Exit Interview Survey Template + Best Practices

An exit interview is a formal appointment between an employee who decides to leave their job and a member of their or her company. This meeting allows the employer to ask questions of the employee concerned in order to better understand the reasons surrounding their departure. In this sense, an exit interview is an opportunity to gather the feelings and appreciation of your staff to improve certain aspects of your corporate culture, or even the management of your employees.

It is important not to use the exit interview to retain your employees who wish to change businesses. The interview should be used strictly to gain information about the experience of your employees in order to learn about certain factors that lead them to turn to another organization.

For your employees, this is an opportunity to express themselves to raise the points to improve in your company and thus improve the experience of their colleagues. This is why it is important to learn the best practices from a good exit interview survey template!

Although staff turnover is inevitable, frequent and regular departures can be a sign of a significant problem in your employee experience. According to a study conducted by Hays, 43% of employees say that the culture of their company is the reason for their resignation. In this vein, if you take the time to analyze your internal processes with the help of our exit interview survey template, you may discover:

• Failures in the organisational system;
• A bad working climate between your employees;
• Poorly adjusted wages;
• A lack of training or integration of new technologies;
• The lack of social cohesion;
• Few opportunities for career advancement;
• Difficulties in managing employees.

To avoid dissatisfaction from your staff, it is crucial to quickly identify these issues within your organization. By giving your employees the opportunity to express themselves during an exit interview, you will have the chance to get feedback based on real facts. Afterward, this will allow you to improve certain flaws related to the internal organization or the atmosphere of your company. This will allow you to put strategies in place to optimize the engagement and retention of your staff. This is how our exit interview survey template can help you improve your employee experience!

The exit interview is a great way to show your employees that their well-being is at the center of your priorities. It allows you to collect data about your internal processes in order to improve your employee experience, and also to stay on good terms with employees who leave you.

To help you understand this, here are five ways in which our exit interview survey template can be beneficial to your business.

If your employee was not satisfied with their work experience, an exit interview is an ideal opportunity to clarify some of the misunderstandings that occurred during their time with your company. In this sense, it is important to use a good exit interview survey template in order to ask the right questions to your employees to show them that you care about them.

Take the time to listen to their comments, and note the sources of their dissatisfaction. Show them that you understand their feelings by suggesting ways to improve in the future. Above all, don’t forget to show them that their contribution to your company has been appreciated.

Thank your employees for their work in your organization, and then wish them well on future projects. This way, you will end your relationship on a positive note. This will encourage them to recommend your business to future prospects, or even to potential talents. Follow our exit interview survey template to learn more about your employees’ dissatisfaction and avoid valuable staff losses.

An exit interview is the only opportunity to understand the reasons behind the departure of your employees. In this sense, it is important to use our exit interview survey template to note down the comments and suggestions of your departing staff during your final interview with them.

According to the Employee Benefits study, 93% of employees would keep their jobs if their boss showed more empathy. How can you significantly improve your employee experience and show your colleagues that you understand their difficulties with some of your processes?

By studying our exit interview survey template, you will be able to collect precious information about the inner processes of your business. Thanks to this feedback, you will be able to put strategies based on real facts to improve the experience of your staff. This is a must to improve the retention of your employees, especially in this time of labor shortage!

If you would like to learn more about employee satisfaction, we invite you to consult our article “How to Improve Employee Job Satisfaction : 9 Tips” to improve employee satisfaction at work.

The role of managers in your organization is important. Very often, employees do not leave a company, but a boss. It is their responsibility to mentor your employees and provide them with the information they need to do their job.

The Gallup study suggests that your managers are responsible for 70% of your employees’ engagement rate. In this vein, if you leave many and frequent times, it is normal to receive feedback about the managers in place.

To this end, our exit interview survey template may be useful to assess the work of your managers. Ask your employees about the coaching they receive on the job, the tools available, the training and evaluations they receive, and their satisfaction with their manager. In this sense, our exit interview survey template will allow you to know the impact of your managers on the satisfaction and commitment of your staff!

Using our exit interview survey template is also an excellent opportunity to study the strategies put in place by your rivals.

One of your employees resigns to work for a competitor? Why not ask a few questions from our exit interview survey template about the working conditions and benefits of their future employment?

Following your interview, you will be able to analyze your employee’s responses in order to study the particularities of your competitors. If they have benefits that you don’t have, it’s a sign that it’s time to update your employee engagement and retention strategies, or even optimize your recruitment process. Follow our exit interview survey template to set yourself apart from your competitors: offer better benefits to your staff to optimize your performance!

