case study on exit interviews

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Making Exit Interviews Count

• Everett Spain
• Boris Groysberg

In the knowledge economy, skilled employees are the assets that drive organizational success. Thus companies must learn from them—why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization needs to change. A thoughtful exit interview—whether it be a face-to-face conversation, a questionnaire, a survey, or a combination—can catalyze leaders’ listening skills, reveal what does or doesn’t work inside the organization, highlight hidden challenges and opportunities, and generate essential competitive intelligence. It can promote engagement and enhance retention by signaling to employees that their views matter. And it can turn departing employees into corporate ambassadors for years to come.

Unfortunately, too few leaders pay attention to this tool; their programs fail to either improve retention or produce useful information. The authors believe this is owing to poor data quality and a lack of consensus on best practices. They suggest six overall goals for a strategic exit interview process and describe tactics and techniques to make it successful. Among their recommendations: Have interviews conducted by second- or third-line managers. Make exit interviews mandatory for at least some employees. And because standard interviews enable you to spot trends, but unstructured ones elicit unexpected insights, consider combining the two approaches in semistructured interviews.

This underused practice can be a powerful tool for retention.

Idea in Brief

In today’s knowledge economy, skilled employees are any company’s most valuable asset. Thus it’s important to understand why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization may need to change.

The Opportunity

Exit interviews, when conducted with care, can provide a flow of thoughtful feedback and insight on all three fronts. They can increase employee engagement and retention by revealing what works or doesn’t work inside the organization.

The Challenge

Too often, exit interview programs fail to achieve their potential for two reasons: First, the data they produce can be spotty and untrustworthy. And second, little consensus on best practices exists. This article attempts to address both concerns.

An international financial services company hired a midlevel manager to oversee a department of 17 employees. A year later only eight remained: Four had resigned and five had transferred. To understand what led to the exodus, an executive looked at the exit interviews of the four employees who had resigned and discovered that they had all told the same story: The manager lacked critical leadership skills, such as showing appreciation, engendering commitment, and communicating vision and strategy. More important, the interviews suggested a deeper, systemic problem: The organization was promoting managers on the basis of technical rather than managerial skill. The executive committee adjusted the company’s promotion process accordingly.

• Everett Spain is an active-duty colonel and the head of the department of behavioral sciences and leadership at West Point.
• BG Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School and a faculty affiliate at the school’s Race, Gender & Equity Initiative. He is the coauthor, with Colleen Ammerman, of Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021). bgroysberg

Partner Center

May 2, 2021

Exit interviews: the best case study to tackle your employee retention issues.

Continuing our discussion on the issue of employee retention , this week’s blog will be focusing on another inevitable process in HR – saying good bye to some of your employees. Although ideally you would hope that your new hires can stay at your company forever, that just simply is not possible in the real world. Before sending your previous employees on to the next step of their career, consider conducting an exit interview. Since there is less pressure on a departing employee to “look good”, you may even gain new insights on management and specific work funnels that would have otherwise been difficult to gather through current working members. Read on to find out how an exit interview can help you tackle employee retention issues in the future!

Why Exit Interview?

Despite efforts done by HR to conduct performance appraisals and regular check ups with employees, there are still many issues that are often left unaddressed due to various reasons. Even when promised anonymity, some employees may still be reluctant to be 100% honest with their response for fear of any personal information slipping out. For example, an employee may be hesitant to directly express their dissatisfaction towards their manager. Since it’s someone they’ll have to work directly with everyday, some individuals may not want to get on the  “bad side” of their supervisors . This is why having HR specifically conduct exit interviews provide an invaluable opportunity to hear the true opinions of your employees .

Since your employee has already decided that they will be leaving the company, many will no longer be afraid of any potential consequences they believe will (and in some cases, in actuality) come with speaking out. By having HR conduct this exit interview, employees can speak about many work related comments that HR was previously not directly involved in like a manager would have been – providing a more objective ear. Furthermore, any arrangements or discussions taking place after their interview, for many, will no longer affect their career. This allow employees to be more frank with their interview as they don’t have much to lose.

Some Helpful Points to Tackle

To make the most out of your exit interview, consider asking some of the following questions!

What prompted you to look for a new job?

As elementary as the question may be, it is also arguably the most informative question in an exit interview. When dealing with employee retention problems, you want to not only know what keeps your employees, but also what are some things that may drive them away.

What made you decide to accept the new job?

When frustrated and unhappy with their current work, it is not uncommon for employees to begin searching casually to see what other opportunities are out there. However, it takes more than curiosity for an employee to go through with resigning at their current job and starting a new one. The answer to this question will give you a chance to see how your company compares to competitors from an employee’s perspective.

How would you describe our company culture? Was the environment one that fosters growth or inhibited it?

Pay and specific work tasks are not the only reason an employee may feel unsatisfied with their current job. Asking specifically about culture – whether it’s relating to diversity & inclusivity , or growth and development – the answer you get will no doubt provide great insight on what initiatives may be worthwhile to look into.

What is something that could have been done to make you stay?

The answer to this question may have already risen from previous exchanges in the exit interview, but its importance still makes it worthwhile to ask directly one more time. This gives your employee another chance to express anything that they may have left out before. Keep in mind that this is no longer a negotiation to try and keep your employee now – that boat has since sailed. Rather, it is for your future reference.

Questions to Avoid

Do not directly ask about specific people..

Even though the employee will no longer be working under your company, they may still want to maintain a good relationship with their ex-colleagues. By name dropping a coworker and expecting feedback, you are putting the employee on the spot. As a result, they may feel very uncomfortable, and you would also not get the feedback that you had in mind. In the case where you feel that a specific employee is directly linked to the departure of another, try asking more roundabout and general questions that will give your leaving employee a chance to speak about the matter if they wish to.

Try to avoid an overall negative tone and implying consequences for others as a result of information gathered from this conversation.

Once again, even upon departure, most employees would most likely not want to leave on a bad note. When asking for feedback, try not to structure the questions in such a way that seems like you are asking for slander from the employee. Focus on keeping the conversation neutral and hearing out the employee’s experience – both negative and positive.

Do not try to convince the employee to stay in your company.

At the time of the exit interview, it is pretty clear that your employee’s departure is certain. If you really wanted to keep this employee, a conversation about what can be changed would have been more effective if it took place before the resignation. In your final exchanges, it is best to stay friendly and wish the employee the best of luck in the future!

Update Your Team and Look Towards the Future

Letting go of an exceptional worker can be hurtful to not only your company as a whole, but to the team members that work directly with the individual. Following the exit interview, remember to update your team about what is happening with this employee, and what next steps are going to be taken. With the newly gathered feedback, it is a great opportunity to reevaluate exactly what you look for in a star employee. With the help of pre-employment assessment tests and more closely fitted benchmarks , be confident and optimistic about finding even better fits for your company in the near future!

When Leaders Don’t Listen: Listening Skills Become Employers’ Top Priority

Employee retention: encourage your employees to push for new heights.

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• Published: 04 January 2021

Using exit interviews to improve employee experience

• Sabina Mirza 1  

BDJ In Practice volume  34 ,  page 28 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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One of the best ways to gain insight into your employee job satisfaction is by conducting an exit interview. With your employee leaving, the exit interview is more likely to facilitate open and honest discussion on their experience of working for your practice. You can use the exit interview to assess whether you are a good employer in your employees' view. You can gain a better understanding of the positive and negative factors that contribute to an employee choosing to stay or to leave and any changes you need to make as a practice. What you learn will help you to improve the employee experience for your remaining staff which will contribute to employee retention and to attracting a higher calibre of applicants to your practice. This insight is especially important if you want to stop valued employees from leaving or to reduce high turnover of staff within your practice.

There are benefits for your employees too. For the departing employee, an exit interview provides closure on matters they may not have otherwise raised and demonstrates that you value their opinion. For your other employees it promotes goodwill by demonstrating your commitment to change employment practices for their benefit.

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Exit Interviews: Ultimate Guide to Capturing Feedback

According to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), approximately 61% of organizations conduct exit interviews as part of their employee feedback processes. 

Exit interviews allow companies to gather feedback on the reasons why employees leave. Human resources teams can then use this information to decrease unwanted employee attrition in the future.

On average, it can take just over six weeks to fill a position. In some industries, it can take months. With all the hard work that goes into the recruitment process, it can be discouraging and disheartening to see team members go.  

However, by listening to what departing employees have to say, your company can better manage employee turnover and retention. Use this to your advantage by implementing a successful exit interview strategy.

Exit Survey vs. Exit Interview

Why are exit interviews important, how to boost employee participation in exit interviews, how are exit interviews conducted, example exit interview questions to ask, how employee engagement platforms streamline exit interviews, how to use exit interviews to improve onboarding, improving company culture with exit interviews, leverage exit interviews to rehire former staff, exit interview best practices, exit interviews with people element, what is an exit interview.

An exit interview is a conversation between an employer and a departing employee. The conversation takes place when the employee is leaving or has already left the company. During exit interviews, employers aim to understand why employees leave, what their experience was like, and how the business can make adjustments based on constructive feedback. 

Over the course of the exit interview process, employers receive immediate and direct feedback about the employee’s overall sentiment towards the company and leadership team. When utilized correctly, exit interviews can prove instrumental to employee retention and employee satisfaction.

Both exit interviews and surveys collect feedback from departing employees, but they differ in format and depth of information collected.

An exit interview is a real-time conversation that allows for personalized and in-depth feedback discussions, while an exit survey is a written questionnaire that streamlines employee feedback more efficiently.

To better understand the differences and similarities between exit interviews and exit surveys, consider this restaurant dining analogy.

Imagine you’re dining out. A conversation with the restaurant manager or chef represents the exit interview. Before you leave the restaurant, they sit down with you to discuss your dining experience in detail. Over the course of this casual sit-down, the customer has the opportunity to provide dynamic, detailed feedback about their dining experience.

On the other hand, an exit survey is akin to leaving a comment card or feedback form when you leave the restaurant. In this scenario, you’re presented with a set of questions that allow you to share your opinion in a more standardized manner. On your way out, you’d simply drop your feedback card into a box.

Both exit interviews and exit surveys serve the same purpose and share the same goal. Ideally, organizations will use a combination of both methods to gather comprehensive feedback and track historical employment trends.

As previously mentioned, the feedback collected during exit interviews can inform and guide future decision-making. This is even more important in industries that have trouble meeting benchmarks in their field.

For example, over the past few years, the manufacturing industry has struggled to keep a consistent workforce, with many hires leaving within the first 90 days and engagement levels as low as 25%. Manufacturing exit interviews are just one way to combat key challenges unique to your industry.

