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8 Must Things to Do on Your Last Day of Work

So, here we are, The last day! The end of a roller coaster journey, with lots of learning, lots of complaints, lots of frustration, and lots of fun. Whether you didn’t like the work, or didn’t like the company’s culture, or didn’t like your boss, etc., there are uncountable reasons for leaving a job.

So, it doesn’t matter what your reason was, but the real question is, “what exactly will you do on the last day.” Many readers might think that they will take off all their anger: thrash the people unstoppably just to let them know how irritating they are at the workplace, how problematic they are at every task, and how they snatched your credit etc. But we will recommend you stop right there!

It’s normal to feel that way if there was an appropriate reason for you to leave a job.  But if you are happy while working there, these thoughts might not come to your mind. You must be thankful and will carry this experience and learning to get better opportunities in the future.

So regardless of the reason, the last day of your job will always be frustrating, depressing, challenging, exciting, and frightening. It will be a mix of all the feelings where you will not know what to do.

At some point, you might be finally handing over your work to another individual; you would be saying a final emotional goodbye to your work friends. At the next moment, you will be celebrating. So, you don’t exactly know what to do? So here we are, to save you and answer all your questions.

First, we must know why the last day is essential?

Bonus Read: How to Quit Your Job Professionally And Get a Better One?

Why is the Last Day of Work Significant?

Why is the Last Day of Work Significant
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Firstly the last day of your work or period starts when you hand over your resignation letter to the employer or your manager. After that, you are just doing your duties to fulfill the task of handing over your obligations/duties to another person who will take all the responsibilities after you finally leave the company. This period is generally called a notice period,  as you are not a proper “employee” in the office.

During this notice period, you have several tasks to perform, like handing over your work, checking with the HR department and manager to fulfill your duties or some paperwork, an exit interview, handing over your electronics, or any other facilities provided by the company, etc.

Without the paperwork, you cannot leave the company; getting the experience of a reference letter is mandatory. This can be of great use when applying for any other company. Electronics and other facilities provided by the company are only applicable when you are an employee.

So, it is also important to hand over all these facilities and electronic devices to the company so the newly hired individuals can get them.

It is a final chance for you to leave the organization on good terms and to build a long-lasting relationship with them. At last, ensuring that the company will run smoothly and all of your tasks have been transferred to another person so that it would not create any further problems is the last day’s most important part.

Furthermore, spending quality time with the team members you have worked with for many years is also very important because this will look like a final goodbye to them. You can also let them know how valuable they are in your life and be thankful for all the guidance they have provided in this time.

How Should Your Last Day of Work Look Like?

How Should Your Last Day of Work Look Like

This may have always been in your mind about what you will do on your last day, especially if you don’t like working there. So it is essential to devise an actual plan for what you are going to do.

We all have thought at some point on the previous day; I’m just going the let my colleagues know how suckers they are and how they made my life hell while working in the organization.

But this is not the right time to get angry with others. It is a time for you to leave an excellent impression on all the people’s minds, whether you want to be in contact with them or not. Make a graceful exit by performing your duties and thanking all your team members.

Below is a list of all the things you must include in your checklist before stepping out of your home on the final day.

1. Wake up Early

wake up early
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It is an important day for you. You should wake up early, the same as you did on the first day of your job, with all the excitement and motivation. But the only difference is that today you will feel mixed emotions, but don’t worry, it’s expected.

So get up early, make your checklist to have everything in mind, and ensure you are exiting the company with a total completion/handing-over of all your duties. Ensure you have all the documents and requirements when leaving your house, like your ID card, contract, etc.

Dress well,  and eat well because you will need the energy to do several tasks today.

2. Be on Time

No matter how late you have been on your regular days, never be late on the last day, just like the first day of your job. It’s your final day, so take full opportunity to enjoy the office time and meeting with your team members.

If you feel there will be traffic during your office hours, it will be better to step out of the house within 15 to 30 minutes. Even if you have breached earlier, you can always enjoy the nearby cafe or cafe already in your company.

This can also give you extra time to set up your table, clean your desk, and prepare for a busy day.

3. The First Task: Collect all of Your Contacts

While you were working in the organization, you must have come across several vendors, clients, coworkers, and anyone other than you’ve been in contact with for work. So it might be possible for the organization to keep in touch with all these people. In such a case, make sure you have a list of all the individuals and hand it over to your manager or the other concerned person who will take over your job.

You can always use the excel sheets to share the contact information of these persons to your manager or anything because it will not only save time but will also be easy to use as compared to paperwork or a list.

