21 Critical Exit Interview Questions You Should Always Ask

It’s a bit like meeting your ex in the pub – not your old local, neutral ground only – to swap boxes of left-behind possessions and have that inevitable but awkward end-of-relationship debrief. Will it descend into a petty blame game, or can you part on good terms, perhaps not the best of friends but certainly not breaking apart the friendship group? We’re all, surely, always striving for the latter.

Don’t we want to learn from past mistakes, reflect fondly on not time wasted but a valuable shared experience that we can use to make better choices and gain greater certainty on what we want in the future? If we can achieve this, the relationship hasn’t ‘failed’ but instead succeeded in serving its purpose and teaching us lessons for next time.

The same is true for the end of a working relationship. In this case, the debrief/handover/closure is the exit interview, and it can go in very different directions (with vastly different outcomes) depending on how you approach it. So how can you get it right and ensure that both parties leave with only good things to say about each other – or at the very least, not inclined to bad mouth their ex and warn others away?

Table of Contents

• What are exit interviews? 
• Example questions 
• Other exit interview best practice 
• Key takeaways

What are exit interviews? 

An exit interview takes place (or should do) when an employment relationship ends. It’s the last stage of the employment life cycle, but a critical one. It doesn’t matter who called time on the relationship, this interview should take place regardless.

Arguably though you have even more to gain and learn from this conversation if a team member’s exit has caught you unawares and/or you didn’t want them to leave. If one of your A-players has ditched you, you’ll want to know why so you can stop a mass exodus!

Exit interviews are incredible learning opportunities. If you make the most of them, they can tell you a huge amount about your work culture, employee satisfaction, strengths and weaknesses as an employer, any recurring issues, training or knowledge gaps, and staff morale.

From an employee perspective, they offer a platform for open and honest feedback – even if the employee giving the feedback is leaving, the insight they provide can help those who remain. For the person leaving, it gives closure and the chance to get things out in the open, helping to end on a positive note.

They are only valuable, though, if you’re collecting the right data. To get the right data, you’ve got to ask the right questions.

Example questions

To gain high-quality, in-depth info, you need to be asking open-ended questions, not those that could elicit a simple yes/no response. Below is a list of example questions that will help you to collect the sort of data that will provide genuine insight and practical benefit.

General questions:

1. Why are you leaving the company?
2. What factors impacted your decision?

Role and responsibilities:

1. Was your role what it was advertised/you expected it to be?
2. How did you find your workload and tasks?
3. Were you happy with the type and level of responsibilities you had?
4. Were your skills and talents well utilised?
5. Did you have opportunities for growth and development?

Management and leadership:

1. How would you describe your relationship with your manager?
2. Did you receive constructive feedback and guidance?
3. Did you receive enough support and resources to do your job well?
4. How could management improve?

Workplace culture & environment:

1. What words would you use to describe the company culture?
2. Did you find any barriers to communication?
3. Did you feel valued and respected while working here?

Compensation & benefits:

1. Do you think the pay was fair/competitive?
2. What did you think of the benefits offered?
3. Were you satisfied with the leave policy and allowances?
4. What additional perks would have been helpful?

Feedback:

1. What could we do to improve as an organisation?
2. How could we be a better employer?
3. Would you recommend this company to others? Why/why not?

Other exit interview best practice

As well as asking the right questions, you need to set the interview up in a way that is conducive to getting honest, thoughtful answers. You need to put the person at ease and reassure them that whatever has gone before is water under the bridge now, and you’re just grateful for insight. This isn’t an interrogation, or a confrontation. It’s not about placing blame or making excuses. Some tips on best practice include:

• Schedule the interview before the person actually leaves – the business has no legal entitlement to seek their time after their contract runs out
• The person doing the interview should be a neutral party, rather than an ex-colleague or manager, so that the leaver can speak freely without fear of causing hurt or anger if they say something negative about the team/culture/work/an individual
• It must be made super clear that all info shared will be kept confidential – this gives you the best chance of getting candid feedback and total honesty
• Prepare the questions in advance and be prepared to follow up with further questions or probe deeper if the response is brief
• Don’t ask leading questions, suggest answers or finish anyone’s thoughts/sentences. This isn’t about confirming what you think you already know, but about lifting the lid on the things you don’t.

Crucially, once you have all this info – you need to use it! It’s no good collecting data if it just sits gathering dust. Using structured questions like the above will help you to categorise and analyse the feedback, and you can then identify trends and common themes. Just because one person doesn’t like one thing, that doesn’t mean a whole process or policy needs to be scrapped.

But if the same issues are being mentioned time and time again, it’s a red flag that something needs to change. While they might sound like criticisms, problems or just more work to do, these insights are gold dust – they can drive direct action that results in an improved culture, workplace and business. And who doesn’t want that?!

Key takeaways

Exit interviews offer a unique chance to gain candid feedback from an employee without fear of repercussion. Don’t waste this. Brutal honesty is far more valuable than sugar-coated half-truths or meaningless platitudes. If they’re just telling you what you want to hear, it might feel good in the moment but it’s just a waste of everybody’s time and you’re actively turning away from a better future.

Don’t pass up on opportunities for progress and positive change that could transform your business because you’re afraid of hearing some perhaps harsh home truths. A good business manager understands the value of customer or client reviews and would never ignore negative feedback.

A good HR manager will seek out the same information from past employees through well-designed exit interviews that ask revealing questions and probe for potential improvements.

If you’re getting things right, you hopefully shouldn’t be doing tons of exit interviews – so don’t waste them when you do!