Organizations can make positive changes by listening to and addressing the concerns of employees who leave. These changes can lead to a happier and more committed workforce. Here are a few other reasons why exit interviews are important in any industry:

Identify patterns and trends

Analyzing the feedback collected from exit interviews allows organizations to identify patterns and trends among departing employees. This information can highlight recurring issues or areas of improvement that need to be addressed sooner than later. By recognizing these patterns, organizations can roll out targeted changes.

Improve organizational effectiveness

Exit interviews can boost overall effectiveness by shedding light on specific areas where businesses can make targeted improvements to their policies, procedures, training programs, and management practices.

Enhance employee engagement

Research cited in People Element’s 2023 Engagement Trends Report , has found that employee engagement has a strong correlation with positive performance outcomes such as profitability, productivity, well-being, and retention. Additionally, it reduces negative factors like turnover, accidents, and absenteeism.

Legal compliance and risk mitigation

Exit interview participation rates can vary depending on numerous factors such as company size, industry, and the voluntary nature of the interview.

Research shows that over 90% of  Fortune 500 companies  use exit interviews as a regular part of their HR procedures. However, studies suggest that standard paper-and-pencil exit surveys have participation rates as low as 30% on average.

Employees may choose not to participate in exit interviews for various reasons. In order for exit interviews to be effective, employees need to be motivated to participate. Below is a list of common reasons employees choose to skip the exit interview, along with potential solutions.

Employees who are leaving may feel apathetic toward the exit interview process. They may not see the point — or benefit — of having a final conversation before their departure.

Clearly communicate the purpose of exit interviews to departing employees.

Explain how feedback will be utilized to implement positive changes within the organization. Additionally, ask questions that prompt specific and achievable responses, rather than solely discussing negative experiences.

Exit interviews are also mutually beneficial, so it’s important to communicate the benefits of employee participation, too. Exit interviews benefit employees by:

• Giving them a safe space to voice their opinions
• Allowing them to reflect on their tenure at the company and highlight success and achievements
• Providing employees with an opportunity to maintain professional relationships
• Enabling them to demonstrate their professionalism and leave on a positive note

Employees may be hesitant to provide candid feedback during exit interviews because they’re worried about potential negative consequences. They might think that their opinions could harm their professional reputation, job references, or relationships within the organization.

Assure employees that their responses will be kept confidential and separate from their employment records. This encourages honesty and helps alleviate concerns about repercussions.

If possible, offer the option for anonymous feedback. Anonymity can reduce fears of retaliation or negative consequences and encourage employees to share honest feedback more openly.

When conducting face-to-face or phone interviews, consider working with a neutral  third-party exit interviewer  who is not directly involved in the employee’s day-to-day work. This creates a more comfortable and unbiased environment for sharing feedback for hesitant employees.

Time constraints associated with transitioning to a new job or personal commitments can contribute to employees declining exit interviews. They may prioritize other pressing tasks or simply wish to move forward without allocating additional time to the exit process.

Provide flexibility by offering different exit interview formats, such as face-to-face interviews, phone or video calls, online surveys, or written questionnaires. This gives departing employees the ability to choose the method that is most comfortable and convenient for them.

A lack of trust in the confidentiality of exit interviews — or doubts about the organization’s receptiveness to feedback — can hinder employee participation. This is especially true if employees have had negative exit interview experiences in the past.

The first step in any exit interview is setting expectations. Start by asking them whether they’ve participated in exit interviews before. From here, guide a candid conversation about what their prior experience was like and how this experience will be different.

These simple, transparent conversations can help you better understand where they’re coming from and how you can tailor the exit interview process in a way that makes them most comfortable.

Use this opportunity to share success stories or examples of positive outcomes that have resulted from past exit interviews. This can help employees understand the value of participation and see that their feedback can make a real difference.

Employees who have already mentally disengaged (read: tapped out) from their role or company may display feelings of indifference towards the exit interview process. If they no longer feel a vested interest or emotional connection, they may struggle to recognize the relevance or purpose of sharing their feedback.

Provide departing employees with resources and support during their transition. Offer assistance with job searching, networking, or references. Demonstrating support beyond the exit interview can help your company reconnect with departing employees on a professional and personal level. When you show them that you still care, they’re more likely to act in kind.

See how our Exit Interviews work

Exit interviews can be conducted in a variety of different formats. These formats vary based on the organization’s preferences and the employee’s availability. Here are a few ways human resources teams may choose to conduct exit interviews:

Face-to-Face Interviews

This is a traditional approach where a representative from the organization (typically a human resources manager) conducts a one-on-one interview with the departing employee. The interview can take place in a private office or a neutral location, allowing for a more interactive and in-depth conversation.

Phone or video interviews

If the departing employee is unable to participate in a face-to-face interview, a phone or video call can be arranged. This method allows for real-time communication and enables the interviewer to ask follow-up questions and clarify responses.

Online exit surveys

Organizations may provide an online survey or questionnaire for departing employees to complete. These surveys can be accessed and submitted electronically, making them convenient and accessible. Online surveys often include a mix of multiple-choice questions, rating scales, and open-ended questions.

Written questionnaires

In some cases, organizations provide departing employees with a printed or digital questionnaire to complete at their convenience. This allows employees to reflect on their experiences and provide written responses to specific questions.

During an exit interview, the organization may ask a range of questions covering various topics such as:

• The employee’s reasons for leaving
• Their overall satisfaction with their job and the organization
• Their relationship with supervisors and colleagues
• Opportunities for growth and development
• Work-life balance
• Compensation and benefits
• What were your primary reasons for leaving the organization?
• Did you feel that your skills and talents were fully utilized in your role?
• How would you rate the overall employee experience during your time here?
• Were you satisfied with your job responsibilities and tasks?
• Did you receive sufficient training and support to perform your job effectively?
• Were you given opportunities for growth and advancement within the organization?
• How would you rate the quality of communication and feedback from your immediate supervisor?
• Did your supervisor provide adequate guidance and support to help you succeed in your role?
• Were your ideas and suggestions valued and taken into consideration?
• Did you feel a sense of camaraderie and teamwork within your department?
• Were you able to collaborate effectively with your colleagues?
• Did you receive recognition and appreciation for your contributions?
• How would you describe the overall company culture?
• Were the organization’s values effectively communicated and upheld?
• Did you feel aligned with the company’s mission and vision?
• Did you have a healthy  work-life balance  during your tenure?
• What specific factors or practices influenced your perception of work-life balance during your time here?
• Were you satisfied with the flexibility and support provided for personal needs?
• Were you able to effectively manage your personal and professional commitments while working here? If not, what were the main obstacles you faced?
• Were you satisfied with your salary and benefits package?
• Did you feel that your compensation was fair compared to the market value?
• Were there any concerns or issues regarding payroll or benefits administration?
• Did you receive regular feedback on your performance and areas for improvement?
• Were you recognized and appreciated for your accomplishments and contributions?
• Were performance evaluations conducted in a fair and transparent manner?
• How would you rate the overall exit process, including the handling of paperwork and procedures?
• Did you receive the necessary support during your transition out of the organization?
• Is there any additional feedback or suggestions you would like to provide?

Incorporate company values into questions

In addition to questions that cover a range of key themes, you should also ask questions specific to your organization, mission statement, and company values.

For example, Airbnb’s mission statement is “Belong anywhere.” This mantra encapsulates their vision of creating a world where people can feel a sense of belonging, regardless of their location. It emphasizes the company’s focus on fostering connections, cultural exchange, and a more inclusive global community.

In this case, you might ask the employee about their sense of belonging during their tenure. This approach can provide you with a better understanding of how your company’s core values are experienced in the workplace.

Companies can leverage employee engagement and employee experience technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of exit interviews.

Survey tools

Human resource departments may choose to partially or wholly rely on survey tools to create and distribute online exit surveys or questionnaires. This allows departing employees to conveniently provide feedback at their own pace and preferred time.

Technology solutions make it easy to design, distribute, and analyze online employee surveys, saving time and resources compared to manual data collection.

Centralized data

Employee engagement platforms are also key for data collection. These platforms provide a centralized system for managing employee feedback, including exit interview data. They streamline the process and enable data aggregation for staff.

Robust reporting capabilities

Analytics and reporting tools built into employee experience solutions enable businesses to make the most of exit interview data by identifying trends and patterns within the collected feedback. This data-driven approach can reveal insights into common themes, highlight areas for improvement, and support evidence-based decision-making.

Diverse exit interview formats

Lastly, employee engagement platforms enable companies to execute exit interviews in diverse ways. For example, employers who want to provide employees with neutral, third-party interviewers and offline interviews can benefit from employee survey platforms with managed services.

Get started with Exit Interviews

While exit interviews are typically conducted when employees are leaving the company, they can still provide valuable insights that contribute to improving employee performance. Here are some ways companies can utilize exit interviews to boost employee performance:

Strengthen the employee onboarding experience

First and foremost, exit interviews can help HR teams identify onboarding gaps.

Employees can provide insights into the relevance, clarity, and comprehensiveness of the training materials and support provided to them during their onboarding period. Additionally, they can offer feedback on the clarity and accessibility of documentation and processes encountered during onboarding.

Ultimately, this feedback can be used to fine-tune training programs for future hires.

Enhance management practices

Exit interviews can provide managers with a fresh perspective on their management style and the impact it has on their team members.

Receiving candid feedback from departing employees can help managers recognize blind spots in their managerial style or areas where their behavior may have negatively affected their team’s morale or performance. This self-awareness is crucial for personal and professional growth.

It also helps human resources to:

• Hone in on areas where managers may require additional training, coaching, or development opportunities.
• Compare managers’ performance over time or across different teams or departments
• Uncover systemic issues with management teams that may be affecting multiple employees

Refine performance evaluation processes

Insights gained from exit interviews can highlight shortcomings in the organization’s performance evaluation systems. Feedback related to the fairness, transparency, and frequency of performance evaluations can inform the refinement of these processes, ensuring companies do better to recognize and reward employee contributions.

Track turnover patterns

Track turnover patterns Analyzing the reasons for employee departures helps identify trends and patterns in turnover. For example, if certain departments or positions consistently experience high turnover, organizations can take proactive measures to address underlying issues.

CASE STUDY: Outsourcing Exit Interviews at Health First Cut Turnover Costs by Over $1 Million – People Element

Improving Company Culture With Exit Interviews

Research conducted by the Harvard Business Review indicates that companies with a strong, positive culture experience 4 times higher revenue growth and up to 750% higher net income compared to those with weak cultures.

Furthermore, a Deloitte study found that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe that a strong company culture is important for attracting and retaining top talent.

These statistics highlight the significant impact that company culture can have on organizational performance and success.

