Handover report, Office Manager, Pellbrook Engineering
Handover report template for a departing office manager
A handover report gives the person taking over a role everything they need to keep it running: what is live, what recurs, who to call and where things are. This three page report from a departing office manager lists four live items with due dates, seven recurring tasks, five contacts and three open issues.
The document, page by page
Every page as it renders and as it prints, with nothing summarised. Read the wording before you reuse it.
Section by section
What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.
- Title and details
- Outgoing, incoming, interim cover, reporting line and handover meetings.
- 1. Summary
- Size of the role, the most urgent item and where files are kept.
- 2. Live items
- Four items with status, next step, due date and who decides.
- 3. Recurring tasks
- Seven tasks by frequency with the system or place.
- 4. Key contacts
- Five contacts, what for and how to reach them.
- 5. Where things are
- Keys, lease documents, logins, emergency plan, asset register and petty cash.
- 6. Open issues and sign off
- Three unresolved problems, a contact for questions and the signature.
Why handovers fail, and how this one avoids it
Most handovers fail in one of three ways: they list duties but not deadlines, they describe the job as it should be rather than as it is, or they live only in a conversation nobody wrote down. This report answers each. Live items carry dates and owners, so the urgent lease notice cannot slip. Open issues admit what is unresolved. Everything is written, with a phone number for questions until the end of November. People professionals describe good handovers as part of succession and knowledge transfer: the organisation keeps what the person knew even though the person leaves.
Writing it in the notice period
Workplace advisory services remind employers that a notice period is a good time to agree a handover. A practical way is to keep a list for a week of everything the role touches, then sort it into live items, recurring tasks, contacts and locations. Ask the manager to review the draft, because managers often know of commitments the role holder has forgotten. Hold a handover meeting with the successor, walk through the live items table first, and update the report with anything new that comes up.
How to adapt this document
Replace the details block with your names and dates, then rebuild each table from your own week of notes. Put the most urgent live item first and give every item a decision maker. Sort recurring tasks by frequency, and name the system or file each one uses. List where things are, never the passwords themselves. Be honest in the open issues. If the role is technical or client facing, add a section listing each client or system with its status, in the same table style.
What makes this document work
Live items come with a decider and a date
Each of the four live items has its status, the next step, a due date and who decides. The lease renewal notice due on 13 November is first because it is the one that cannot be missed, and the summary says so in plain words.
Routine work is a timetable
Seven recurring tasks are sorted by frequency, from the daily mail to the March insurance renewal, with the system or place each one uses. The successor can build a calendar from the table on the first morning.
Problems are handed over too
Three open issues, the failing air conditioning, three slow laptops and 12 missing monitors, are numbered with what has been done and what to chase. A handover that hides problems leaves the new person to discover them at the worst moment.
Questions people ask
What should a handover report include?
The people involved and dates, a short summary, live items with status, next step, due date and decision maker, recurring tasks by frequency, key contacts, where documents, keys and logins are kept, open issues, and a contact for questions after the handover. Write it so someone could run the role from it if the outgoing person were unreachable.
When should a handover report be written?
Start it as soon as a departure date is known, and finish it a few days before the last day so there is time for a handover meeting. Writing it during the notice period, while the person is still in the role, gives the most accurate list of live items and contacts.
Who should receive the handover report?
The successor, the manager the role reports to and anyone covering in the gap. Store it with the role's working files rather than in a personal inbox. If the successor has not been appointed, give it to the manager, who can pass it on with a meeting once someone starts.
How long should a handover report be?
As long as the role needs, usually two to six pages. Tables keep it short: a recurring task or a contact is one row, not a paragraph. Keep prose for the summary and the open issues, where context matters, and link to existing procedures rather than copying them into the report.
Should passwords go in a handover report?
No. Say where credentials are kept, such as the company password manager, and who grants access, as this report does. Writing passwords into a document that may be emailed, printed or stored widely creates a security risk. Access should be transferred through the proper system, and old access removed.
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