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How to Conduct Exit Interviews

Ella Baker
How to Conduct Exit Interviews
Reading time 5 Mins
Published on Jul 12
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Gain valuable knowledge to stop talent drain and improve your company

When an employee leaves your company, do you know why? Do you ask? A well-executed exit interview gives you insight into why talent is leaving your company – and provides you with the information you need to stop that drain. This information can help you build better retention rates, improve productivity, and increase your bottom line, while building employee engagement and creating an environment that demonstrates how much you value your employees.

Plan ahead

When an employee is leaving your company, it’s always a good idea to plan a face-to-face exit interview. Your employees, both those leaving and those staying, will appreciate the gesture and the information you gather from these discussions can give you a more clear and unbiased view of your business and leadership teams.

While many larger companies opt for a written or electronic exit survey, the information gathered from these is often perfunctory or superficial at best. For your best chance to gather real insight into why your company is experiencing turnover, a well-planned face-to-face interview is almost always the way to go.

Schedule the interview during the employee’s last two days of employment, toward or at the end of the workday. Be prepared to explain to the employee why you’re doing the exit interview, how the information will be used, and always ask if it’s okay to share the information with management. While you should develop a set list of questions, you can also add a few questions that are geared toward an employee’s specific role or circumstance.

Know what to ask

The responses that your outgoing employees can give you valuable insight into what your employees are really thinking and how they feel about their jobs. Be prepared to ask a lot of questions and, more importantly, to truly listen to the answers your employees provide.

Try to make your employee feel comfortable and at ease during the exit interview. Remind them that they don’t have to answer all or any of the questions, but their responses will help inform potential future changes in the company. While some questions should be tailored to the employee, having a set list of questions that you ask across the board will give you a good baseline to compare answers and look for common responses. Avoid yes or no questions, focusing instead on open-ended inquiries that allow your employees to share their true thoughts and feelings about your company.

Make sure that you always ask the single most important question that you need to ask in an exit interview: What led you to start looking for a new job? While big opportunities or offers that allow employees to move up the ladder do sometimes fall into a person’s lap, if your company is experiencing a high percentage of turnover, you’ll want to know why. Some other questions you may want to include in your exit interview:

• Please describe your general feelings about working here.
• What did you enjoy most about working here?
• If you could change three things about this company, what would they be?
• How do you feel you were treated by your supervisor and your coworkers?
• How well do you believe your work was recognized and appreciated?
• Do you feel you were given adequate training and assistance?
• Are there things you wish you had known earlier?
• Do you think your work was aligned with your personal goals?
• What could be done to make this company a better place to work?

Use the information

Don’t let the information you gather from exit interviews waste away in employee files or a drawer. The responses gleaned in exit interviews can give you a unique perspective on your performance, employee satisfaction, and effectiveness of management. Exit interviews can be an essential part of your company’s strategic planning process, but only if you effectively use the information gathered in these sessions.

Look for patterns in the feedback you receive from outgoing employees to identify potential organizational issues. Consider developing a spreadsheet of the information gathered that will allow you to identify issues at a glance. Trends should be addressed by a leadership team and action should be taken to avoid further talent drain.

Let Sheakley help you conduct better exit interviews

While many employers may argue that there’s no point in gathering the opinions of an outgoing employee, the insight to be garnered from exit interviews can be invaluable to your business’ future. Let the Sheakley’s human resources and PEO experts help you develop effective exit interviews that can help improve your company and reduce turnover.

Claim your free consultation with Sheakley today to help you conduct better exit interviews. Stay up-to-date on all things Sheakley by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media. Join in the discussion by commenting below.


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