Offboarding

Offboarding team members is a sensitive time. The aim of this policy is to create transparency around how this process works.

Very infrequently, we may have long-term contractors working for PostHog, acting essentially like a permanent employee. In this case, the process below is exactly the same. This offboarding policy does not apply to regular contractors who are doing short term work for us.

Voluntary departure

In this case, the team member chooses to leave PostHog.

We ask for 30 days of notice by default (unless locally a different maximum or minimum limit applies), and for you to work during that notice period. This is so we have some time to find someone to hire and to enable a handover. Please assume by default we will expect you to work all of this period. In some rare situations, for roles such as recruitment, we may request you work only part of this period - it'd be weird to be recruit people whilst you are just about to leave.

If you are a current team member and you are thinking about resigning from PostHog, we encourage you to speak with your manager or the people team to discuss your reasons for wanting to leave. We want to ensure that all issues team members are facing are discussed and resolved before a resignation decision has been made.

If resignation is the only solution after you have discussed your concerns, please communicate your intention to resign to your manager or the people team. We will then start a discussion around what is needed for the handover.

Involuntary departure

In this case, we are letting the team member go.

This is generally for performance reasons or because the company's needs have changed and the role can no longer be justified. If the decision is down to performance issues, we will have already communicated feedback to the individual and given them time to take the feedback on board. However, performance issues sadly can't always be resolved, which means we might ultimately need to end someone's employment.

Once the team member has been with us for 3 months, we will provide a 4-month notice (otherwise, it will be a month). We will usually ask the team member to stop working immediately, but still pay them a 4-month severance).

Communicating departures

PostHog cannot always provide context around why people are leaving when they do.

In the case of voluntary departure, we will ask the team member if they wish to share what they're up to next with the team.

In the case of involuntary departure, we will aim to be as transparent as possible about the reasons behind the departure, while respecting the individual's privacy.

The offboarding process

For involuntary leavers, we will schedule a call, covering the following points with the team member:

1. Final pay
2. Share options vested
3. Company property
4. Business expenses
5. Personal email to the company

During the call, someone on the ops team needs to complete the offboarding checklist.

For voluntary leavers, the people team will schedule an Exit interview to hear more about the team members experience working at PostHog, their reasons for leaving and to identify areas for improvement. This will usually happen on their last day.

During the call, we will also cover above questions and answer any open questions the team member has.

If the team members works their notice period, we will start an offboarding issue and document the progress and handover in there.

Final pay

Final pay will be determined based on length of service and the reasons for leaving.

• If the offboarding is voluntary, you will be paid up until your last day. We will look at the amount of holiday taken in the last 12 months and will pay any "unused" vacation pay assuming you would have taken 25 days (since we offer unlimited vacation periods).
• If the offboarding is involuntary and due to performance reasons or a change in business needs, you will receive 4 months of pay, provided you have passed your probation period.
• If the offboarding is voluntary or involuntary and due to performance reasons during your probation period, 1 week's notice applies.
• If the offboarding is involuntary and for gross misconduct or breach of contract, you may be paid nothing and receive no notice.

We are likely to ask departing team members to sign a release of claims in order to receive payments beyond their final day of work.

Please note that if there are local laws which are applicable, we will pay the greater of the above or the legally required minimum.

Share options vested

If you have been allocated share options, we will confirm how many have vested and the process by which you may wish to exercise them. We have a team-friendly post-departure exercise window of 10 years, and most team members who leave will be deemed a 'good leaver' unless you have been terminated due to misconduct or negligence.

Company property

You will be required to return any company property to us. PostHog will cover the cost of shipping this.

Business expenses

We will pay any expenses in line with our policy that are still unpaid.

Personal email to the company

In the case of voluntary offboarding, you will be offered the chance to send a goodbye email to the company, with relevant contact information as you move on.

Offboarding checklist

(Voluntary leavers only) Arrange handover
(Voluntary leavers only) Schedule [Exit interview](https://forms.gle/DaNGRhmvQJcLGfpa9)
Arrange company property to be returned
(Contractor only) End their contract on Deel
(UK employee only) Email DRG with their last day, remaining annual leave and to remove them from the pension scheme
(UK employee only) Email Parallel to remove them from Bupa and Medicash
(UK employee only) Email team member P45 and upcoming payslips
(US employee only) Remove the team member from Gusto (Gusto will automatically end any benefits provided via the platform, e.g. medical insurance
(US employee only) Get the team member to sign their termination certificate
Put on an out of office ([forward email](https://admin.google.com/ac/apps/gmail/defaultrouting) if the leavers expects external communication), then delete the account for the team member - you will be prompted to transfer their files and calendar at that point!
Make any outstanding notice payments (if applicable)
Cancel team member's company card on Brex/Revolut - _check if they have any company subscriptions first that need transferring_
Offboard member on CharlieHR
Add departure to hiring forecast on Pry
Remove team member from PostHog organization in GitHub
Remove team member from PostHog organization in Heroku
Remove team member from PostHog organization in Stripe
Remove team member from PostHog organization in npm (https://www.npmjs.com/settings/posthog/members)
Remove team member from PostHog packages in PyPI
Remove team member from the internal company Slack
Remove team member from PostHog Users Slack
Remove team member from 1Password
Deactivate team member's PostHog Cloud account (https://app.posthog.com/admin/posthog/user/)
Remove team member from AWS
Remove team member from Workable
Remove team member from Orbit (access & team member state)
Remove team member from license.posthog.com
Remove team member from Cloudflare (Only Tim can do this)
Remove team member from the [Team page](/handbook/company/team)
Ask them (if voluntary) and their manager for any other accounts they need to be removed from

Voluntary departures only

• Arrange handover
• Schedule exit interview

All departing employees

• Arrange company property to be returned
• Put on an out of office (forward email if the leavers expects external communication), then suspend the Google Workspace account for the team member
• Transfer ownership of their Google Drive to their manager to deal with - do this before finally deleting their account! Usually it makes sense to wait 1-2 months first before fully deleting an account.
• Make any outstanding notice payments (if applicable)
• Cancel team member's company card on Brex/Revolut - check if they have any company subscriptions first that need transferring
• Offboard member on CharlieHR
• Add departure to hiring forecast on Pry
• Remove team member from:
  • GitHub (PostHog org)
  • Heroku (PostHog org)
  • Stripe
  • npm (PostHog org)
  • PI (PostHog packages)
  • Slack (internal company)
  • Slack (community)
  • 1password
  • PostHog Cloud
  • AWS
  • Workable
  • Orbit (access & team member state)
  • Netlify
  • PostHog license server
  • Cloudflare (only Tim can do this)
  • Remove team member from the Team page
  • Remove any quote from careers page
  • Ask their manager for any other accounts they need to be removed from

UK employees only

• Email DRG with their last day, remaining annual leave and to remove them from the pension scheme
• Email Parallel to remove them from Bupa and Medicash
• Email team member P45 and upcoming payslips

US employees only

• Remove the team member from Gusto (Gusto will automatically end any benefits provided via the platform, e.g. medical insurance
• Get the team member to sign their termination certificate

Contractors only

• End their contract on Deel