on the colleague taking over, or switch the new owner to your main number. Our guide to outbound caller ID explains the choices.
• Supervisor rights. On Teams Business you can "give authorised supervisors listen, whisper and barge controls in the desktop app". If the leaver was a supervisor, remove those controls. Our guide to call monitoring with whisper and barge covers who should have them.
• Recording permission. Recording is set per member: "off, on demand or automatic". Set the leaver to off.
• Admin rights. If the leaver could change settings in the portal, remove that access. Don't wait for the account to be removed later.
• External forwarding. Check that their extension doesn't forward to a personal mobile or any other external number.

Stale accounts are also a security risk; our guide to VoIP toll fraud prevention explains why.

Changing roles, not leaving? In a joiner, mover, leaver process, a mover gets a smaller version of this checklist: when someone moves team, update their ring group and queue membership, their caller ID, any call flow mentions and their supervisor or recording permissions, but keep their extension and user.

How do you finish: apps, the user account and the seat?

Apps. Ask the leaver to sign out of the desktop and mobile apps and remove them from company and personal devices before they go. If you manage devices centrally, handle company devices through your device management; our guide to softphone MDM provisioning and offboarding covers managed devices. Don't rely on the sign-out alone. Remove the user in the portal as well.

The user and the extension. Once calls are rerouted, groups and queues are updated and anything you need is saved, remove the user. Retire the extension or keep it for the replacement, as you decided earlier.

The seat. SessionPBX plans include a set number of seats, with a charge for each additional seat. Give the freed seat to a new starter or remove it. For the replacement, see our small business phone system setup guide.

The directory. SessionPBX has a "team directory" and a "shared address book". Remove the leaver from the directory, and update shared contacts so customers who dealt with them show the new owner.

The first week after. You can "review incoming, outgoing and missed calls in the app or portal". Check missed calls on the old number and their groups in the first week, and place one more test call from outside.

Leaver timeline

Managing leavers on SessionPBX

SessionPBX is a hosted PBX with native apps for desktop and mobile, and one portal to manage it. On Teams Phone you can "manage extensions, seats and member permissions centrally", set forwarding, choose each member's caller ID and manage voicemail in the portal. Teams Business adds ring groups, call queues, the Visual Call Flow Designer, call recording with permissions for each member, and listen, whisper and barge controls for authorised supervisors. Teams Phone and Teams Business are SessionPBX plans, not Microsoft Teams. External calls use your own SIP carrier. If you're weighing up systems, our guides to the PBX phone system and the cloud-based phone system are good next reads. Compare plans and start a free trial on the SessionPBX hosted PBX page.

FAQ

Should we keep a leaver's direct number?

Usually, for a while. Route it to the colleague taking over or the team so customers aren't lost, and set a review date to decide its long-term future.

What happens to a leaver's voicemail?

Treat it as something to save by hand. On SessionPBX, voicemail can be listened to and downloaded in the portal, so go through it and download what you need before removing the user. Change the greeting during the handover so callers know who to contact.

Can we reuse the extension number?

Yes, if it suits you. Leaving a gap before reuse avoids misdirected internal calls. Our phone extension numbering plan guide helps you decide.

How quickly should phone access be removed?

On the last day, at the time you agreed in advance. For an unplanned exit, remove access straight away: reroute their numbers, remove forwarding and rights, then remove the user.

Does removing a user lower our bill?

SessionPBX plans are priced per seat, with a set number of seats included and a charge for each additional seat. Removing a seat you no longer need changes how many seats you use; check your plan in the portal to see how that affects your bill.