Exit Interviews Questions and Best Practices

The benefits of conducting exit interviews are numerous for employers – and even for departing employees!

We asked two HR consultants at Go RH to tell us more about the importance of exit interview processes. According to them, it’s a crucial moment in an employee’s life cycle; a time when, if you play your cards right, they’ll feel comfortable sharing their vision of the company with you in all honesty. “The departing employee has, in a way, nothing left to lose. They’re not afraid to tell us what they really think.”

What’s more, the exit interview represents an opportunity to conclude your professional relationship on a positive note by establishing a constructive and respectful dialogue with the departing employee.

Exit interviews don’t take up much time, so they don’t cost the employer much for the amount of relevant information they can provide. In fact, HR consultants told us that they have rarely seen meetings of this type last longer than an hour. “It’s a small investment with a huge return,”, according to them.

Exit interviews give you the opportunity to ask employees why they decided to leave the company. It may be a question of salary – which is less often the core reason than you might think -, career development opportunities, a lack of leadership on the part of the manager, or a conflict with colleagues.

Whatever the employee’s reasons for leaving, knowing them is a huge benefit, as it will help you address specific issues and avoid further departures in the future.

Exit interviews share a common goal with employee engagement surveys: they evaluate workplace climate and help you improve HR practices and your work environment based on the results.

An exit interview can also be an excellent opportunity to ask the departing employee what they liked in your company. While it’s important to note your weaknesses and areas for improvement, it’s also crucial – notably for the sake of your employer brand – to be aware of what you already do well.

Keep in mind that your employees are your best ambassadors. Even if the employment relationship is severed, chances are your (ex-)employees will continue to talk about you to those around them. And if they leave with a rocky start, that’s what they’ll remember about their time with you.

That’s why it is crucial to use the exit interview as an opportunity to thank the employee for their work, and to make sure you turn the entire process into positive experience.

Staying on good terms with your former employees will also contribute to your employer brand and may even facilitate your HR marketing and recruitment efforts.

As you’ve seen, exit interviews can be very beneficial in highlighting issues that you can address later on. Now, how do you get departing employees to give you honest feedback? It all starts with your attitude. Make sure that employees notice how much you care about what they have to say.

Here are our tips to adopt the right posture and implement the best practices:

First of all, be honest with the employee about the nature of your meeting. Make it so that the interview is above all a time to talk about their experience as an employee.

Remind the employee that their participation helps the organization, of course, but also their colleagues. Explain that they add enormous value to the company, and that by answering your questions, they’re helping to improve the employee experience. Thank them for sharing their personal experience with you.

It’s crucial that the employee understands the value of their contribution and doesn’t see the interview as a simple task to be completed before leaving.

The person conducting the interview must be credible and inspire confidence, otherwise the employee won’t contribute, or not as much as you’d like. In the best of all possible worlds, an HR professional would be in charge of exit interviews. If this isn’t possible, avoid having the interview conducted by the immediate superior, as it’s important that there be a certain level of objectivity in the exchange.

The person conducting the exit interview must position themselves as an ally in the organization, a player who cares about employee well-being and a healthy corporate culture.

If the departure is voluntary, so is the interview that precedes it – or follows it. When you ask a departing employee to attend such a meeting, make it clear that they have a choice. The less pressure employees feel to do something, the more likely they are to cooperate.

It’s a good idea to conduct exit interviews in person, because talking to employees face-to-face allows you to “dig deeper” and get much more information from them. We’ve done both, in-person interviews and, when that wasn’t possible, asking employees to fill in a questionnaire… It’s night and day. We gathered at least three or four times as much information with in-person interviews . If the employee can’t come to the interview, conduct the meeting by phone. The key here is to have a discussion, a meaningful exchange.

However, it’s better to gather some insight than none at all. If the employee is unable to take part in the interview, either in person or over the phone, offer to complete an online interview questionnaire and benchmark the data you collect.

We recommend that you keep in mind the primary objective of the meeting: to obtain as much information as possible about the experience of the employee leaving your organization. You want to know how they felt, and what made them feel that way. Your role is to ask questions and listen to what the employee has to say. This is not the time to justify what went wrong or try to convince the employee to stay. You’re there to listen with the aim of improving. Listen actively, show you understand. When you start justifying yourself, it closes doors.

Make sure you have a guideline and some consistency in your practices. Your exit interviews should all be conducted in a similar way. In particular, covering the same topics can help you raise recurring issues.

Obviously, interviews may vary according to the position or department of the employee you are interviewing, but it is advisable to have a basic outline and to build your interviews in such a way as to probe employees at all levels (working conditions, relationship with employees, relationship with the supervisor, organizational climate, etc.).

Exit interviews represent a critical step in the offboarding management process – a process to which you must pay particular attention if you want the departing employee to continue to be an ambassador for your organization. Take this opportunity to thank them for their time and hard work, and don’t forget to wish them good luck in their new challenge.

Psst… Here are employee departure emails you can use whenever you need!