By acting upon the feedback from exit interviews, companies can implement targeted interventions, policies, and practices that support the desired cultural shift. Here are three key ways exit interviews can improve company culture:

Address cultural concerns

Through exit interviews, employees can express conflicts or situations where the culture did not support their needs or values. By addressing these concerns, organizations can work towards creating a culture that better aligns with their values and fosters a positive work environment.

Actively listening to departing employees’ feedback and taking action demonstrates a commitment to employee engagement and a positive culture. When employees see that their feedback is valued and leads to tangible changes, it enhances their perception of the company and their engagement with its culture. This fosters a more positive and supportive work environment.

Communicate culture expectations

Exit interviews provide an opportunity to communicate and reinforce culture expectations to departing employees. By sharing insights into cultural aspects aligned with the organization’s values and vision, companies ensure that departing employees leave with a clear understanding of the desired culture. This can positively influence their future interactions and may even foster advocacy for the company’s culture elsewhere.

Exit interviews can be a valuable tool for evaluating potential rehires. According to exit interview data analyzed by the People Element team, over 50% of employees who left voluntarily said they would likely consider returning to the organization. With this in mind, companies can leverage exit interview data to access the untapped potential of boomerang employees .

Former employees may be interested in returning to a previous company if the employer has improved in areas that were important to them. 

For example, if a former employee cited “micromanagement” as a key reason for their departure, a department restructuring and/or general improvements in employee culture and communication could encourage them to return. 

Benefits of hiring boomerang employees

There are several benefits of hiring former employees, particularly if they left on good terms. Here are a few reasons why you should consider hiring boomerang employees: 

Familiarity with company culture

Boomerang employees are already familiar with the company’s culture, values, and processes. Their prior experience means they require less time to acclimate to the work environment, reducing the onboarding and training period.

Proven track record

Hiring a boomerang employee allows the organization to bring back someone with a proven track record. Their past performance and contributions can serve as evidence of their capabilities and suitability for the role.

Quicker onboarding & productivity

Former employees can hit the ground running as they are already familiar with the job requirements and may need little to no time to get up to speed. As a result, they’re able to start being productive quicker than a new hire who lacks tenure with the company. 

Boost employee engagement & morale

When a former employee returns to the company, their previous and new colleagues may view the rehire as a sign that the organization values its employees and creates opportunities for growth and development.

To make the most of your exit interviews, here are a few exit interview best practices to keep in mind:

Keep it confidential

Ensure that departing employees feel comfortable sharing their honest feedback. Assure them that their responses will be kept confidential.

Conduct exit interviews in a timely manner

Schedule the exit interview as close to the employee’s departure as possible while still allowing them time to reflect on their experiences. This helps capture their feedback while it’s still fresh in their minds.

Have a structured process

Prepare a documented process to ensure consistency across exit interviews. Your documentation should include your question bank and step-by-step procedures. A consistent and structured process makes it easier to execute exit interviews and analyze responses.

Encourage honest and constructive feedback

Emphasize the importance of honest and constructive feedback. Assure employees that their input is valuable and will be used to improve the organization. Where possible, use specific examples to illustrate your point.

Utilize exit surveys

Exit interviews shouldn’t feel like a chore for employees. Make it easy for departing staff to participate in exit interviews by allowing them to access exit interviews surveys via mobile device, online, or over the phone. As previously mentioned, consider allowing third-party exit interviewers to speak with your employees, which may make them more comfortable.

Take action

Your employees should trust your company to take your workforce data into action . Demonstrate that the organization takes exit interview feedback seriously by following up on key concerns or suggestions. Communicate any actions or changes that have been implemented as a result of the feedback received.

Continuously evaluate and improve

Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the exit interview process and make improvements based on employee feedback. Consider analyzing participation rates and feedback trends to identify any underlying issues and address them proactively.

Exit Interview: Summary

Ultimately, the goal of conducting an exit interview is to help the organization improve its practices, address concerns, and boost company culture.

Conducting exit interviews with well-designed survey questions demonstrates your commitment to improvement. 

However, it’s important to remember that exit interviews are just one part of the bigger picture. Regular feedback from all employees and good communication are important too. It’s all about making sure that everyone’s voice is heard and that the company is always striving to be the best it can be.

Exit Interviews with People Element

We’ve been a leader in third-party exit interview surveys for decades and worked with countless organizations to better their workplaces. If you are interested in taking your exit strategy to the next level, consider partnering with People Element. Start with a short discovery call today and kick-start your path to better results.

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Exit interviews to reduce turnover amongst healthcare professionals

Exit interviews are widely used in healthcare organisations to identify reasons for staff attrition, yet their usefulness in limiting turnover is unclear.

To determine the effectiveness of various exit interview strategies in decreasing turnover rates amongst healthcare professionals.

Search methods

We searched the Cochrane EPOC Group Specialised Register; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) , Issue 11, 2012; MEDLINE, Ovid (1950‐ ); EMBASE, Ovid (1947‐ ); CINAHL, EbscoHost (1980‐ ), and PsycINFO, OVID (1806‐) between October 31 and November 6, 2012. We also screened the reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews; and searched trial registries for planned and on‐going studies. We did not restrict searches by language or publication date.

Selection criteria

Randomised controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, controlled before‐after studies and interrupted time series studies comparing turnover rates between healthcare professionals who had undergone one form of exit interview with another form of exit interview or with no interview.

Data collection and analysis

Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data.

Main results

The original search identified 1560 citations, of which we considered 19 potentially relevant. The two authors independently reviewed the abstracts of these studies and retrieved the full texts of eight studies. We excluded all eight following independent assessment; they were either interviews, commentaries on how to do an exit interview or descriptive studies about reasons for leaving. We found no studies that matched our inclusion criteria. For this first update, we screened 2220 citations and identified no new studies.

Authors' conclusions

Evidence about the effectiveness of exit interviews to reduce turnover is currently not available. However, exit interviews may provide useful information about the work environment which, in turn, may be useful in the development of interventions to reduce turnover.

Plain language summary

Exit interviews to reduce turnover

In many healthcare organisations, exit interviews are conducted to try to understand why staff are leaving the facility. These interviews may be held before the individual leaves or after they have left the organisation; they may be face‐to‐face interviews or conducted by telephone. The main purpose of the exit interview is to reduce the number of people who leave, by fixing problems that may be identified during the exit interview process. This review sought to determine if the exit interview was useful in achieving this purpose. However, after a wide search, no studies answering the question were found. Further research in this area is needed.

Description of condition

Turnover is defined as "the process whereby staff resign from the organization or transfer within the hospital environment" ( Bland Jones 1990 ). It is a problem that affects all organisations and has become a focus of healthcare institutions because of high replacement costs. In Wise 1993 , this phenomenon is defined as an erosion of human resources within an organisation resulting in an increase in the cost of doing business. Unfortunately, when health care is involved the end result of turnover can impact on patient care and clinical outcomes. Turnover has been a focus of interest for organisations since the early 1900s ( Cotton 1986 ). It can be viewed as beneficial to an organisation to a certain degree, stopping it from becoming stagnant and non‐productive ( Weisman 1981 ). Tai et al suggest that in any organisation, trying to retain staff and keep turnover rates at an acceptable level is beneficial. In healthcare facilities turnover rates range between 10.1% and 50% ( Tai 1998 ), however rates between 15% and 20% annually are considered acceptable to prevent an organisation becoming stagnant ( Capko 2001 ).

Description of intervention

Exit interviews are conducted in many organisations to elicit reasons for employee turnover ( Leahey 1991 ). The practice dates back over half a century ( Melcher 1955 ; Moran 1956 ) and takes the form of either a formal or informal verbal interchange, conducted at a point between the time of resignation and the employee's last working day; a written questionnaire, completed either before or after leaving the organisation; or a combination of both approaches. The exit interview can be defined as "a widely used tool for gathering information from separating employees" ( Giacalone 2003 , p.398). An excellent summation of the process is "that the scope of inquiry is not simply why employees quit their jobs, but the impact of the total work environment on those who chose to stay" ( Drost 1987 , p.104). Although there is argument for and against the exit interview, it remains a recommended component of the exiting process. Well accepted reasons for conducting such interviews include: attempting to change the person's mind about leaving; using the interview as part of an 'image management' exercise ( Lefkowitz 1969 ); documenting specific reasons for the resignation so that managers can use the information to improve the service ( Erickson 1996 ; Leahey 1991 ; Neidermeyer 1987 ); and, more recently, to 'trend' reasons for turnover ( Erickson 1996 ). An exit interview also provides organisational feedback about unethical or bad behaviour and information about current practices, working conditions, management and training programmes ( Drost 1987 ; Giacalone 2003 ; Jackson 2002 ; Jurkiewicz 2001 ). In ideal circumstances the employee is interviewed by someone other than the line manager; information is then gathered and analysed and fed back to managers and executives in a timely manner.

Although the exit interview is widely used, the validity of the approach has been questioned ( Jurkiewicz 2001 ; Lefkowitz 1969 ). There are often inconsistencies in the way the interview is managed, and it may be conducted by people who are unskilled in interview techniques. The exercise is costly and information may not be analysed and fed back in a timely manner, or may be disregarded completely. More importantly, the information elicited may not be accurate. For example, departing employees may wish to leave a good impression to improve chances of a positive future reference or re‐employment ( Hinrichs 1971 ; Yourman 1965 ). They may feel intimidated about discussing the true reason for leaving, especially if conflict is involved and the interview is conducted well before the person's departure date; or they may feel that disclosing their real reason is a waste of time, based on previous experience with the service ( Yourman 1965 ).

How the intervention might work

The intervention under consideration in this review is the exit interview and the primary outcome is staff turnover. In theory, the exit interview reduces turnover by alerting management about organisational deficits or problems that may be amenable to quality improvement activities. Responding to concerns raised during the exit interview provides the organisation with a reputation of caring, which may, in turn, contribute to staff retention.

Why it is important to do this review?

There is a worldwide shortage of healthcare professionals ( WHO 2006 ), so many strategies have been utilised in an attempt to reduce this phenomena, the exit interview being just one of them. This review is timely and important because retaining healthcare professionals has become a priority for most countries around the world. To understand the organisational environment, the manager must be aware of the tools available to assist them in trying to reduce turnover and retain staff. The exit interview is one such tool, but whether it is effective in reducing turnover or the number of healthcare professionals who leave the profession is still disputed.

To determine the effectiveness of various exit interview strategies in decreasing turnover rates amongst healthcare professionals working in healthcare organisations.

To address these objectives we planned the following comparisons.

• Exit interviews compared to no exit interview.
• We also planned to explore the effects of the following characteristics of the intervention on the magnitude of the effect across studies: method of delivery (face‐to‐face, telephone, self‐complied, electronic or postal).
• the timing of the interview in relation to the healthcare professional's resignation;
• the person who carries out the interview in relation to the employee's immediate work environment; and
• the location of the interview in relation to the employee's work environment.

