RELEASE NOTES- Exit Management

1. Improved Error Messages for Missing Assignees on Exit Activity StartDescription: When exit activities can't start due to a missing assignee, the error message now names each blocked activity and the specific reason both inline in the UI and in the automatic failure email.

User Segment: Recruitment/HR adminsRelevance: Admins previously had to manually check each activity one by one to find out why it was blocked.

Notes / Acceptance Criteria:

Manually starting exit activities: if one or more are blocked, the inline error lists every blocked activity and its specific reason (e.g. "Handover Notes cannot start because the employee has no Line Manager assigned") — not just the first one found. No page reload required.
Automatic exit activity failures (e.g. triggered at point of exit application): the existing failure email to admins with exit permissions is enriched the same way, listing each failed activity and its reason. Recipient logic is unchanged.
If an in-app notification for automatic failures doesn't already exist, one is added with the same level of detail; if it exists, it's enriched to match.

Step-by-Step Guide:

Set up an exit scenario where an employee has no Line Manager assigned.
Attempt to manually start exit activities and confirm the inline error names the specific blocked activity and reason, without needing a reload.
Set up a second scenario with multiple blocking issues and confirm all blocked activities are listed, not just the first.
Trigger an automatic exit activity configuration failure and confirm the resulting email (and in-app notification, if applicable) lists each failed activity and its reason.

2. Payroll Auto-proration Flag for Annual Allowance Proration on ExitDescription: A new exit policy setting automatically flags an exiting employee's payroll update for prorated annual allowance, removing the need to manually delete and recreate the payroll exit update.

User Segment: HR/payroll adminsRelevance: Manual deletion/recreation of payroll updates just to trigger proration was an unnecessary workaround.

Notes / Acceptance Criteria:

"Should annual allowance be prorated?" toggle on the exit policy settings page, defaulting to "No" (unchanged current behavior).
When "Yes," the proration flag is automatically included in the same exit update payload sent to payroll (alongside other exit calculations like benefits and leave encashment) — no manual step needed.
Applies only to the payroll period containing the employee's last working day.
Feature is limited to triggering/communicating the flag — the actual proration calculation is handled by payroll's existing logic.
Per-policy setting; if not enabled, payroll admins can still manually configure proration as before.
Dependency: requires payroll team coordination on the exit update payload contract, targeted for June 2026 sign-off.

Step-by-Step Guide:

Open an exit policy's settings and locate "Should annual allowance be prorated?"
Confirm it defaults to "No."
Toggle it to "Yes" and save.
Exit a test employee under that policy and confirm the payroll exit update payload includes the proration flag automatically, without any manual re-add step.
Confirm the flag only applies to the payroll period containing the last working day.
Confirm a policy with the toggle left at "No" behaves exactly as before.

3. Custom Exit Mode CreationDescription: Admins can create their own exit modes (beyond the platform's built-in ones) via a two-step form name/description, then which capabilities and initiators apply and use them in exit policies just like built-in modes.

User Segment: HR admins

Notes / Acceptance Criteria:

Step 1: Name (min 5 characters) and Description (min 16 characters), both required with inline validation before proceeding.
Step 2: Checkboxes (none pre-selected) for Enable leave encashment, benefits, certificate of service, exit letter, payment in lieu of notice; plus an "Initiator options" multi-select (Employee, Line Manager, HR, Administrator) — at least one initiator required to save.
On save, the custom exit mode is active immediately and behaves identically to built-in modes — only the enabled capabilities appear when it's selected on an exit policy.
Every exit mode (built-in or custom) shows an info icon with its description on hover/click.
Built-in modes can't be deleted (no delete option shown). Custom modes can be deleted only if not yet attached to any exit policy; once attached, the delete option is removed (with an explanatory message if attempted).

