When an employee submits their resignation and leaves the company a month later, does that mean the process is over? Not quite! Before saying a final goodbye to any team member, you need to conduct an exit interview to understand the reasons behind their decision to leave. In this article, I’ll walk you through how to approach the exit interview process step by step.

Why Conduct Exit Interviews?

Lately, there’s been a lot of buzz about the so-called “employee market.” Does it really exist? Opinions are divided. Certainly, there are industries that feel its impact more strongly—like IT—where employers race to recruit the best specialists. On the other hand, we see a growing openness from employees to switch jobs compared to previous years. So, how can we keep the most talented team members and effectively compete with other companies for the best candidates?

Aside from initiatives focused on building a company image as an attractive employer, more attention is being given to employee satisfaction. One way to gauge the company’s condition in this regard is through exit interviews—conversations with employees leaving the organization.

Exit interviews serve as an additional (alongside engagement surveys) source of insight into the company’s mood. In my experience, I had the opportunity to conduct numerous exit interviews. I’m sharing my thoughts on this topic in this article.

Where to Start with an Exit Interview?

You should approach an exit interview just like any other HR process. First, think about why you need it and what its purpose should be. Then, carefully consider the process itself.

From my perspective, an exit interview can be a valuable tool for gathering insights into the health of your company and the mood of your team. However, it’s a sensitive process that requires trust between HR and employees. The information gathered should reflect the reality, so depending on the structure of the HR team, it’s a good idea to have someone with whom the employee has a strong relationship lead the interview. Sometimes, it may be a recruiter, and other times, it could be the HR business partner (HRBP) directly managing the employee’s area.

Another key element is deciding who will have access to the reports generated from the interviews. The best solution is for individual reports to be shared only with the HR team—this builds the trust I mentioned earlier. Aggregate reports (produced quarterly or annually depending on the company’s needs and the number of employees leaving) can be shared with the management or other key stakeholders.

I do not recommend open reports that are accessible to everyone in the company. While I support the idea of transparency, I know from experience that employees leaving the company may do so with very different perspectives.

In my previous company, each employee had access to the results of engagement surveys and could track the numerical results and comments in real time (we used OfficeVibe), but exit interviews remain a confidential matter. Whether the employee’s direct supervisor should receive the report should be left to the employee’s discretion.

A good practice is to summarize the key insights at the end of the year, combining feedback from both engagement surveys and exit interviews, alongside examples of actions taken based on that feedback. This approach gives employees a sense of influence over the company and makes them feel that their voice matters.

How to Conduct the Exit Interview Process

The nature of exit interviews means that it should be a voluntary process for the employee. Only then can you expect honest and truthful answers. The fact that someone decided to leave the company doesn’t guarantee that everything they say will reflect what they really think. It’s possible that they don’t trust the people who will have access to the report, fear that their comments might be used against them, or simply want to leave on good terms without burning bridges. I’m convinced that if we’re going to invest time in a forced conversation and end up with unreliable information, it’s a waste of energy.

It’s a good idea to conduct the interview while the employee is still at the company, but share the report with interested parties (if you decide to do so) only after their departure.

When conducting the exit interview, I always start with a short message to the employee who submitted their resignation. I explain the purpose of the interview, how long it will take, and what areas I would like to cover. I also include information about the possibility of approving the interview and what will happen to the report afterward (who will have access to it). If the employee is interested in participating in the interview, we schedule a specific time.

I prefer to have a casual conversation rather than send a questionnaire with numbered responses. This format provides much more room for valuable insights and clarification of certain topics. There are different ways to document the conversation: you can record it and transcribe the key takeaways afterward, or you can take notes during the interview. The style you choose depends on your preferences.

It’s important to have a set of key areas to cover, so that even if the employee doesn’t bring them up spontaneously, you’ll make sure to address them.

In my previous company, we had a prepared template for the conversation with areas/questions to check, and we went through them step by step. In the case of my current company and the implementation of exit interviews, I would prefer to focus on the conversation itself and what the employee spontaneously shares. If necessary, I can follow up on specific details or areas that we find important but haven’t been mentioned.