Criteria for considering studies for this review

Types of studies.

Randomised controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, controlled before‐after studies and interrupted time series studies comparing turnover rates between healthcare professionals who had undergone one form of exit interview with another form of exit interview or with no interview. We planned to include studies published in all languages.

Types of participants

Healthcare professionals (including medical, nursing and allied health) who have undergone any type of exit interview from a healthcare organisation.

Types of interventions

Any form of exit interview undertaken at the voluntary cessation of employment or at a prescribed time following departure from the organisation was eligible. These could be a face‐to‐face exit interview, a telephone exit interview, a self‐completed exit interview survey, electronic exit interview survey and mailed exit interview survey.

Types of outcome measures

Primary outcome.

• Turnover rate (defined as the proportion of the population that leaves the organisation in any given year or over the period of the study).

Secondary outcomes

• Organisational change as a result of the exit interview process (for example, evidence of policy change).
• Cost incurred as a result of voluntary cessation of an employee (for example, productivity losses incurred when the new employee is training and orientating, or any other costs reported by the author).
• Absenteeism (days of sickness absence during the study period. Sickness absence may be extracted from the employee attendance records, or may be self‐reported).
• Organisational job satisfaction measured by any validated job satisfaction instrument.

Changes in rates of absenteeism and organisational job satisfaction may be secondary to any organisational change, developed in response to exit interview information.

Search methods for identification of studies

Electronic searches.

The search strategy for this update was revised by the EPOC Trials Search Co‐ordinator (TSC), M. Fiander, to broaden the scope of the search and to implement a new (post‐2008) EPOC Methodological Filter and validated Cochrane Randomised Controlled Trial Filter. The updated searches identified 1240 unique citations (1263 gross less 43 duplicates); since the search strategy was changed, searches were run retrospectively ‐ from database start date to October 2012 using the following databases.

• Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Issue 11, 2012 [Nov 6, 2012]
• MEDLINE, 1946‐, In‐Process and other non‐indexed citations, OvidSP [Nov 2, 2012]
• EMBASE, 1947 ‐ , OvidSP [Nov 2, 2012]
• EPOC Group, Specialised Register, Reference Manager
• CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), 1980‐ , EbscoHost [Nov 6, 2012]
• PsycINFO, 1806‐October <Week 5 2012> [October 31, 2012]

We used two methodological search filters to limit retrieval to appropriate study designs: the Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy (sensitivity‐ and precision‐maximizing version, 2008 revision) to identify randomised trials ( Lefebvre 2011 ); and an EPOC methodology filter to identify non‐randomised controlled trial designs. See Appendix 1 for strategies used for this update, Appendix 2 for methodological filters and Appendix 3 for search strategies used in the original review.

Searching other resources

Trial registries.

We searched the following trial registries for the phrase exit interview :

The World Health Organization International Trial Registry Platform http://www.who.int/ictrp/en/ [accessed 7 December 2012]

The ISRCTN (International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number) Register http://www.controlled‐trials.com/isrctn/ [accessed 7 December 2012]

ClinicalTrials.gov http://clinicaltrials.gov/ [accessed 7 December 2012]

We handsearched those high‐yield journals and conference proceedings which had not already been handsearched on behalf of The Cochrane Collaboration. We checked the reference lists of all papers and relevant reviews identified. We planned to contact authors of papers meeting our inclusion criteria regarding any further published or unpublished work. We also searched the Internet for non‐peer reviewed reports (e.g. professional organisations and governmental agencies) using the phrase exit interview .

Selection of studies

Both review authors independently screened all titles and abstracts identified through the search strategies to assess which studies met the inclusion criteria. We retrieved and assessed full‐text copies of all papers that were potentially relevant for inclusion. Any disagreement was resolved by discussion between the review authors.

Data extraction and management

We had planned to extract the following data where available (to be extracted by one author and checked by the second review author):

• details of trial/study (first author, year of publication, journal, publication status, period);
• setting and country of study;
• source of funding;
• inclusion and exclusion criteria;
• baseline characteristics of participants (age, sex);
• number of participants in each arm of the trial;
• description of intervention (type, duration);
• type of control intervention (type, duration);
• primary and secondary outcomes (by group);
• design/methodological quality data as per risk of bias criteria;
• unit of randomisation (where relevant);
• unit of analysis; and
• results and primary statistical analysis.

Assessment of risk of bias in included studies

Two review authors were to assess study risk of bias independently using the Cochrane Collaboration tool ( Higgins 2011 ). This tool addresses six specific domains: sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding, incomplete outcome data, selective outcome reporting and other issues (e.g. baseline imbalances). See Appendix 4 for details of the criteria on which judgements would have been based.

Measures of treatment effect

Primary analyses.

We planned to base primary analyses on consideration of dichotomous outcome measures (for example, the proportion of healthcare professionals leaving). When studies reported more than one measure for each endpoint, we planned to extract the primary measure (as defined by the authors of the study) or the median measure identified. We planned to present the results for all comparisons using a standard method of presentation where possible. For comparisons of randomised controlled trials and other designs, such as controlled clinical trials and controlled before‐after studies we planned to report separately for each design:

• median effect across included study;
• inter‐quartile ranges of effect size across included studies; and
• range effect sizes across included studies.

We planned to report individual tables comparing effect sizes of interventions grouped according to EPOC taxonomy (structural, professional and organisational) ( EPOC 2002 ).

Where appropriate, we would have used the standard statistical methods of The Cochrane Collaboration for pooling of data from randomised and quasi‐randomised controlled trials. For categorical and continuous data, we would have calculated the risk ratio (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) respectively with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We would have used a random‐effects model to take into account the heterogeneity of the various studies.

Secondary analyses

No secondary analyses were possible.

Methods of re‐analysis

No re‐analysis was possible.

Unit of analysis issues

There were no unit of analysis issues.

Dealing with missing data

If outcome data had remained missing despite our attempts to obtain complete outcome data from authors, we would have performed an available‐case analysis, based on the numbers of participants for whom outcome data were known. If standard deviations were missing, we would have imputed them from other studies or, where possible, computed them from standard errors using the formula SD = SE x √N, where these were available ( Higgins 2011 ).

Assessment of heterogeneity

We would have assessed heterogeneity using tables and bubble plots comparing effect sizes of studies grouped according to potential effect modifiers (timing of the interview, person carrying out the interview and location of the interview). A bubble plot graphically presents the relationship between the outcome of each study and a given effect modifier with the use of regression lines. Each study is represented by a bubble; the size of the bubble represents a study characteristic, often the size and quality of the study ( Higgins 2002 ).

Assessment of reporting biases

We would have assessed reporting bias using the guidelines in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions ( Sterne 2011 ).

Data synthesis

Where appropriate, we would have pooled the results of comparable studies and reported the pooled estimate together with its 95% CI. We planned to conduct a narrative review of eligible studies if statistical synthesis of data from more than one study was not possible or considered inappropriate.

Subgroup analysis and investigation of heterogeneity

We planned to analyse potential sources of heterogeneity using the following subgroup analysis: concealment of allocation (adequate versus not reported).

Sensitivity analysis

We planned to undertake sensitivity analysis to explore the effect of excluding studies where concealment of allocation was unclear.

Description of studies

We found no studies meeting the inclusion criteria.

Results of the search

The initial search identified 1560 citations of which we considered 19 potentially relevant. We independently reviewed the abstracts of these studies and retrieved the full texts of eight studies. We excluded all eight following independent assessment; see Characteristics of excluded studies for the reasons for exclusion. For this update, we identified 1220 new citations. We found no studies that matched our inclusion criteria.

Included studies

No studies were included.

Excluded studies

The table Characteristics of excluded studies contains reasons for excluding eight potentially useful studies.

Risk of bias in included studies

Incomplete outcome data, selective reporting, other potential sources of bias.

No other source of bias.

Effects of interventions

The searches did not identify any studies that met the pre‐specified inclusion criteria for this review, nor were we able to identify any ongoing studies.

Despite the large number of published articles about exit interviews, we have been unable to identify any trials or other high quality studies that have assessed the value of exit interviews to reduce turnover amongst healthcare professionals. We found some anecdotal accounts of reductions in turnover after the introduction of exit interviews, but no data were provided to substantiate these statements ( Hawkins 2003 ). This is disappointing in view of the widespread nature of the practice.

Costs associated with replacing staff may be considerable and have been extensively studied ( Mukamel 2009 ). It therefore seems intuitively sensible to question staff about their reasons for leaving, if this results in organisational changes that lead to lower turnover rates. However, the effectiveness of exit interviews remains unknown, as does the most appropriate method for conducting such interviews.

This review has identified an important gap in turnover research. There is an urgent need for high quality studies to provide managers with evidence to guide decisions about approaches to exit interviews.

Summary of main results

Overall completeness and applicability of evidence.

The review is complete, based on the evidence available.

Quality of the evidence

No randomised controlled trials or other high quality studies were available.

Potential biases in the review process

We do not believe there were any biases in the review process. We conducted a careful literature search and none of the authors have any conflict of interest.

Agreements and disagreements with other studies or reviews

We were unable to compare results from this review with any other studies or reviews.

Implications for practice

Evidence for the effectiveness of exit interviews to reduce turnover is currently not available. Consequently, a range of uncertainties remain about the practice.

Implications for research

Rigorous studies, designed to compare exit interview strategies, are required to inform decisions about healthcare interventions to reduce turnover. Any future studies should include participants from a variety of healthcare settings (e.g. acute, aged care, community), compare interviewers (line managers or independent) and involve interventions such as in‐depth interviews, phone interviews or paper‐based surveys administered before the person leaves the organisation; and interviews, either by phone or face‐to‐face, or paper‐based surveys after the person leaves the organisation. These interventions may be compared with each other or with no planned exit interview strategy. The inclusion of formal, planned economic analyses in any future trial would be very useful to healthcare administrators.

We acknowledge that studies linking exit interview strategies directly with turnover may be complex. Outcomes may be influenced by a variety of interventions which emerge from exit interview data. Consequently, it may be useful to undertake studies that evaluate the impact of exit interviews on intermediate and final outcomes, such as sick leave absence or measures of organisational culture, using an interrupted time series approach, in line with evaluations of other complex interventions. Any such interventions would need to be clearly documented and defined.

Protocol first published: Issue 3, 2007 Review first published: Issue 1, 2011

To improve clarity the title has been changed from 'The use of the exit interview to reduce turnover amongst healthcare professionals' to 'Exit interviews to reduce turnover amongst healthcare professionals'.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the EPOC editors and reviewers for their support and useful comments throughout the development of this review, and the Trials Search Co‐ordinator for assistance in developing the search strategy.

