What is an exit interview?
An exit interview is a structured conversation between an employer and an employee who is leaving the company. It serves as a chance to collect feedback on the employee’s experiences, workplace satisfaction, and reasons for departure. It also allows employers to address any unresolved concerns, ensuring a smoother transition for both the departing employee and the organisation.
A well-conducted exit interview can provide insights into employee turnover trends, management effectiveness and workplace culture. Analysing this data helps businesses to improve retention strategies and create a better working environment, providing benefits for employers and employees alike.
What makes a good exit interview question?
The best exit interview questions are open-ended, non-confrontational, and designed to elicit genuine feedback. Employees should feel comfortable sharing their experiences, knowing that their responses will be used constructively. Well-crafted exit interview questions focus on specific areas like management, company culture and career development to ensure that departing employees share meaningful insights into their experience with the company.
35 best exit interview questions
To make the process of choosing what questions to ask in an exit interview easier, we’ve divided our HR exit interview questions into different categories, covering everything from reasons for leaving to management effectiveness.
Reasons for leaving
Understanding why employees leave can highlight patterns and help businesses to optimise all stages of the employee life cycle. These exit interview questions shed light on what prompted the employee’s decision to leave, which is critical for reducing turnover.
What prompted you to search for another opportunity?
This question reveals whether the decision to leave was influenced by external opportunities, internal dissatisfaction or personal circumstances.
How long have you wanted to leave?
Knowing when an employee started considering leaving can indicate whether a single event triggered their departure or if it was the result of long-term dissatisfaction.
Did you share any concerns with the company before deciding to leave?
If employees raised concerns but didn’t see action, it suggests potential gaps in communication, support and trust.
Is there anything we could have done to prevent you from leaving?
This insight can help businesses to improve retention by proactively addressing issues that may drive away future employees.
What are you most looking forward to in your new job?
Understanding what excites departing employees about their next role can offer valuable insights into what your organisation might be lacking.
Roles and responsibilities
Good exit interview questions for gaining deeper insights should focus on specific roles and responsibilities. Assessing how employees viewed their roles helps businesses to refine job descriptions and ensure realistic expectations. This helps to support autonomy at work and ensure job satisfaction for future hires.
What were the best and worst parts of your role?
This question allows employees to reflect on what they enjoyed and what could be improved about their job responsibilities, providing important feedback for employers.
Did you think your responsibilities were clear?
Clear job expectations contribute to job satisfaction. If employees felt uncertain about their duties, this could indicate a need for better role definition.
Did you feel that your workload was reasonable?
This question helps to assess whether employees felt overworked or underutilised, which can highlight the need to redefine roles or increase the workforce.
How has your role changed since you were hired?
Understanding how roles evolve helps businesses to evaluate the accuracy of job descriptions and assess long-term employee engagement and development opportunities.
Did you feel challenged in your role?
A role that is too easy or too difficult can impact engagement and motivation. Finding a balance is crucial, and this interview question can yield actionable insights to boost job satisfaction.
Management
Management plays a huge role in employee satisfaction. These best exit interview questions help to assess leadership effectiveness and identify deeper issues such as unfair treatment at work and micromanaging.
Did you feel comfortable communicating with your manager?
Open communication is essential for a positive working environment. This question helps to determine whether managers foster a supportive atmosphere for their teams.
Did you feel supported and valued by your manager?
Managers should provide guidance and recognition. If employees feel undervalued, leadership training may be needed.
Did you receive frequent, constructive feedback from your manager?
Regular feedback helps employees to improve and feel engaged in their roles. A lack of feedback can cause employees to feel undervalued, making them more likely to search for a role elsewhere.
Did you think management adequately recognised your contributions?
Feeling appreciated boosts morale. If employees report feeling that their efforts went unnoticed, this is a sign to assess your current recognition and reward strategies.
Can you describe a situation where you felt unsupported or undervalued?
This question provides real-life examples of management gaps, offering valuable insights into leadership effectiveness.
Company culture
Company culture heavily influences job satisfaction and retention. Good exit interview questions for assessing company culture should focus on interpersonal relationships, work-life balance, and whether the company values align with daily operations.
How would you describe our company culture?