When the time comes to do the interview, it can be difficult to choose the ideal person to meet your employee. While it may be tempting for the manager to conduct the interview, it should be borne in mind that their presence may intimidate the employee and cause them to omit some frustrations with the company’s internal processes. After all, no one wants to confront their boss directly about their decisions or the management of their staff!

Who is the best-placed member in your organization to facilitate the exit interview of your employees? To put your staff in a position of trust, we advise you to choose a human resources representative. This neutral presence will allow your staff to express themselves in all authenticity. With this concrete feedback, you will be able to get a rich interview that will then be used to optimize your employee experience. This is a must to improve your commitment and employee retention!

You now know the importance of an exit interview and you now know who is the ideal person to host it. However, some details need to be planned, both with your employee and with the person leading the meeting.

How do you prepare for an exit interview? What measures do you put in place to make your staff feel comfortable? To help you, here is an example of an exit interview with seven good practices to follow when planning it.

1. Schedule the exit interview with the employee: Ideally, meet the employee within one week of the letter of resignation. This will allow them to still have her work experience in mind during the interview. In this way, it will provide you with complete and concrete feedback of their passage in your company.

2. Suggest several methods to proceed with the meeting: In person, by telephone interview, with a written report: there are many options to better understand the reasons for your employee’s departure! Give them the opportunity to choose their preferred method. However, keep in mind that a face-to-face interview is preferable as it will allow you to gather warm reactions.

3. Prepare an exit interview survey: To better prepare for your meeting, you can prepare an exit interview survey and send it to your employee beforehand. In this way, you can use their collected answers to better animate your meeting and address certain points in depth. Our exit interview survey template is an effective technique to reduce the time of your departure interview. Make sure you have an automated employee survey delivery solution to optimize your processes!

4. Create an interview-friendly environment: In order to collect feedback without filters, it is important that your employee feels comfortable. To this end, provide a quiet and secluded place for the employee to express themself confidentially. This will allow you to collect valuable information to improve the experience of your future colleagues.

5. Be empathetic to the employee: It is crucial that the employee feels confident with the other person. Keep a calm and empathic tone and invite the employee to share their experience. By showing them how much their well-being means to you, they will be more likely to share their comments with you.

6. Keep the interview brief: A departing employee usually has several things to do to complete some files before leaving. In this sense, if you want them to get involved in your meeting, try to optimize the time for your questions. For example, stick to our exit interview survey template to make sure you’re asking the right questions without drifting away from the subject. An exit interview should be no longer than one hour, unless the employee leaving thinks it’s relevant!

7. End the meeting on a positive note: Thank the employee for their good service and for the time they gave you during the interview. Finally, wish them well for their future job.

Once your interview is fully prepared, it is now time to proceed with the creation of an exit interview survey. In order to identify the decision-making factors that cause your employee to leave their position, it is crucial to ask the right questions.

What to say in an exit interview? How can you frame your questions to achieve the desired results? To help you, here is an exit interview survey template of questions to ask in your survey, or even during your interview with the employee concerned.

1. What are the reasons for your departure?
2. Was there a specific trigger that triggered your departure?
3. Did you talk to your manager about your intentions before you resigned?
4. How long have you been looking for another job?
5. Could something be done to change your decision?

1. What motivated you to apply for your current job?
2. In this position, what have been your greatest accomplishments and challenges?
3. Was the vision of the position you had before hiring representative of your experience with us?
4. Was the job description in your initial interview consistent with the work you performed?
5. Are you satisfied with the work done within our company?

1. What knowledge and skills did you acquire during your time with our company?
2. Did you have the tools to be successful in your position?
3. Do you feel that you have progressed professionally during your time with our company?
4. Was the training offered by the company suitable for you?

1. In your opinion, was your remuneration adequate?
2. Were the benefits provided by our company sufficient for you?
3. If you feel comfortable talking about it, what are the benefits of your new position?
4. Within our company, did you feel you had a good work-life balance?
5. Did you find the career advancement opportunities offered by our company interesting?

1. How would you describe our working atmosphere?
2. How would you describe the manager who guided you?
3. Was the workload assigned to you realistic?
4. What is the most positive thing you keep in mind after coming to us?
5. What was the least positive thing that you experienced when you were here?
6. Did you have the recognition you deserved in your position?
7. Did you receive enough feedback as part of your work?
8. Did you have enough support from your colleagues to do your job properly?
9. What advice would you give to improve our work environment?

1. Do you have any suggestions for improvements to the company’s internal processes?
2. What advice would you give to our team to help your replacement?
3. Are you considering coming back to work for us one day? If so, what should we change?
4. What advice would you give to make the experience of our employees more enjoyable?
5. Would you recommend that someone you know or know work with us?