Appendix 1. Search strategies 2012

Ovid medline(r) in‐process & other non‐indexed citations and ovid medline(r) <1946 to present>.

1 exp Health Personnel/ or exp Health Occupations/ or Health Manpower/ or (physician? or general practitioner? or general practic$ or gp or nurs$ or dentist$ or pharmacy$ or paramedic$ or physiotherapy$ or physical therap$ or hospitalist? or medical technician? or medical technologist? or laboratory technician? or laboratory technologist? or occupational therap$).tw. (1911333) 2 Job Satisfaction/ or "Attitude of Health Personnel"/ or Personnel Turnover/ or ((staff or employee or personnel) adj turnover).tw. or attrition.tw. (107357) 3 Interviews as Topic/ or exit interview?.tw. or ((staff or employee or personnel) adj feedback).tw. (37405) 4 1 and 2 and 3 (2081)

13 (exit interview? not (exit interview? adj10 (patient? or customer? or client? or student? or participant?))).ti,ab. and (employment or employee? or ((staff$ or nurse or nurses or nursing or physician? or clinician? or doctor? or practitioner? or RN or GP) adj2 (attrition or retention)) or turnover).ti,ab,hw. (39) 14 (exit policy or exit policies or termination interview? or separation interview?).ti,ab. (8) 15 (or/13‐14)(44)

18 RCT Filter = (754560) 39 EPOC MEthodological Filter version 2.4 used in 2012 = (1912451) 40 EPOC filter used in 2008 original review = (3154284)

(or/4,15 AND 18) [RCT Results = 43]

(or/4,15 and 39) [EPOC Filter 2.4 (2012) Results= 912]

(or/4,15 AND 40) [EPOC Filter (2008) Results = 284]

Embase Classic+Embase <1947 to 2012 November 05>

1 exp health care personnel/ (818592) 2 exp medical profession/ or exp nursing as a profession/ or exp nursing career/ or exp paramedical profession/ (26290) 3 paramedical personnel.ti,ab. (1040) 4 ((health adj3 professional) or (health adj3 professionals) or (healthcare adj3 professional) or (healthcare adj3 professionals)).ti,ab. (60861) 5 ((health adj3 paraprofessional) or (health adj3 paraprofessionals) or (healthcare adj3 paraprofessional) or (healthcare adj3 paraprofessionals)).ti,ab. (76) 6 or/1‐5 (866438) 7 exp job satisfaction/ (20263) 8 exp health personnel attitude/ (121613) 9 exp healthcare personnel management/ or personnel management/ (48753) 10 (turnover or attrition).ti,ab. (92561) 11 or/7‐10 (270240) 12 exp interview/ (124716) 13 (exit interview or exit interviews).ti,ab. (503) 14 (employee feedback or staff feedback).ti,ab. (107) 15 ((feedback adj3 organisation) or (feedback adj3 organization) or (feedback adj3 organisations) or (feedback adj3 organizations) or (feedback adj3 organisational) or (feedback adj3 organizational)).ti,ab. (109) 16 ((organisational adj3 feedback) or (organizational adj3 feedback)).ti,ab. (31) 17 or/12‐16 (125159) 18 6 and 11 and 17 (4199) 19 limit 18 to (human and embase) (1365)

22 ((exit interview? not (exit interview? adj10 (patient? or customer? or client? or student? or participant?))).ti,ab. and (employment or employee? or ((staff$ or nurse or nurses or nursing or physician? or clinician? or doctor? or practitioner? or RN or GP) adj2 (attrition or retention)) or turnover).ti,ab,hw.) or (exit policy or exit policies or termination interview? or separation interview?).ti,ab. (50) 23 22 not 20 [Results identified by new terms 2012] (48)

(19 or 22) AND RCT filter results = 59 (19 or 22) AND EPOC Filter 2.4 (2012) results=244

Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Wiley

Search Name:Exit Interview 2012 Date Run:06/11/12 20:26:34.822 #1MeSH descriptor: [Health Personnel] explode all trees 4609 #2MeSH descriptor: [Health Occupations] explode all trees 13898 #3MeSH descriptor: [Health Manpower] this term only 10 #4"paramedical personnel" or paramedic 352 #5(health* near/3 professional*) or (health* near/3 paraprofessional*) 3324 #6#1 or #2 or #3 or #4 or #5 20230 #7MeSH descriptor: [Job Satisfaction] this term only 144 #8MeSH descriptor: [Attitude of Health Personnel] this term only 1202 #9MeSH descriptor: [Personnel Turnover] this term only 18 #10"job satisfaction":ti,ab 100 #11turnover:ti,ab 2325 #12attrition:ti,ab 787 #13#7 or #8 or #9 or #10 or #11 or #12 4449 #14MeSH descriptor: [Interviews as Topic] this term only 1095 #15"exit interview*":ti,ab 65 #16(feedback near/3 organisation*) or (feedback near/3 organization*) 29 #17"employee feedback" or "staff feedback" 9 #18#14 or #15 or #16 or #17 1185 #19#6 and #13 and #18 26 #20#19 to 2010 24 #21#19 not #20 2 [1 was SR by authors; 1 trial

PsycINFO <1806 to October Week 5 2012

1 ((feedback adj3 organisation$) or (feedback adj3 organization$) or (exit interview$ or "staff feedback" or "employee feedback")).ti,ab,id. or ("interviews" or "job applicant interviews").hw. (7655) 2 (attrition or turnover).ti,ab. or ("employee turnover" or "work (attitudes toward)" or "employee attitudes" or "job satisfaction").hw. (38325) 3 employee turnover/ (3153) 4 or/2‐3 (38325) 5 "paramedical personnel".id. or ("health personnel" or "allied health personnel" or "occupational therapists" or "physical therapists" or "psychiatric aides" or "speech therapists" or "medical personnel" or "dentists" or "military medical personnel" or "nurses" or "psychiatric nurses" or "public health service nurses" or "school nurses" or "optometrists" or "pharmacists" or "physicians" or "family physicians" or "general practitioners" or "gynecologists" or "internists" or "neurologists" or "obstetricians" or "pathologists" or "pediatricians" or "psychiatrists" or "surgeons" or "psychiatric hospital staff" or "mental health personnel" or "clinical psychologists" or "psychiatric social workers" or "psychotherapists" or "hypnotherapists" or "psychoanalysts" or "school psychologists").hw. or ((health$ adj3 professional$) or (health$ adj3 paraprofessional$)).id. (98001) 6 health personnel/ or exp allied health personnel/ or exp medical personnel/ or exp mental health personnel/ or counselors/ or home care personnel/ (98144) 7 or/5‐6 (103537) 8 and/1,4,7 (9) 9 limit 8 to yr="1860 ‐ 2009" (8) 10 8 and (18$ or 19$ or 200$ or "2010901").up. [Identifies citations added to database up to Sept 1‐2010] (8) 11 9 or 10 [Results identified up to Sept 2010] (8) 12 8 not 11 [Results for Nov 5, 2012 update search] (1)

CINAHL, EbscoHost, 1980‐

Appendix 2. search filters, cochrane rct filter 6.4.d sens/precision maximizing, used in 2012 [medline].

16 (randomized controlled trial or controlled clinical trial).pt. or randomized.ab. or placebo.ab. or clinical trials as topic.sh. or randomly.ab. or trial.ti. (816489) 17 exp animals/ not humans.sh. (3799732) 18 16 not 17 (754560)

EPOC FIlter 2.4, used in 2012 [MEDLINE]

19 intervention?.ti. or (intervention? adj6 (clinician? or collaborat$ or community or complex or DESIGN$ or doctor? or educational or family doctor? or family physician? or family practitioner? or financial or GP or general practice? or hospital? or impact? or improv$ or individuali?e? or individuali?ing or interdisciplin$ or multicomponent or multi‐component or multidisciplin$ or multi‐disciplin$ or multifacet$ or multi‐facet$ or multimodal$ or multi‐modal$ or personali?e? or personali?ing or pharmacies or pharmacist? or pharmacy or physician? or practitioner? or prescrib$ or prescription? or primary care or professional$ or provider? or regulatory or regulatory or tailor$ or target$ or team$ or usual care)).ab. (136617) 20 (pre‐intervention? or preintervention? or "pre intervention?" or post‐intervention? or postintervention? or "post intervention?").ti,ab. [added 2.4] (7946) 21 (hospital$ or patient?).hw. and (study or studies or care or health$ or practitioner? or provider? or physician? or nurse? or nursing or doctor?).ti,hw. (667647) 22 demonstration project?.ti,ab. (1790) 23 (pre‐post or "pre test$" or pretest$ or posttest$ or "post test$" or (pre adj5 post)).ti,ab. (55909) 24 (pre‐workshop or post‐workshop or (before adj3 workshop) or (after adj3 workshop)).ti,ab. (510) 25 trial.ti. or ((study adj3 aim?) or "our study").ab. (530502) 26 (before adj10 (after or during)).ti,ab. (326569) 27 ("quasi‐experiment$" or quasiexperiment$ or "quasi random$" or quasirandom$ or "quasi control$" or quasicontrol$ or ((quasi$ or experimental) adj3 (method$ or study or trial or design$))).ti,ab,hw. (91812) 28 ("time series" adj2 interrupt$).ti,ab,hw. (784) 29 (time points adj3 (over or multiple or three or four or five or six or seven or eight or nine or ten or eleven or twelve or month$ or hour? or day? or "more than")).ab. (7432) 30 pilot.ti. (34085) 31 Pilot projects/ (74131) 32 (clinical trial or controlled clinical trial or multicenter study).pt. (593081) 33 (multicentre or multicenter or multi‐centre or multi‐center).ti. (25174) 34 random$.ti,ab. or controlled.ti. (666896) 35 (control adj3 (area or cohort? or compare? or condition or design or group? or intervention? or participant? or study)).ab. not (controlled clinical trial or randomized controlled trial).pt. (362491) 36 "comment on".cm. or review.ti,pt. or randomized controlled trial.pt. (2686775) 37 (rat or rats or cow or cows or chicken? or horse or horses or mice or mouse or bovine or animal?).ti. (1286132) 38 exp animals/ not humans.sh. (3799732) 39 (or/19‐35) not (or/36‐38) [EPOC Methods Filter 2.4 Medline] (1912451)

EPOC Filter, used in 2008 [MEDLINE]

17 Randomized Controlled Trial.pt. (247715) 18 random$.tw. (395118) 19 control$.tw. (1609905) 20 intervention$.tw. (276149) 21 evaluat$.tw. (1276609) 22 or/17‐21 (3016872) 23 16 and 22 (389) 24 animal/ (4175942) 25 human/ (10063227) 26 24 not (24 and 25) (3154284)

