Offboarding and terminated people in Span

Last updated: October 27, 2026

When someone leaves your organization, Span marks them terminated and keeps their history. This article explains how people get terminated, what changes in your metrics, and how to handle rehires and extended leave.

Why it matters

Leavers should stop counting in current per-person rates, but their past work should stay in your history. Terminating someone, rather than deleting them, does both. Getting it wrong, for example by terminating someone on parental leave, makes team trends jump for reasons that have nothing to do with how the team works.

How it works

What "terminated" means

A terminated person has a termination date. On and after that date, their status is Terminated. Span keeps all of their past PRs, commits, and metrics. They have no active days after the termination date, so they stop counting in per-person "/ week" rates from then on. A termination date in the future leaves the person active until that date.

Ways a person gets terminated

  • Directory Sync: when someone is no longer in your HR system or Sync API data, the next sync lists them under Terminated People. They're terminated when the sync is applied. A termination date from your source is also applied.

  • CSV upload: people missing from the CSV are deactivated, which terminates them. You can also set a termination_date column.

  • By hand: on Settings → People Management, open the person's row menu and choose Mark Terminated. To select several people, use the bulk action bar.

Deletion is different

Span terminates by default. Span can turn on an option for your organization that permanently deletes people missing from a directory sync. The sync review then lists them under Removed People, and their data and settings are lost when the sync applies. People with the right permission can also choose Delete on a person's row. Span can't delete every person automatically. If it can't, terminate them instead or contact support.

How to offboard someone

  1. If your roster comes from an HR system or the Sync API: end their employment in the source. Then review and apply the next sync on Settings → Directory Sync, unless Span has turned on auto-apply for you.

  2. If you manage people in Span: go to Settings → People Management, open the person's row menu, and choose Mark Terminated. The change takes about 30 minutes to show in the product.

  3. Remove their access: if your organization uses SCIM, deactivating the person in your identity provider revokes their Span access.

To reverse a manual termination, choose Mark Active from the same menu.

Things to know

  • Why "Mark Terminated" is missing: for people whose data comes from Directory Sync or an HR system, Mark Terminated and Mark Active don't appear, and synced fields are read-only. Terminate or reactivate them in the source.

  • Unexpected terminations: Span matches people by email. If someone's email changes in your source, or they fall outside the departments or groups your source sends, Span sees them as gone and terminates them. Check both before applying a sync with surprising terminations.

  • Rehires: if a returning person's termination date is earlier than their new start date, Span treats it as a past employment, keeps them active, and keeps their history.

  • Extended leave: don't terminate people on parental leave, sabbatical, or long PTO. Leave them on their team. If you connect an out-of-office source, those days drop out of per-person rates on their own, and team history stays stable.

  • Worked example: Sam's last day is September 30 and your HR system records it. The next sync lists Sam under Terminated People, and you apply it on October 2. Sam's PRs from before September 30 stay in every report. From October 1, Sam adds no active days, so the team's PRs merged / week reflects only the people still there.

Related articles

Using Directory Sync for Roster Management

CSV Import of People + Team Data

How Span attributes metrics to teams

Connecting an OOO Data Source in Span

Setting Up SCIM Provisioning for Span

Need help?

Contact your Span account team or reach out to support@span.app.