🔓 Access level in Planday: Administrator, HR manager
🌐 Subscription plan: All
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ℹ️ Important read: Deactivate or reactivate employees - FAQs and troubleshooting.
Note: Deactivated employees don’t count towards your employee total and you’re not billed for them.
Deactivate an employee
Deactivating an employee's Planday account is a useful step when they leave the company, as it removes their access to the system. This action is also recommended for dormant or seasonal employees to avoid unnecessary charges on your Planday subscription. Although access is revoked, deactivating an account ensures that all historical data is safely retained for payroll.
Go to Planday web > People > Employees.
Find the employee and click the Edit icon.
In Personal details, select User actions and choose Deactivate.
In the deactivation window, choose to:
Deactivate immediately, or
Set a future automatic deactivation date.
(Optional) Select a Reason for deactivation and add a confidential note (visible only to Admins and HR Managers).
Decide what should happen to the employee’s future shifts (scheduled and those in any Schedule templates):
Delete shifts (default)
Set shifts to open
Leave shifts without changes (if the employee will still work them)
Assign shifts to another employee in the same employee group
Important: To assign shifts to another employee, shifts must be attached to a position in the Schedule.
How do I cancel a future deactivation?
How do I cancel a future deactivation?
To cancel a future deactivation, edit the employee's profile > Select User actions > Click Cancel deactivation.
How do I see who deactivated an employee and when?
How do I see who deactivated an employee and when?
To see which admin or manager deactivated an employee’s account and when, go to Planday web > People > Misc > Deactivated. Then click the employee's profile > press Show deactivation history.
Can I set up custom deactivation reasons?
Can I set up custom deactivation reasons?
You can manage deactivation reasons under:
Planday web > Settings > People > General > Termination types
Here you can:
Create termination reasons
Require a reason when deactivating employees
These reasons can also be included in employee exports via:
People > Tools > Export data
Deactivating an admin linked to an integration or an OpenAPI app
If you deactivate an admin who originally authorised an integration (for example Square, Lightspeed Retail X-Series, or Open API apps), the integration may stop working.
If this happens, another admin must reauthorise the integration.
Reauthorise an integration
Go to Settings > Integrations > Overview.
Find the integration and activate it.
For Open API apps, follow the steps in How to use Open API to integrate with Planday.
Reactivate an employee
Note: You must have Administrator access to all departments to reactivate an employee.
Go to People.
Scroll down and select Misc > Deactivated group.
Find and open the employee profile.
Click Reactivate employee.
Important information:
Leave accounts and Time Off in Lieu accounts are automatically deactivated when an employee is deactivated.
Contact Planday Support if you need help reassigning or creating new leave accounts.
Deactivated employees are still included in payroll files for work completed before deactivation.
Example: If an employee is deactivated on 1 September, their August work will still appear in the August payroll report.
Set up deactivation notifications
You can notify managers, business owners, or other HR managers when an employee is deactivated.
Go to Settings > Your organisation > Notifications > Deactivated.
Add recipients.
Only Admins and HR Managers with permission to deactivate employees can receive these notifications.
Deleting inactive employee accounts
Under GDPR and the right to be forgotten, employee accounts can be permanently deleted only under specific conditions and with admin or business owner’s approval.
Manual deletion by Planday support:
Accounts must be inactive for at least 5 years.
Deletion is handled by Planday Support after admin approval.
Deleted accounts cannot be restored and all payroll and HR history will be lost.
Employees requesting deletion must:
Contact their Planday admin first, and
Then contact Planday Support.
Automatically delete deactivated employees
In some regions, employers are legally required to delete employee data after employment ends.
To automate this process:
Go to Planday web > Settings > People > General.
Enable Delete deactivated employees.
Choose how many months after deactivation accounts should be permanently deleted.
This helps ensure GDPR compliance and supports employees’ right to be forgotten.
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delete employee, delete user, remove user, delete account, resignation