RCT Filter, used in 2012 [EMBASE]

24 controlled clinical trial/ or controlled study/ or randomized controlled trial/ [EM] (3977116) 25 (book or conference paper or editorial or letter or review).pt. not randomized controlled trial/ [Per BMJ Clinical Evidence filter] (3834480) 26 (random sampl$ or random digit$ or random effect$ or random survey or random regression).ti,ab. not randomized controlled trial/ [Per BMJ Clinical Evidence filter] (47318) 27 (animal$ not human$).sh,hw. (3770394) 28 24 not (or/25‐27) [Trial filter per BMJ CLinical Evidence] (2609939)

EPOC Filter 2.4, used in 2012 [EMBASE]

29 intervention?.ti. or (intervention? adj6 (clinician? or collaborat$ or community or complex or DESIGN$ or doctor? or educational or family doctor? or family physician? or family practitioner? or financial or GP or general practice? or hospital? or impact? or improv$ or individuali?e? or individuali?ing or interdisciplin$ or multicomponent or multi‐component or multidisciplin$ or multi‐disciplin$ or multifacet$ or multi‐facet$ or multimodal$ or multi‐modal$ or personali?e? or personali?ing or pharmacies or pharmacist? or pharmacy or physician? or practitioner? or prescrib$ or prescription? or primary care or professional$ or provider? or regulatory or regulatory or tailor$ or target$ or team$ or usual care)).ab. (175478) 30 (pre‐intervention? or preintervention? or "pre intervention?" or post‐intervention? or postintervention? or "post intervention?").ti,ab. [added 2.4] (10263) 31 (hospital$ or patient?).hw. and (study or studies or care or health$ or practitioner? or provider? or physician? or nurse? or nursing or doctor?).ti,hw. (1446058) 32 demonstration project?.ti,ab. (2222) 33 (pre‐post or "pre test$" or pretest$ or posttest$ or "post test$" or (pre adj5 post)).ti,ab. (80475) 34 (pre‐workshop or post‐workshop or (before adj3 workshop) or (after adj3 workshop)).ti,ab. (682) 35 trial.ti. or ((study adj3 aim?) or "our study").ab. (726079) 36 (before adj10 (after or during)).ti,ab. (439257) 37 (time points adj3 (over or multiple or three or four or five or six or seven or eight or nine or ten or eleven or twelve or month$ or hour? or day? or "more than")).ab. (9915) 38 pilot.ti. (44167) 39 (multicentre or multicenter or multi‐centre or multi‐center).ti. (34511) 40 random$.ti,ab. or controlled.ti. (841341) 41 review.ti. (286195) 42 (animal$ not human$).sh,hw. (3770394) 43 *experimental design/ or *pilot study/ or quasi experimental study/ (5351) 44 ("quasi‐experiment$" or quasiexperiment$ or "quasi random$" or quasirandom$ or "quasi control$" or quasicontrol$ or ((quasi$ or experimental) adj3 (method$ or study or trial or design$))).ti,ab. (119948) 45 ("time series" adj2 interrupt$).ti,ab. (911) 46 (or/29‐40,43‐45) not (or/41‐42) [EPOC Methods Filter 2.4 EMBASE] (2982542)

CINAHL EPOC FIlter 2012

Cinahl trial filter 2012, appendix 3. search strategies 2007, cochrane library (issue 4 2007).

Search conducted 01/11/07 (12 results)

OVID Medline (1950 – October week 4)

Search conducted 01/11/07

1     exp Health Personnel/

2     exp Health Occupations/

3     Health Manpower/

4     paramedical personnel.mp. [mp=title, original title, abstract, name of substance word, subject heading word]

5     health$ adj3 (professional$ or paraprofessional$)

6     1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5

7     Job Satisfaction/

8     "job satisfaction".ab,ti.

9     "Attitude of Health Personnel"/

10     Personnel Turnover/

11     turnover.mp.

12     attrition.ab,ti.

13     7 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 12

14     Interviews/

15     "exit interview$".mp. [mp=title, original title, abstract, name of substance word, subject heading word]

16     (feedback adj3 (organisation$ or organization$)).mp. [mp=title, original title, abstract, name of substance word, subject heading word]

17     "employee feedback".mp. [mp=title, original title, abstract, name of substance word, subject heading word]

18     "staff feedback".mp. [mp=title, original title, abstract, name of substance word, subject heading word]

19     14 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18

20     6 and 13 and 19 (1078)

CINAHL via EbscoHost

Psycinfo (csa) (1806 – present).

Search conducted  1/11/07

((KW=((feedback within 3 organisation*) or (feedback within 3 organization*))) or (KW=((exit interview*) or ("staff feedback") or ("employee feedback"))) or (DE=("interviews" or "job applicant interviews"))) and ((TI=(attrition or turnover) or AB=(attrition or turnover)) or (DE="employee turnover") or (DE=("work attitudes toward")) or (DE=("employee attitudes" or "job satisfaction"))) and (("paramedical

personnel") or ((DE=("health personnel" or "allied health personnel" or "occupational therapists" or "physical therapists" or "psychiatric aides" or "speech therapists" or "medical personnel" or "dentists" or "military medical personnel" or "nurses" or "psychiatric nurses" or "public health service nurses" or "school nurses" or "optometrists" or "pharmacists" or "physicians" or "family physicians" or "general practitioners" or "gynecologists" or "internists" or "neurologists" or "obstetricians" or "pathologists" or "pediatricians" or "psychiatrists" or "surgeons" or "psychiatric hospital staff" or "mental health personnel" or "clinical psychologists" or "psychiatric social workers" or "psychotherapists" or "hypnotherapists" or "psychoanalysts" or "school psychologists")) or

((health* within 3 professional*) or (health* within 3 paraprofessional*))))

Embase.com 1974 – present

Search conducted 02/11/07

#1.  'health care personnel'/exp      

#2.  'medical profession'/exp OR 'nursing as a profession’/exp

      OR 'nursing career'/exp OR 'paramedical profession’/exp

 #3.  'paramedical personnel':ab,ti                             

#4.  'health *3 professional':ab,ti OR 'health *3 professionals’:ab,ti     

      OR 'healthcare *3 professional':ab,ti OR 'healthcare *3 professionals':ab,ti

 #5.  'health *3 paraprofessional':ab,ti OR 'health *3 paraprofessionals':ab,ti OR 'healthcare *3 paraprofessional':ab,ti OR 'healthcare *3 paraprofessionals’:ab,t

 #6.  #1 OR #2 OR #3 OR #4 OR #5                           

#7.  'job satisfaction'/exp

#8.  'health personnel attitude'/exp

#9.  'health care personnel management'/exp OR 'personnel management'/de      

#10. turnover:ab,ti OR attrition:ab,ti                      

#11. #7 OR #8 OR #9 OR #10                                  

#12. 'interview'/exp

#13. 'exit interview':ab,ti OR 'exit interviews':ab,ti         

#14. 'employee feedback':ab,ti OR 'staff feedback':ab,ti        

 #16. 'feedback *3 organisation':ab,ti,ab,ti OR 'feedback *3 organization':ab,ti,ab,ti OR 'feedback *3 organisations':ab,ti,ab,ti OR 'feedback *3 organizations':ab,ti,ab,ti 

 OR 'feedback *3 organisational':ab,ti OR 'feedback *3 organizational':ab,ti

 #17. 'organisational *3 feedback':ab,ti OR 'organizational *3 feedback':ab,ti         

 #18. #12 OR #13 OR #14 OR #16 OR #17                      

#19. #6 AND #11 AND #18                                        

#20. #6 AND #11 AND #18 AND [humans]/lim AND [embase]/lim       

Appendix 4. Criteria for judging sources of bias

1. was the allocation sequence randomly generated.

Yes, low risk of bias. A random (unpredictable) assignment sequence. Examples of adequate methods of sequence generation are computer‐generated random sequence, coin toss (for studies with two groups), rolling a dice (for studies with two or more groups), drawing of balls of different colours, dealing previously shuffled cards.

No, high risk of bias. ‐ Quasi‐randomised approach: examples of inadequate methods are alternation, birth date, social insurance/security number, date in which they are invited to participate in the study, and hospital registration number. ‐ Non‐random approaches: allocation by judgement of the clinician; by preference of the participant; based on the results of a laboratory test or a series of tests; by availability of the intervention.

Unclear. Insufficient information about the sequence generation process to permit judgement.

2. Was the treatment allocation adequately concealed?

Yes, low risk of bias. Assignment must be generated independently by a person not responsible for determining the eligibility of the participants. This person has no information about the persons included in the trial and has no influence on the assignment sequence or on the decision about whether the person is eligible to enter the trial. Examples of adequate methods of allocation concealment are: central allocation, including telephone, web‐based and pharmacy‐controlled randomisation; sequentially numbered drug containers of identical appearance; sequentially numbered, opaque, sealed envelopes.

No, high risk of bias. Examples of inadequate methods of allocation concealment are: alternate medical record numbers; unsealed envelopes; date of birth; case record number; alternation or rotation; an open list of random numbers any information in the study that indicated that investigators or participants could influence the intervention group.

Unclear. Randomisation stated but no information on method of allocation used is available.

3. Was knowledge of the allocated interventions adequately prevented during the study?

Was the participant blinded to the intervention?

Yes, low risk of bias. The treatment and control groups are indistinguishable for the participants or if the participant was described as blinded and the method of blinding was described.

No, high risk of bias. Blinding of study participants attempted, but likely that the blinding could have been broken; participants were not blinded, and the non‐blinding of others likely to introduce bias.

Unclear. Insufficient information to permit judgement of 'yes' or 'no'.

Was the care provider blinded to the intervention?

Yes, low risk of bias. The treatment and control groups are indistinguishable for the care/treatment providers or if the care provider was described as blinded and the method of blinding was described.

No, high risk of bias. Blinding of care/treatment providers attempted, but likely that the blinding could have been broken; care/treatment providers were not blinded, and the non‐blinding of others likely to introduce bias.

Unclear Insufficient information to permit judgement of 'yes' or 'no'. 

Was the outcome assessor blinded to the intervention?

Yes, low risk of bias. Adequacy of blinding should be assessed for the primary outcomes. The outcome assessor was described as blinded and the method of blinding was described.

No, high risk of bias. No blinding or incomplete blinding, and the outcome or outcome measurement is likely to be influenced by lack of blinding.

Unclear. Insufficient information to permit judgement of 'yes' or 'no'. 

4. Were incomplete outcome data adequately addressed?

Was the drop‐out rate described and acceptable?

The number of participants who were included in the study but did not complete the observation period or were not included in the analysis must be described and reasons given.