Step-by-Step Guide:

Go to Exit Settings and start creating a new exit mode.
On Step 1, try proceeding with a 3-character name — confirm the inline validation blocks it. Enter a valid name (5+ chars) and description (16+ chars).
On Step 2, select a subset of capabilities (e.g. leave encashment and exit letter only) and at least one initiator, then save.
Confirm the new exit mode appears in the exit mode list with an info icon showing its description.
Create an exit policy using the new custom mode and confirm only the enabled capabilities (from Step 2) appear as configuration options.
Attempt to delete the custom mode before it's attached to any policy, confirm the delete option is available.
After attaching it to a policy, confirm the delete option is removed/disabled with an explanatory message.

4. Display Notice Period Served on Exit Details ViewDescription: The ongoing exit and exit history views now show a "Notice Period" field indicating how much of the required notice has been served, accounting for leave balance offsets where applicable.

User Segment: HR admins

Notes / Acceptance Criteria:

Format: "X days served out of Y days required" (e.g. "25 days served out of 30 days required").
If the exit policy allows leave balance to offset notice, the served figure includes that offset (e.g. 15 calendar days served + 10 days leave offset = "25 out of 30").
If required notice period is 0 (default or custom exit mode), displays "No notice period required" instead of a 0/0 figure.
Visible for every employee on the exit details view regardless of exit mode; content adapts to whether notice applies.
Offset uses only leave policies selected for leave encashment on the exit policy — unrelated leave types (e.g. maternity, study leave) don't count.
Reflects the state at time of display, including any leave taken during notice that updated the balance (see Feature 22).

Step-by-Step Guide:

Open the ongoing exit view for an employee with an active notice period.
Confirm the "Notice Period" field shows "X days served out of Y days required."
For an employee whose exit policy allows leave offset, approve a leave request during their notice period and confirm the served figure updates to reflect the offset.
Check an employee on an exit policy/mode with a 0-day notice period and confirm it shows "No notice period required" instead of "0 out of 0."
Confirm the same field appears correctly on the exit history view for already-exited employees.

5. Leave Balance Updated in Real Time for Employees with Active ExitsDescription: An exiting employee's leave balance used in exit calculations (leave encashment, notice period offset) now updates automatically the moment a new leave request is approved during their notice period, not just at payroll run.User Segment: HR admins (visible effect); backend/event-driven, no admin action required

Relevance: Keeps leave encashment and notice period offset figures accurate up to the point of payroll processing, rather than only as of the last manual refresh.

Notes / Acceptance Criteria:

Triggers on leave approval (not at payroll run) for any employee with an active or pending exit.
Only applies to leave policies selected for leave encashment on that employee's exit policy — unrelated leave types don't trigger an update.
Feeds into both leave encashment and notice period offset calculations wherever they're shown (ongoing exit view, exit history, Notice Period field from Feature 21).
Also refreshes if the exit record itself changes (e.g. last working day updated).
Backend-only, event-driven: the Exit module listens for a leave-approval event from the Leave module (no changes needed to Leave's approval logic itself). No frontend changes required.
Only touches leave balance and its derived values no other exit record fields are affected.

Step-by-Step Guide:

Identify an employee with an active or pending exit whose exit policy has leave encashment enabled for a specific leave type.
Note their current leave balance and encashment/notice-offset figures on the exit record.
Approve a new leave request of the encashment-eligible type for that employee.
Immediately re-check the exit record (ongoing exit view or Notice Period field) and confirm the leave balance, encashment amount, and notice offset have updated without a payroll run.
Repeat with a leave type not selected for encashment and confirm it does NOT trigger an update.

6. ESS Exit Flow RedesignDescription: A redesigned Exit & Offboarding experience in Employee Self Service (ESS/Breeze), giving departing employees a single dashboard summarizing their exit status, staged journey, task list, handover submission, dependency tracking, pending reviews, exit interview, financial breakdown, and an activity feed, replacing the prior fragmented, admin-bleeding exit screens.

User Segment: Departing employees (primary); reviewers/approvers (secondary, for clearances and handovers)Relevance: The Exit module's ESS view was the last section not yet migrated to the Breeze design system, and previously showed admin-side content in employee-facing views. This redesign gives departing employees a self-serve, single source of truth for their offboarding instead of requiring them to hunt across screens or ask HR for status.

