Handing over contracts when an employee leaves

Start with a list. Filter the contract register for every contract where the leaver is the handler or owner, and mark the stage of each:

• In progress: being drafted, in approval or waiting for signature;
• Being performed: in force, with payments, receipts or deliveries still open;
• Expiring soon: due to expire in the next three months, needing a renew-or-terminate decision;
• Closed: fully performed; only check that the file is complete.

With a complete register this takes minutes. If contracts sit in personal mailboxes and laptops, the list depends on the person's memory and items get missed. For the fields a register needs, see contract register template fields.

Assign a new owner to each contract by stage, starting with those in progress and being performed. For each one, hand over:

1. 1Where the contract is now and what the next step is;
2. 2Who the contact on the other side is, and any verbal understandings not written into the contract;
3. 3The next key date: a payment milestone, a delivery milestone or the expiry date.

For contracts expiring soon, name who decides on renewal or termination at handover, so the new owner does not assume there is plenty of time.

Approvals, sign-offs and tasks still open in the leaver's name should move to the new owner or their manager; otherwise the workflow stays stuck on someone who has gone. When you design approvals by contract type, amount and business line, set the reassignment rule for departures at the same time. See designing a contract approval matrix.

View, edit and approval rights in the contract system should be removed on the person's last day. The same applies to internal transfers: someone who moves to another department or entity should not keep their old contract access. In groups where people move between subsidiaries, leftover permissions are a common problem; see contract permissions across multiple entities.

The handover list records the new owner and handover date for each contract. The leaver, the new owner and the department head confirm it, and it is filed with the leaving paperwork. If a contract runs into trouble later, you can see who took it over and what they were told.

In a contract management system, much of the handover can follow rules automatically. For reference, Zico from Beijing FIM Network Technology Co., Ltd. (北京飞沐网络科技有限公司) routes approvals by contract type, amount and business line, and when someone leaves, their approval tasks are reassigned to the person taking over. Data access can be granted by organization and contract type, and key operations are logged. The system handles reassignment and the audit trail; who takes each contract and whether verbal understandings were passed on still needs the department head's judgment. For common questions on deployment, permissions and audit, see the Zico FAQ.

When an employee leaves, pull their contracts from the register, flag those in progress, being performed or expiring soon, and name a new owner for each with the next step and key date. Move open approvals to the new owner, revoke access on the last day, and file the signed-off handover list.