Yes, low risk of bias. ‐ If the percentage of withdrawals and drop‐outs does not exceed 20% for short‐term follow up and 30% for long‐term follow up and does not lead to substantial bias (NB. these percentages are arbitrary, not supported by literature). ‐ No missing outcome data. ‐ Reasons for missing outcome data unlikely to be related to true outcome (for survival data, censoring unlikely to be introducing bias). ‐ Missing outcome data balanced in numbers across intervention groups, with similar reasons for missing data across groups. ‐ Missing data have been imputed using appropriate methods.

No, high risk of bias. Reason for missing outcome data likely to be related to true outcome, with either imbalance in numbers or reasons for missing data across intervention groups.

Unclear. Insufficient reporting of of attrition/exclusions to permit judgement of 'yes' or 'no'.

Were all randomised participants analysed in the group to which they were allocated? (intention to treat (ITT) analysis)

Yes, low risk of bias. Specifically reported by authors that ITT was undertaken and this was confirmed on study assessment, or not stated but evident from study assessment that all randomised participants are reported/analysed in the group they were allocated to for the most important time point of outcome measurement (minus missing values) irrespective of non‐compliance and co‐interventions.

No, high risk of bias. ‐ Lack of ITT confirmed on study assessment (patients who were randomised were not included in the analysis because they did not receive the study intervention, they withdrew from the study or were not included because of protocol violation) regardless of whether ITT reported or not. ‐ ‘As‐treated’ analysis done with substantial departure of the intervention received from that assigned at randomisation; potentially inappropriate application of simple imputation.

Unclear. Described as ITT analysis, but unable to confirm on study assessment, or not reported and unable to confirm by study assessment.

5. Are reports of the study free of suggestion of selective outcome reporting?

Yes, low risk of bias. If all the results from all prespecified outcomes have been adequately reported in the published report of the trial. This information is either obtained by comparing the protocol and the final trial report, or in the absence of the protocol, assessing that the published report includes enough information to make this judgment. Alternatively a judgement could be made if the trial report lists the outcomes of interest in the methods of the trial and then reports all these outcomes in the results section of the trial report.

No, high risk of bias. ‐ Not all of the study’s prespecified primary outcomes have been reported. ‐ One or more primary outcomes is reported using measurements, analysis methods or subsets of the data (e.g. subscales) that were not prespecified. ‐ One or more reported primary outcomes were not prespecified (unless clear justification for their reporting is provided, such as an unexpected adverse effect). ‐ One or more outcomes of interest in the review are reported incompletely so that they cannot be entered in a meta‐analysis. ‐ The study report fails to include results for a key outcome that would be expected to have been reported for such a study.

6. Other sources of potential bias

Yes, low risk of bias. The study appeared to be free of other sources of bias.

No, high risk of bias.

There is at least one important risk of bias. For example the study:

• used an inappropriate study design;
• was stopped early due to some data‐dependent process;
• had extreme baseline imbalances; or
• has been claimed to be fraudulent.

Unclear. There may be a risk of bias but there is insufficient information to permit judgement of whether other risks of bias exist.

Edited (no change to conclusions)

Characteristics of studies

Characteristics of excluded studies [ordered by study id], differences between protocol and review.

A number of secondary outcomes were removed. They were related to reasons for leaving (e.g. stress) rather than useful organisational outcome measures.

Contributions of authors

Anndrea L Flint (ALF) and Joan Webster (JW) prepared the protocol. JW conducted the searches for the first update. ALF and JW applied the inclusion criteria. ALF prepared the report and JW commented on and edited it. JW responded to reviewers comments.

Declarations of interest

JW and ALF authored one of the excluded studies.

References to studies excluded from this review

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, strategic exit interviewing: encouraging voice, enhancing alignment and examining process.

Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance

ISSN : 2051-6614

Article publication date: 13 March 2017

To maximize their effectiveness, exit interviews should incorporate employee voice and be aligned with other HR processes. The purpose of this paper is to describe a three-step approach to the strategic use of exit interviews.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study synthesizes extant theory including that of employee voice to enhance the exit interview process. A qualitative study conducted within a large marketing research organization demonstrates how exit interviews that utilize employee voice can inform HR and organizational strategy.

Application of the proposed process to the case study revealed conditions, critical incidents, and cognitive processes underlying exit decisions for employees in several job categories. Qualitative exit information is used to describe corresponding employee withdrawal paths.

Practical implications

Use of the three-step exit interview process is expected to enhance HR decisions. Data gathered from the three-step process can be used by HR and organizational leaders to develop action plans as well as inform an organization’s strategic decisions.

Originality/value

An organizational example is presented in which insight into underlying causes of voluntary turnover are discovered through exit interviews. Exit interview information suggested interventions related to HR processes. Such targeted insights from exit interviews can greatly improve retention and enhance organizational effectiveness.

• Turnover (employee)
• Strategic human resource management
• Exit interviews

Pace, V.L. and Kisamore, J.L. (2017), "Strategic exit interviewing: encouraging voice, enhancing alignment and examining process", Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance , Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 59-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-03-2016-0023

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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31 May, 2023

How to Conduct an Effective Exit Interview

Brianna Moore

Content Marketing Manager

An exit interview is a final discussion between an organization and a departing employee. The primary goal of this interview is to find out why the employee has decided to leave and gather feedback on the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. While some employers may overlook this practice, it is an essential tool in understanding employee experiences and improving organizational culture. In this article, we will explore the best practices for conducting effective exit interviews and utilizing the feedback gathered.

Understanding the Importance of Exit Interviews

When an employee decides to leave an organization, it can be challenging to determine why. An exit interview provides an opportunity to gather information about an employee’s experiences, including their likes, dislikes, and grievances. These insights can help organizations improve their operations by identifying areas of success, as well as opportunities for growth and development.

During an exit interview, the employee may provide feedback on a variety of topics, including their interactions with coworkers and management, the workload and job responsibilities, and the overall culture of the organization. This feedback can be invaluable in helping the organization understand the factors that contribute to employee turnover and identify areas for improvement.

Reasons for Conducting Exit Interviews

There are several reasons why employers should conduct exit interviews. First and foremost, they provide valuable feedback on an organization’s management practices, culture, and work environment. By understanding the reasons why an employee has decided to leave, the organization can take steps to address any concerns and improve the overall employee experience.

Exit interviews can also identify potential issues that may affect retention rates and cause other employees to leave. For example, if several employees report feeling overworked or underappreciated, the organization can take steps to address these concerns and improve employee morale.

Finally, exit interviews can be an important tool in improving employee engagement and communication by demonstrating that the organization values and cares about their feedback. By taking the time to listen to departing employees, the organization can show that it is committed to continuous improvement and creating a positive work environment.

Benefits for the Organization and Employees

There are numerous benefits for both the organization and employees that can result from exit interviews. By identifying areas of improvement in organizational practices, the organization can take steps to improve the employee experience and reduce turnover rates. This can result in cost savings associated with hiring and training new employees, as well as increased productivity and efficiency.

Exit interviews can also help the organization identify potential legal liabilities and address them proactively. For example, if several employees report experiencing discrimination or harassment, the organization can take steps to investigate and address these issues before they escalate.

Finally, exit interviews can demonstrate a commitment to employee engagement and job satisfaction. By showing that the organization values and cares about their feedback, departing employees may be more likely to speak positively about their experience and refer others to the organization.

Overall, exit interviews are an important tool for organizations to gather feedback and improve the employee experience. By taking the time to listen to departing employees, organizations can identify areas for improvement and take steps to create a positive and productive work environment.

Preparing for the Exit Interview

As an employer, conducting an exit interview can provide valuable insights into the reasons for an employee’s departure and help identify areas for improvement. To ensure that the exit interview is effective, there are several steps that employers need to take to prepare.

Selecting the Right Interviewer

Choosing the right interviewer is crucial to the success of the exit interview. The interviewer should be someone who is skilled in active listening and has the ability to receive feedback without becoming defensive. They should also be someone who is not directly connected to the departing employee or their immediate supervisor. This will help ensure that the feedback received is objective and unbiased.

It is also essential to choose an interviewer who has a good understanding of the organization and its culture. This will enable them to ask relevant questions and provide appropriate feedback to the departing employee.

Creating a Comfortable Environment

Creating a comfortable environment is essential to ensure that the departing employee feels at ease during the exit interview. Employers should ensure that the interview is conducted in a private space that is free from distractions and interruptions. This will help the employee to feel more relaxed and open to communication.

It is also important to ensure that the interview takes place at a time that is convenient for the departing employee. This will help to show that their feedback is valued and that the employer is committed to understanding their reasons for leaving.

Developing a Comprehensive Questionnaire

Developing a comprehensive questionnaire is crucial to ensure that all relevant topics are covered during the exit interview. The questionnaire should cover a range of topics, including job satisfaction, workplace treatment, employee relations, workplace culture, and opportunities for growth and development.

It is important to ensure that the questionnaire is open-ended, allowing departing employees to provide additional feedback or comments. This will help to ensure that the feedback received is detailed and specific, providing valuable insights into the reasons for the employee’s departure.

Employers should also consider tailoring the questionnaire to the specific circumstances of the employee’s departure. For example, if the employee is leaving to pursue a new opportunity, the questionnaire could include questions about their reasons for seeking a new role and their experience of the recruitment process.

By taking these steps to prepare for the exit interview, employers can ensure that the process is effective and provides valuable insights into the reasons for an employee’s departure. This, in turn, can help to identify areas for improvement and support ongoing efforts to enhance employee engagement and retention.

Conducting the Exit Interview

When an employee decides to leave an organization, it is essential for the employer to conduct an exit interview. The purpose of the exit interview is to gather feedback from the departing employee about their experiences while working for the organization. This feedback can be used to improve the organization’s operations and retain future employees.

Establishing a Positive Tone

Establishing a positive tone is crucial for conducting a successful exit interview. Employers should make sure that the departing employee feels comfortable and respected throughout the interview. This can be achieved by greeting the employee warmly, thanking them for their time, and ensuring that the interview takes place in a private and confidential setting.

It is also important to acknowledge the employee’s contributions to the organization and express gratitude for their service. Doing so will help to establish a positive tone and encourage open and honest communication.

Encouraging Open and Honest Feedback

Encouraging open and honest feedback is essential for obtaining valuable information from the departing employee. Employers should emphasize that honest feedback is valued and that the purpose of the interview is to improve the organization’s future operations.

Employers should also assure the departing employee that their feedback will be kept confidential and not used against them in any way. This will help to build trust and encourage the employee to be more forthcoming with their feedback.

Asking the Right Questions

Asking the right questions is crucial for obtaining useful information from the departing employee. Employers should prepare a list of questions in advance that are relevant to the employee’s experiences and the organization’s operations.