Notes / Acceptance Criteria:

Exit at a glance: A single "Exit & Offboarding" page shows departure type (Voluntary Resignation, Termination, Contract Expiry, etc.), last working day, who initiated it, overall status, a progress indicator, and a primary next-action CTA. Reads correctly whether the employee or HR initiated the exit; degrades gracefully if data is temporarily unavailable.
Journey stages: Progress is shown across Return Asset → Survey → Interview → Clearance → Handover Note, each marked not started / in progress / done, with the current stage highlighted and upcoming stages shown as non-actionable.
Task list: Tasks are grouped into Action Required, Awaiting Review, and Completed (each with a count), showing title, due date, status, and instructions link. Opening a task shows full detail; completing one updates its status and moves it to the right group. Tasks sent back for revision show why, with a resubmit option.
Handover submission: Rich-text notes plus drag-and-drop file attachments, with file name/size shown and removable before submit. Unsupported/oversized files get a clear error. Submitting notifies the manager/reviewer and moves the task to Awaiting Review.
Task dependencies: Blocked tasks clearly show what they're waiting on and can't be attempted until cleared; completing a blocker unlocks the dependent task automatically (no refresh needed).
Pending reviews: A dedicated area lists items awaiting sign-off (Finance Clearance, IT Asset Verification, Storeroom, Return Assets, etc.) with status, owning team, and reviewer. A "Send Reminder" action notifies the reviewer with rate-limiting to prevent spamming, and reflects the latest status if the reviewer has since acted.
Exit interview/survey: Completable in-place or via a provided link; completing it advances progress. Gracefully handles the case where no survey is configured.
Financial breakdown: Payments, deductions, outstanding items, and disbursement amount in the company's currency — visible before submission. Hidden entirely if the org has disabled financial statements; handles edge cases (negative balance, missing payroll data) without erroring.
Recent updates feed: Newest-first feed of exit milestones (e.g. request approved, interview scheduled, manager acknowledged handover) with relative timestamps, older-history loading, and a friendly empty state.
Starting an exit: Employees with no active exit see a clear empty state with a CTA into the resignation request flow; submitting lands them back on the dashboard showing the new in-progress exit. Employees with an existing request see the dashboard, not the empty state.
Navigation & continuity: Available under the Career area of the app; older notification/bookmark links to the previous exit screens redirect to the equivalent place in the new experience for the same exit.
Reviewer-side: Reviewers are notified (with enough context to act) when a task needing their sign-off is submitted, and receive a clear, rate-limited nudge when the employee sends a reminder.

Step-by-Step Guide:

As a departing employee (or test account with an active exit), navigate to Career → Exit & Offboarding.
Confirm the dashboard shows departure type, last working day, initiator, overall status, progress indicator, and a primary CTA.
Confirm the stage tracker shows Return Asset → Survey → Interview → Clearance → Handover Note with the current stage highlighted.
Open the task list and confirm tasks are grouped into Action Required / Awaiting Review / Completed with counts.
Open a handover task, add rich-text notes, attach a file, and submit — confirm the manager is notified and the task moves to Awaiting Review.
Find a task that's blocked by a dependency — confirm it shows what it's waiting on and can't be started; complete the blocker and confirm it unlocks without a page refresh.
Go to Pending Reviews, click "Send Reminder" on an item, and confirm confirmation feedback plus a brief cooldown before it can be sent again.
Complete the exit interview/survey task (in-place or via link) and confirm progress advances.
Check the financial breakdown section (on a client with financial statements enabled) and confirm it shows before submission; check a client with it disabled and confirm it's hidden cleanly.
Scroll the Recent Updates feed, confirm newest-first ordering and relative timestamps, and test "load older updates."
As a fresh test employee with no active exit, confirm the empty state and resignation CTA; submit a resignation and confirm you land back on the dashboard with the new exit shown.
Follow an old bookmarked/notification link to a legacy exit screen and confirm it redirects to the equivalent page in the new experience.

RELEASE NOTES- Exit Management

This is a release note highlighting the new features and improvements on the Exit Management