The information we collect should be documented in an accessible format. I don’t recommend transcribing word-for-word what the employee says, as it will be difficult to draw conclusions from such a document later on. It works better to summarize the feedback using a „START, STOP, CONTINUE” approach—what should we start doing, stop doing, or continue doing based on the employee’s perspective.

After preparing the report, I send it to the employee (it’s helpful to ask for their personal email address in advance) so they can add, remove, or clarify anything in case we misunderstood or misinterpreted something. Only after the report is authorized should we store it along with other reports and include it in annual summaries.

Of course, it might happen that as the person conducting the interview, we learn more than what ultimately appears in the final report. I believe this is natural and aligns with HR ethics, where we often receive information in confidence.

From My Perspective, Here’s What’s Important in Conducting Exit Interviews:

• Gathering aggregate data from reports,
• Checking which elements are most commonly noted as positives and negatives,
• Comparing these with employee engagement surveys.

On the other hand, it’s also important to identify potential issues within the company and address them.

If we know what’s going on in the company and why people are leaving but choose not to act on that information, maybe it’s better to allocate the time spent conducting interviews to recruiting new employees instead.

Sample Questions for an Exit Interview

Every exit interview will look different, and that’s perfectly normal. Each company has its own culture and values. Different things are measured in an engagement survey, so it’s important to tailor the questions to what you really want to learn. The exit interview questionnaire can serve as a template, freely modified for your company’s needs.

Below are some sample areas and questions:

Reason for Leaving:

• What’s the direct reason for leaving?
• How did your manager react?
• Did anyone try to convince you to stay?
• How did you find the new opportunity?
• What did the new company offer that you felt was missing here?
• Is there anything that could have convinced you to stay with us?
• Do you think you could return to the company in the future?

Recruitment and Onboarding:

• Why did you apply to our company?
• How was your recruitment process?
• How do you rate the recruitment process (what would you keep and what would you improve)?
• Did the company and role description during recruitment match the reality?
• How was your onboarding experience?
• What did you like about it, and what could have been improved?

Manager Relationships:

• How were your relationships with your direct manager?
• How would you rate their expertise/management skills/team vision/work organization?
• Did you feel appreciated by your manager?
• Did your manager treat everyone equally?
• Did you trust your manager?

Team and Cross-departmental Relationships:

• How would you rate the atmosphere in your team?
• How was the collaboration within your team?
• Would you highlight anyone for positive reasons? Why?

Compensation and Benefits:

• How satisfied were you with your salary and the benefits offered by the company?
• How would you rate the general working conditions (equipment, office, etc.)?
• What do you think of the benefits offered?
• How did your salary compare to others in the company or outside?

Communication:

• How would you rate communication within the company?
• How do you evaluate the tools used for communication?
• What was missing in this regard?
• Were you aware of the company strategy?
• Did you know about changes happening within the company?

Satisfaction and Motivation:

• How satisfied were you with your work at different times?
• What do you see as the company’s strengths and weaknesses?
• How happy were you with your tasks?
• Did the international aspect of the company matter to you?

Development:

• How would you rate your sense of growth within the company?
• What did you learn here?
• What was missing for you?
• Were you aware of your development opportunities?
• Do you think it’s possible to advance or develop in the company?

Mood:

• How would you describe the mood in the company?
• What do you think is causing it?

Management and Leadership:

• Did you trust the management?
• Were decisions made by the management clear to you?
• Do you think the management cares about employees’ well-being?

Of course, the number of areas and questions can vary, and after each closed question, you can ask for further opinions.

Exit Interviews: Final Thoughts

A well-conducted exit interview can be a fantastic source of information about what’s currently happening in the company. Based on this, we can anticipate potential turnover and take steps to address it. While the process at my current company is not yet fully formalized, this doesn’t mean that as an HR team, we’re unaware of the reasons employees leave. The informal atmosphere and close relationships within the team allow us to gather this information without needing a formalized process. Therefore, I always recommend building mechanisms that genuinely support the company’s goals and align with its culture.