Leaving a job can be a stressful experience, but an exit interview doesn’t have to be. Employees work up the courage to hand their notice in and employers have to juggle hiring a replacement – all while both parties figure out what the notice period will look like.
While it might be tempting to skip straight to the leaving drinks, there’s also the exit interview to arrange. It’s important for employees to have an opportunity to talk about their experiences of employment and what led to their decision to move on. For employers, it’s a chance to gain valuable honest insight into what it’s really like to work for the company.
What is an exit interview?
An exit interview is a meeting between a representative from the company and an employee who’s decided to leave. The aim is typically to gain an understanding of their reasons for leaving, as well as what their experience of working for the business was like.
Exit interviews aren’t a legal requirement, but it is good practice to end on an amicable note. When both parties are prepared, it’s a great way of leaving on a professional note and marking the end of the working relationship in a positive way. After all, employees may return one day or you may work together under different circumstances.
Companies can also use the occasion to wish the employee the best of luck in their new role.
Who attends an exit interview?
The employee who is leaving the company is the main attendee. Who conducts the interview from the business perspective can vary from company to company.
It may be the employee’s line manager, who they are likely to have a good history of speaking to on a personal level, or it could be someone from within the HR department. Whoever it is, it’s important they know the role of the employee who’s leaving, what questions to ask (more on that later), and that there is a record of what’s been spoken about.
Why are exit interviews important?
An exit interview can be a productive final experience – it doesn’t have to be anxiety-inducing for anyone. Employees who are leaving have an immense amount of value and insight which may be useful for their employers. But it’s often not until they’re leaving that they feel comfortable providing feedback – especially if it’s less than positive.
For businesses, this can help them do two things:
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Understand employee turnover
Hiring new staff can be expensive and time-consuming, so it pays off to understand why people are leaving and whether there are any recurring themes. If you’re having exit interviews and needing to post new job listings regularly, it’s likely you’re not digging into trends in employee turnover enough. Use your exit interviews to discover more about the mood and motivation of your workforce.
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Increase retention rates
As well as finding out what may be going wrong, an exit interview will reveal opportunities you might not have considered before. It may help you to identify ways in which your business can improve working life for employees. For example, are employees leaving to have a more flexible schedule elsewhere? It may be time to consider how you can improve work-life balance and encourage staff to stay with you.
Common questions asked at exit interviews
As with any interview, preparation is key. Employees will feel more relaxed going into the exit interview if they have an idea of what they might be asked and employers will want to know which questions to ask to gain the most insight. That’s why we’ve put together some of the common questions asked at exit interviews:
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Why did you decide to leave?
It’s a question which has to be asked, although it might not be the question you start with. Both parties may benefit from easing into the interview with some background questions on where they are going and how the handover process is going so far. But, at some point, the topic will have to be discussed. This question may be worded in various ways (some are listed below), but the motivation is the same – to find out why someone is leaving.
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- What was the biggest factor that led you to accept a new job?
- What made you start looking for another role?
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Would you recommend working here to your friends and family?
To gain further insight into what the employee’s experience was like, the best thing to ask is if they’d recommend others apply for roles at the company. If they wouldn’t suggest it to their loved ones it’s likely they’ve not enjoyed their experience, so it’s something businesses should delve into in more detail.
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Is there anything your new role offers that this one didn’t?
Businesses want to know how competitive their employment offering is, so if an employee is leaving to gain more perks elsewhere, it should be asked about during the exit interview. But, of course, it’s up to the employee how much detail they want to provide about their new position.
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Did you have all the equipment to complete your job?
It’s down to the company to provide staff with the right equipment to do their job well. But budget constraints or a lack of visibility can prevent this from happening. Was this holding the leaver back from doing their job to the best of their ability? It’s time to find out.
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Did you feel you received good learning and development opportunities?
Similar to the above, regular training is valuable to employees. It shows a company is invested in their development and is all part of equipping them with the right skills to do their role. An exit interview is a chance to ask about this.
