10 Must-Ask Exit Interview Questions
A top performer resigns out of the blue, and you’re at a loss. What happened? And what about the rest of your employees? How will this impact your team?
Once someone resigns they tend to be at their most honest. Free from the “shackles” of their current role they can freely share the reasons they have decided to move on. We have all heard the “I’m on to better things” speech from colleagues and we have certainly heard the torrent of “truths” individuals spout once they have resigned. I know I have felt the most liberated upon resigning - that wonderful feeling before you realise the grass is certainly not always greener. All the feelings you had about the company, both positive and negative, the ideas you have developed about how it can be improved but never spoken to anyone and the thoughts you have developed about who makes the business work. Suddenly, they can now be released, shared, divulged and you can indulge and share them!
As a business owner or senior manager, this is truly the BEST time to find out all these pearls of wisdom (and some unusual stories too). Exit interviews offer a chance to offer an open and honest discussion about the strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. Conducting an Exit Interview can be very straightforward and unbelievably valuable and we can provide simple templates, survey links that can be used for reporting or we can conduct these for you. We are also well placed to give you some great tips and advice as to what to do with the precious information you collect!
Many companies I have worked with have had little appetite to conduct exit interviews and sure, some leavers will also not be interested in engaging but it is in my experience that, done well, these can be some of the most interesting and thought-provoking discussions you will ever. You can gain some very straightforward insights which, analysed well can provide some common sense and cost-effective ideas for how to keep people happy and productive. I have loved doing exit interviews and it has often given me such a valuable window into the business and the roles, teams and departments within it.
Traditionally conducted once an employee has resigned (and as close to their last day as possible in my experience), exit interviews are the perfect space to hear about all aspects of your business and the work done within it and can give valuable and honest insight into work culture, day to day concerns, processes, issues around management style, workplace ethics and employee morale (to name a few – there will always be people who love to discuss how the air conditioning is just never cool enough/too cold). Exit interviews can also give you an early “heads up” of any more serious issues or can show patterns across a department that you can address quickly to avoid complaints or time-consuming issues later.
With effective exit interview structures, you can begin to identify trends and patterns over time as to why people want to leave the company and what made them stay as long as they did. This can be so useful in understanding your turnover and running some basic analytics.
In designing any exit questionnaires, it is important to consider what you want to do with this information, how you can maintain a level of confidentiality in the information provided to enable authentic and truthful responses and how you will summarise or report on the findings of exit interviews. Design of the questions is key to ensure you are enabling an open and honest conversation.
Struggling with what to say in an exit interview? Start here with my list of exit interview questions that are worth using and will give you some fascinating insights into your business:
1. What motivated you to start searching for a new job?
This question will initiate your departing employee to paint a picture of their current situation. This will help you identify whether there was a single event that contributed to their departure or if there were any shortcomings with the position that would need to be resolved before finding a replacement.
Sometimes you may also have to read between the lines and search for common themes. Is it management? The nature of work? The culture of the company? Whatever the answer, patterns may emerge as to the team, department or work.
2. Would you recommend our company to your friend looking for a job?
You would expect the answer to be yes! But if it is not, find out why. Similar to a question we would ask our customers, the answer to this question will indicate the “recommender score” or “net promoter score” which impacts your employer brand (so key for attracting those hot candidates!).
3. How would you rate your workload in your role?
This question will help you find out if your employees have issues with their workload and how it is being divided across a team. This can give indications regarding issues in terms of the spread of work or if you should be concerned about burnout in specific teams.
4. Were you comfortable discussing work problems with your manager?
Studies have shown that good relationships with managers promote loyalty. If your employees can communicate effectively to their managers, issues can be resolved in a calm professional manner without the need for timely formal processes. Manager loyalty often also feeds brand loyalty.
5. What do you think your manager could have done better?
This will help you find out if the issue lies in the management. Did you know that roughly 50% of employees would leave their job if they felt unappreciated by their direct manager?!
6. What was your favourite aspect of your job?
Sometimes when you cannot influence the negative aspects of the job, promoting the favourable parts can help balance it out. This is also helpful to remind those aggrieved leavers that there was some light in their role.
7. Describe our company culture in your own words?
Good company culture is extremely important to any organisation. Being able to articulate the culture of a company (in an interview, for example) is key. So often senior managers “decide” what the company culture is but it is important to confirm that it is as you designed it to be – so ask those that know best!
8. What was your least favourite part of the job?
There is no “perfect” job and every role will have its pitfalls. Over time it is easy for these sometimes minor things to build up and create resentment. The departing employee may have found the salary was inadequate, boredom or there were limited opportunities for career advancement. Even minor problems aspects such as parking space, can become create major issues over time if they remain unresolved.
9. Would you ever consider joining this organisation again?
Most probably a leaver would indicate they would not, but that may be more time-specific. Although this might sound like a rephrased version of previous questions, it is more direct. The answer would reveal the ideal, yet realistic work environment that your employees want. This exit question often leads to insights about comparing between competitors and will make it truly clear what the X factor of your business is. To probe more out of this question you could follow it with - “What changes in the business would change your mind?”
10. Have you had all the tools needed to do your job?
This exit question will help you improve the workplace environment and operations. You’ll be able to identify the constraints employees are having to consistently give their best. It could be as simple as better keyboards, more ergonomic chairs, more software training. Once you know what tools are lacking you can decide if these are things you can or want to change!
An exit interview can be cathartic and can feel like a form of therapy for those who are leaving – especially if their reasons for leaving feel as if they have left some sort of scars. Sometimes just having a space they can voice their displeasure, have a rant and feel listened to, can genuinely starve off formal complaints and bad feelings (and consequently bad PR when they tell others). Like any relationship – it is often the way it ends that paints our long-term view of the entire relationship. Let the end of employee-employer relationships be positive and considered and allow a leaver to have the closure they deserve.
Touching base with employees about what motivates them while they are still on staff is part of a key strategy in gaining an edge in today’s tight talent market: ensuring employee retention. At Core HR we recommend this through assessing employee job satisfaction and creating an action plan with our Employee Engagement Projects.
For assistance with the design, development and analytics relating to Exit Interviews contact Core HR!