Employee perspectives on company culture provide real-world insights that can help you to determine whether the perceived culture aligns with your goals and expectations.
Did you get along with your peers?
Healthy team relationships contribute to a positive working environment. Identifying social or teamwork challenges can help improve collaboration and job satisfaction.
Were there any policies or practices that you found problematic?
Decision makers are often somewhat removed from the daily practices of their employees, and first-hand insights into the effectiveness of workplace policies is essential.
Did you feel like you had a good work-life balance?
Work-life balance impacts productivity, wellbeing and job satisfaction. Exiting employees may be able to suggest changes to support current and future employees.
Would you recommend this company to a friend?
A departing employee’s willingness to recommend the company is a strong indicator of overall satisfaction, and could influence ongoing recruitment and retention strategies.
Working environment
The HR exit interview questions in this section focus on the workplace itself. With the employee experience being such an important area of focus for HR teams, it’s important to understand how the working environment impacts this.
What did you like most about your working environment?
While this question highlights what your company has got right with regards to the working environment, remember that individual preferences vary. Keep an eye out for trends in answers to this question.
Did you feel that the working conditions were suitable for you to be successful in your role?
A good working environment is essential for productivity. Identifying areas for improvement can enhance future employee experiences and boost profits for your business.
What would make this a better place to work?
This open-ended question allows employees to suggest meaningful changes based on their experiences, offering valuable insights for improvements.
How satisfied were you with our flexible working policy?
Flexible working has become increasingly important for employees. This question assesses whether current policies meet employee expectations, helping to support productivity.
Did you feel that you were offered suitable employee benefits and support programs?
Competitive benefits contribute to job satisfaction and employee retention. If employees feel that benefits are lacking, it may be worth reviewing your offerings to better meet their needs.
Resources, training and development
Development opportunities influence employee retention and help to strengthen business operations. Exit interview questions covering resources, training and development can provide insights to fuel your internal recruitment strategies.
Did you feel you had the tools and resources to be successful in your role?
Providing adequate resources ensures that employees can perform at their best, giving them the opportunity to meet and exceed the expectations of their role.
Were you happy with the hardware provided by the company?
Poor equipment can lead to frustration. This question identifies potential technical issues and highlights simple replacements that can have a huge impact on the working environment.
Did you have the necessary training to be successful in your role?
This question helps assess the effectiveness of employee development programs, helping to identify training gaps and improve productivity.
Were you satisfied with the personal and professional development opportunities offered?
Without adequate opportunities to grow and learn, employees may become disengaged. This question helps to inform future training initiatives to support employee retention.
Did you have clear progression goals to work towards?
Clearly defined career paths help employees to stay motivated and increase company loyalty. Exiting employees may be able to provide insights into unclear expectations or gaps in development opportunities.
Concluding exit interview questions
At the end of the interview, it’s important to invite the exiting employee to reflect on their time at the company, and encourage them to share any important information that hasn’t been covered. The best exit interview questions for concluding the session should support your future recruitment and employee engagement strategies.
How would you describe the perfect candidate to replace you?
This question provides insight into the skills and traits needed for the role, and can help you to hire the right replacement.
Under what circumstances, if any, would you consider returning to the company?
Boomerang employees are valuable for cost-effective recruitment. This question highlights areas to improve that could persuade former employees to return in the future.
What suggestions do you have to improve the company?
Departing employees tend to feel able to share honest feedback without the fear of repercussions. This is a great opportunity for you to learn valuable information for meaningful improvements.
What are the biggest risks for our company?
Those with first-hand experience of how the company operates are often able to offer unique perspectives on potential threats.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Ending on an open note allows employees to share anything that hasn’t already been covered, and helps to ensure a positive conclusion to the relationship.
Make the most of your HR exit interview questions with PeopleHR
Exit interviews provide valuable insights into employee satisfaction and retention. Understanding why employees leave, evaluating management effectiveness and assessing company culture are essential for driving meaningful improvements. Now we’ve explored the best exit interview questions, it’s important to be able to effectively analyse the answers.
Our dedicated HR software allows you to simplify the exit interview process and turn employee feedback into actionable insights. To see how PeopleHR can enhance your HR strategy, book a free demo or contact our team today.