Furthermore, suppose there are few clients you often work with compared to the other clients. In that case, you must inform them about your exit from the company and the new contact person who will take over your responsibilities. If you are very close to these persons, you can quickly call them, but we will always recommend you to do it with the help of a formal email so that they get reminded from time to time.

4. The Second Task of the Day: Provide All the Hand Over to the Manager or the Concerned Person

The second task of the day: Provide all the hand over to the manager or the concerned person
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As you have provided the list of all the contacts, the second task will be to hand over all the sheets at work to the other person. Your company would already perform the handover task through a prolonged transition between you and the new person from a few weeks/month, but now it’s the end game.

So you can sit with the concerned person for a few 1-2hour and ask them if they have any questions or any problem in understanding anything. We know that you might have lots of tasks to do on the last day but believe us, it’s the best transition to give a final chance on handing over the assignments or projects.

If you think there is not much confusion and the concerned person has all the information like sheet links, emails, contacts, project list, etc., then it will be best to move on to 3rd task.

5. The 3rd Task of the Day: Wipe Your Computer

So it might have happened that on the first day you requested the HR department for a new laptop, they might have provided you with a new one or the old one. But you might have noticed that the device didn’t have any information.

Even if ex-employees have used the laptop, you have received the device with “zero data.” So now you are exiting, you must extract all the projects or assignments from the computer and hand over all the documents to your manager concerned person or the HR department.

You will transfer all your data to the concerned person or manager and return the device with “Zero data.”So it is always better to wipe up your computer and delete everything you had on the computer. The main task would be to clean out the trash; if you have saved any personal information, it would be better to clean the browsing history, etc.

Before deleting and logging out of everything, you can also set up an auto-response in your email ID. You can mention that you have left the company, and you can also mention the contact person and their mail ID on the identical auto-response mail. This will help improve communication and smooth working in the company after leaving the job.

6. Fourth task: Enjoy your time

Fourth task Enjoy your time
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Make sure you enjoy your last day to the fullest with all your members. The members who have helped you always and have been good to you, let them know how thankful you are to them. Have a packed lunch meal with your office mates and let them know how happy you are to work with them and how you will contact them afterward.

Make sure that you enjoy your lunch with them because that will be a quality time where you can discuss all the fun activities you had during these months/years of working. Also, this is the only time you can talk to them apart from work. Make sure don’t include the work in this conversation. So enjoy, and make some memories with your friends.

7. After lunch: Prepare yourself for the exit interview

The hiring recruiter or HR department will call you for the exit interview because most companies use this technique to enhance their organization based on your feedback. They take your feedback regarding the company’s and work policies, so always be honest with them about everything you face and how much you enjoyed working in the organization.

This period will also be the last time you ask the hiring recruiters questions or share any paperwork, so make sure you hand over all the documents. Even the HRs will give you all the documents that may be used in the future.

It will be your final meeting with the HR department employees, so if you have made friends in that department, make sure you say a proper goodbye to them and always leave the department on good terms. At this point, you can also ask for a letter of reference.

8. Finally, it’s time to prepare for the take-off: A final goodbye.

Finally, it's time to prepare for the take off A final goodbye
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So now this is the end of your day; a few minutes are left for you to go to your department and this organization. Now it is time for you to pack your bags like all the personal things you had in your workspace, for example, a drawing, a frame, or any other personal belongings.

Pack them in your bag and wrap up everything before you say goodbye to your team members.

If you’ve always enjoyed working in the company, this will be a very emotional time for you, but if you feel relieved after leaving this organization, it will be your happiest time. This will be your final goodbye, so make sure you are getting a professional and decent image of yourself. Before leaving the organization, always hand over your keys, ID card, and devices to your manager.

We know that you must be having several problems with a few of the employees but face them with a big smile because this will be the last time you will be watching them. Believe us, and your last day is as essential as your first; you should always leave an excellent impression.

Conclusion

All talk about the first day in the company, but the last day at the job is equally essential as the first day. You should always be thankful for the period you have worked for the organization and all the people who helped you a lot during this time. On that day, sometimes you will feel that your time is passing so soon, no matter how frustrated you were earlier. But it’s completely okay because the last day will always be a mix of all the emotions. Furthermore, you have several duties to fulfill the previous day, so instead of sitting at your desk, get up and work.

On the last day, it is mandatory that you maintain your professional reputation in front of the entire team and don’t interrupt the workflow. Instead of asking them to be in a hurry because you want to enjoy your last day, let them know that you are waiting until they have finished their work. Wrap up your things from your desk, thank your team members, and return home.