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What was your relationship like with your team and manager?
To narrow down why an employee’s experience was good or bad, employers will want to focus on their immediate team. Were there any morale problems? Or an issue with the team leader micromanaging? It’s unlikely the reason someone chooses to leave a job is because of an issue in another department or elsewhere in the business.
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Can you recommend any changes to improve working life with us?
Everyone involved in the exit interview will understand the benefits to the company – that any insight shared can offer up real value to the rest of the employees if changes are made. More often than not, the person leaving will be happy to share.
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What would it have taken to convince you to stay?
It’s a business decision if any action is taken to keep an employee. It’s not uncommon for companies to offer more money, perks or a change to the role, but it’s likely to have happened at a much earlier stage – typically close to when the employee hands in their notice.
However, it’s still useful to find out what it would’ve taken to make the employee stay. This can highlight whether it was actually possible to keep them or not. For instance, not every business can or wants to increase a salary just because elsewhere is paying more.
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What skills and qualifications do you think we should look for in your replacement?
If a replacement hasn’t been found during the notice period, employees could be asked what they think businesses should be looking for. After all, they’ve been doing the job.
What employers need to know about exit interviews
Employers should see exit interviews as a chance to learn from their staff. All too often businesses dismiss their involvement in why staff move on. It’s easy to focus on who will pick up the slack or get caught up in feeling bitter that someone has gone to work for a competitor. But employees who are leaving have valuable insight.
To get the most insight out of the employee who is leaving, think about:
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Where you’ll hold the interview?
Virtually? In the office? In an informal setting, such as a cafe? It’s up to you to determine what setting will create the right atmosphere for the interview. It’s worthwhile having an exit interview in person, but some companies do choose to build exit interview forms using services like Survey Monkey.
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Who will be involved in the interview?
Some experts recommend the interviewer isn’t the leaver’s direct line manager. That’s because it can help them to be a bit more honest with their feedback – especially if their reasons for leaving involve their boss. As the saying goes, ‘People don’t quit jobs, they quit managers’.
Whatever your decisions on the above, make sure there is some kind of consistency – especially when it comes to why exit interviews happen. They should be held with every member of staff who decides to leave.
Don’t dismiss trouble-makers and only talk to people you consider star performers or you may miss out on valuable insight. There’s a reason businesses hire everyone in the first place. An exit interview may be your last chance to discover any blockers in the way that role is managed that make it harder for people to succeed.
As a final piece of advice for conducting a successful exit interview, it’s important to encourage an amicable, two-way conversation. It isn’t a form of discipline.
What employees need to know about exit interviews
Once you’ve decided to leave a job, an exit interview is probably the last thing you want to think about – especially if you’re leaving because you’re unhappy in your role.
The most important thing employees need to remember about exit interviews is that it shouldn’t turn into an impromptu session to vent about why you hate your job or criticise people in the company. It’s never sensible to burn bridges.
If you have difficult or uncomfortable things to say, prepare for the meeting and how you’d like to present the reasons why you’re leaving. You never know who you will meet again and under what circumstances, so it’s important to leave on a good note wherever possible.
You can still provide constructive feedback and be honest about why you’re leaving the company. It’s all about how you provide that information. For example, there’s a huge difference between saying ‘Lucy is rubbish at her job’ and ‘it may benefit Lucy to have further training in customer service’. Exit interview processes should be confidential, so you can share your thoughts – just in a constructive way.
Companies know you’re leaving for a reason so they should be expecting you to say something other than sweet, positive feedback. While there are benefits to you being honest, it is ultimately up to you how much you want to share – especially when it comes to details on where you’re moving on to.
As a final note, it’s worth remembering that employees rarely decide to leave jobs for trivial reasons. It takes time and effort to find a new role. More than likely, they were dissatisfied with some aspect of their role or their employment. In a very basic sense, it’s important to know why they’re leaving. And an exit interview is a chance for them to share their experiences and be heard.