Exit Interview Questions

Exit interviews, and the questions asked, should be a vital part of your off-boarding process. 

Employees leaving your company can reveal powerful insights into your company culture, employee experience, uncover any potential weaknesses in your company’s processes, offer an evaluation of management, and also provide you with ideas for improving employee retention. 

Often, employees who are leaving a company will feel more comfortable providing honest feedback, which some current workers may be reluctant to share. This makes exit interviews a crucial step in the off-boarding process. 

Hiring top talent is costly – so taking the time to get this honest feedback can help reduce turnover rates, while also helping your company improve for current and future employees. 

Here are some important questions to ask during your next exit interview. 

1.  Why Did You Start Looking For Another Job? 

Begin your exit interview by asking the employee why they’re leaving. The answers to this question will be unique to each person answering them, as everyone begins looking to move jobs for different reasons. But asking this question will give you the ability to detect common themes. For example, if many people state that it’s because of pay, you should consider raising salaries or instituting a bonus plan. Or if it’s because of a lack of flexibility, the company should look at introducing new flexible working models. 

So this question can help you uncover which opportunities, benefits, or perks your company could be offering to attract and retain top talent. 

2.  What did you like best and least about your role? 

This question will help you spot what might make a future candidate enthusiastic about the role, as well as how to set the right expectations for the position, or perhaps improve the role structure. 

For example, if they state they were unhappy with having to be in the office full time, you will either have to ensure the next candidate is happy working full time in an office or introduce some flexible working-from-home options. 

Perhaps they love the supportive team culture and atmosphere. Or maybe they value their work-life balance and employee well-being in your company. Either way, pay attention to these testimonials – this is what makes your company a good place to work. You could consider highlighting these positive aspects on your website or a job posting – and also emphasise them during future job interviews. 

3.  Did you feel that you were equipped to do your job well? 

This question will help you produce a proactive response that will help better retain future employees for this position. The answers can shed some light on shortcomings you may have overlooked in the workplace environment. 

The answers could range anywhere from technology issues, insufficient training, and an unappealing hybrid workplace plan, to uncomfortable office temperatures and archaic equipment. This question helps you see where you can enhance the workplace environment (e.g., resources, workplace policies, training, development, work conditions, etc.) which is vital for continued success and retaining top talent. 

4.  Did you feel your achievements were recognised throughout your employment? 

Employee recognition is vital. It fuels productivity and improves motivation and morale, while also decreasing turnover. 

If the answer is yes, you should ask them for specific examples of times when they felt appreciated, so you know which employee recognition methods are effective. 

If the answer is no, you should also ask why to dig deeper into specific possible issues. This will help you take any necessary steps to remedy the situation before it becomes a bigger problem. You should also this answer as a sign that there may be other employees in your company who feel the same way. 

5.  Do you feel your job description changed since you were hired? If so, in what ways? 

Job roles evolve over time, depending on the needs of a company. If your employee who’s leaving answers yes to this question, ensure you take note and update the job description accordingly. This is to ensure you’re attracting the right candidates and seeking the right skill set for the role. 

6.  Would You Ever Consider Returning To This Company? 

It’s a good idea to know whether or not exiting employees would ever consider coming back to your organisation. You might just get a “yes” or “no” answer, but try to dig a bit deeper for any useful information. The answers to this question can help you develop better retention strategies. 

7.  Do you have any suggestions on what the company can improve on? 

This is a general question, but it may prompt some useful information about what employees find important. These suggestions will help you determine how to enhance staff morale and prevent other employees from leaving for related reasons. 

8.  Would you recommend this company to a friend? Why or why not? 

The ideal answer to this question is yes of course. But the reality is this isn’t always the case. 

If the answer is no, ask them to explain why and elaborate on what the business would need to change for them to recommend someone working there. 

9.  Is there anything else you’d like to add? 

This open-ended question allows the employee to comment on anything else that hasn’t been brought up during the exit interview. Whether this be positives or negatives, it gives them one last chance to speak their minds. 

Exit interviews are imperative as they offer you a very unique opportunity to get open and honest feedback. Asking these questions will help you understand why employees decide to leave, while also allowing you to take any necessary steps to help improve employee retention and ensure your current team members have everything they need to excel and be happy in their job.