Some questions that employers may want to ask include:

• What was your overall job satisfaction while working for the organization?
• What were the primary reasons for your decision to leave?
• How would you describe the work environment?
• What were your experiences with management practices?
• Are there any areas for improvement that you would recommend?

Listening Actively and Empathetically

Listening actively and empathetically is essential for understanding the departing employee’s feedback. Employers should pay close attention to what the employee is saying and ask relevant follow-up questions.

It is also important for employers to avoid becoming defensive or argumentative during the interview. Instead, they should remain open-minded and use the feedback received to gain a better understanding of how to improve their organization.

By conducting a successful exit interview, employers can gather valuable feedback from departing employees and use it to improve their organization’s operations. This can lead to increased employee satisfaction, improved retention rates, and a more positive work environment overall.

Analyzing and Utilizing Exit Interview Data

After conducting the exit interview, it is crucial to analyze the data collected and utilize the feedback to improve organizational practices. However, analyzing and utilizing exit interview data is not a one-time process, but a continuous one that requires consistent effort and commitment from the organization.

One way to ensure that the feedback collected from exit interviews is effectively analyzed is by categorizing it into different themes. These themes could include areas such as compensation, work-life balance, leadership, company culture, and career growth opportunities. By categorizing the feedback, employers can identify patterns and trends, making it easier to develop targeted solutions that address the root causes of employee dissatisfaction or disengagement.

Identifying Patterns and Trends

Employers should identify patterns and trends in the feedback received to determine which areas of the organization require improvement. This analysis can help employers to develop targeted solutions that address the root causes of employee dissatisfaction or disengagement. For instance, if several employees consistently raise concerns about the lack of growth opportunities, the organization can develop a career development program to address this issue.

Moreover, employers should also analyze the feedback based on factors such as department, job level, and tenure. This analysis can help employers to identify if specific departments or job levels have a higher rate of turnover and what factors contribute to this trend.

Addressing Employee Concerns and Issues

Employers should address employee concerns and issues raised during exit interviews promptly. Doing so will demonstrate to current employees that the organization values their feedback and is committed to improving their experiences. Additionally, addressing these concerns and issues can help to prevent future turnover and improve employee engagement levels.

Organizations can address employee concerns and issues by creating action plans that outline the steps they will take to address the feedback received. These action plans should include specific timelines, responsible parties, and measurable goals to ensure accountability and track progress.

Implementing Changes for Continuous Improvement

Finally, employers should use the feedback gathered during exit interviews to implement changes and improve organizational processes continually. By doing so, they can establish a culture of continuous improvement that prioritizes employee feedback, ensures high engagement levels, and ultimately enhances overall organizational performance.

Organizations can implement changes for continuous improvement by regularly reviewing and updating their action plans based on the feedback received. Additionally, they can create employee engagement surveys to gather feedback from current employees and use this feedback to inform their continuous improvement efforts.

In conclusion, analyzing and utilizing exit interview data is a critical component of any organization’s talent management strategy. By identifying patterns and trends, addressing employee concerns and issues, and implementing changes for continuous improvement, employers can improve employee engagement levels, reduce turnover, and enhance overall organizational performance.

Exit interviews can benefit both organizations and employees by identifying areas for improvement and addressing concerns and issues that may impact retention rates. To conduct effective exit interviews, employers must prepare by selecting the right interviewer, creating a comfortable environment, and developing a comprehensive questionnaire. During the interview, employers should aim to establish a positive tone, encourage open and honest feedback, ask the right questions, and listen actively and empathetically. Finally, employers should analyze and utilize the feedback received to identify patterns and trends, address employee concerns and issues, and implement changes for continuous improvement.

Brianna Moore Content Marketing Manager

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The Power of Exit Interviews: Retaining Top Employees and Fostering Organizational Growth

by Honeit Software | Aug 2, 2023 | employee experience , exit interviews , HR Technology , HRTech , human resources , interview analytics , interview collaboration , interview communication , interview data , interview insights , interview intelligence , interview software , interview technology

Introduction

Employee turnover is an inevitable reality for most organizations. However, when top-performing employees decide to leave, it can be a significant loss in terms of talent, institutional knowledge, and team dynamics. To retain the best employees and gain valuable insights into organizational strengths and weaknesses, companies are increasingly turning to exit interviews. This article delves into the importance and power of exit interviews, showcasing how the data collected can help organizations understand top employees’ needs, improve the employee experience, and ultimately retain the best talent within their ranks.

Understanding Exit Interviews

Exit interviews are structured conversations conducted with employees who are leaving the organization voluntarily. These interviews aim to gather candid feedback on the employee’s experiences, reasons for departure, and perceptions of the organization’s culture, leadership, and policies. Unlike performance reviews or stay interviews, exit interviews occur at the end of an employee’s tenure, making them a valuable opportunity to gather critical insights from individuals who may have a fresh perspective on the company.

The Importance of Exit Interviews

• Insight into Employee Needs: Exit interviews offer a unique chance to understand what matters most to employees who have decided to leave. By providing an open platform for departing employees to express their thoughts, concerns, and aspirations, organizations can identify patterns and trends that may have contributed to their decision to leave. Understanding these needs allows companies to make targeted improvements and retain other top performers who share similar sentiments.
• Improving the Employee Experience: The data collected from exit interviews can shed light on aspects of the employee experience that need enhancement. Whether it’s inadequate resources, lack of growth opportunities, or insufficient support, this feedback can guide organizations in devising strategies to create a more positive and engaging work environment. By addressing these issues proactively, companies can foster a culture of continuous improvement and boost overall employee satisfaction.
• Identifying Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses: Exit interviews provide valuable insights into what the organization is doing right and where improvements are needed. Identifying and leveraging strengths can help retain top talent by showcasing the company’s commitment to supporting its employees. Simultaneously, addressing weaknesses can help prevent future talent attrition and optimize organizational performance.
• Enhancing Talent Management: Exit interview data allows organizations to refine their talent management practices, including hiring, training, and retention strategies. Understanding why top employees leave can help identify gaps in the talent management process, enabling organizations to make more informed decisions when hiring and retaining employees in the future.

Leveraging Exit Interview Data

• Retention Strategies: The feedback gathered from exit interviews can inform the development of targeted retention strategies. By addressing the root causes of employee departures, organizations can create initiatives that align with the needs and aspirations of their top talent, increasing the likelihood of retaining valuable employees.
• Improving Leadership and Management: Exit interview data can highlight areas where leadership and management practices may need improvement. Organizations can use this feedback to provide additional training and development opportunities for managers, empowering them to create a more supportive and nurturing work environment.
• Career Pathing and Growth Opportunities: Employees often leave organizations in pursuit of better career growth opportunities. Exit interviews can reveal whether there was a lack of internal growth prospects, prompting top talent to seek external opportunities. Armed with this information, organizations can develop robust career development programs, promoting internal mobility and showcasing a commitment to employee growth.
• Enhancing Company Culture: The data from exit interviews can offer valuable insights into the organization’s culture and how it impacts employee satisfaction. Companies can use this feedback to strengthen cultural values, ensuring that they resonate with top talent and contribute to a positive work environment.

Exit interviews represent a powerful tool for organizations to retain their best employees and drive continuous improvement. By actively seeking feedback from departing employees, companies gain valuable insights into the employee experience, organizational strengths, and areas for development . Leveraging this data allows organizations to implement targeted strategies that resonate with their top talent, fostering an environment where employees feel valued, supported, and encouraged to grow professionally. By harnessing the power of exit interviews, organizations can not only retain their best employees but also gain a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent within their ranks.

Below is how interview data and human insights from Exit Interviews can be instantly shared with executive leadership for strategic decision-making, collaboration, pattern recognition, and improving the employee experience.

HR, exit interviews, employee experience, talent retention, talent management, organizational improvement, leadership training, company culture, career development, institutional knowledge

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The complete guide to exit interviews with 14 must-ask questions

It’s always a blow when an employee leaves. 

Not only do you lose their knowledge and experience, but it can cost up to twice your employee’s salary to find a replacement.

But even on their last day, your exiting employees can be a vital resource for your company. They can provide insights into your organization’s weaknesses, showing you how to bolster employee retention in the future.

The right exit interview questions let you tap into that insight. When hiring a new employee, you use thorough skills testing to gather the information you need about their skills before bringing them on. It makes sense to take a similar approach when they leave, right?

In this post, we walk you through the employee exit interview one question at a time. Then we dig into what an exit interview is, why it matters, and how you can make it work for you.

Table of contents

Part 1: 14 exit interview questions to ask departing employees, part 2: a deep dive into exit interviews, use exit interviews to improve your hiring processes.

Exit interviews can be sensitive for both you and your departing employee. To keep the conversation on track, you need to approach the interview with a clear plan . 

A well-structured exit interview is helpful for both parties. It gives your departing employee an opportunity to share any issues they encountered and lets you gather valuable information to help your company improve.

These 14 questions are arranged in order, so your conversation flows as naturally as possible. Each one helps your company understand more about its processes, workflow, and culture – as well as the specifics of your employee’s departure.

Whenever you’re ready to schedule the interview, keep this exit interview template in your back pocket.

Exit interview questions at a glance

1. what led you to start searching for a new job.

This is a broad-strokes, open-ended question, which makes it a great way to open an exit interview. It gives your employee scope to direct the conversation to their biggest concerns, enabling you to focus your conversation accordingly. While it isn’t relevant to all employees (particularly those who have been laid off or decided to retire), it’s a strong opening question in most situations.

Whether their answer focuses on what your company lacks or what other organizations offer that you don’t, you can get a useful early picture of your employee’s situation.

This question is especially useful if you’re facing high levels of voluntary turnover . Watch for patterns in the answers your departing employees give to this question. These patterns might point to specific things you could change within your company to limit the cost and consequences of losing your staff.

2. What did you like best and least about your job and this company?

The first part of this question invites positive feedback, which helps you to see what you are doing well. Even if they have serious reasons for leaving, most employees can still point to something they liked about working for your company.

That’s important information, too:  If you’re doing something right, it’s important to know what it is and to stick with it.

The second part of the question gives your employee scope to raise any challenges they faced in the role they’re leaving. Whatever they tell you should form the basis of further discussion about what your company can do better.

3. Do you think your job has changed since you were hired?

The nature of any role can shift over time – and as an HR manager, you may not always be aware of it.

These changes are often totally normal, reflecting your company’s changing operational needs. But they sometimes point to other factors, such as understaffing or management issues, which may indicate larger problems within your company. 

If your employee feels their role has changed since they started, it’s worth your while to get their perspective on that shift.

And regardless of the reasons the job might have changed, you need to understand the current shape of the role before you hire someone new to take it on. This question gives you important context to write a great job description and employee profile for whoever replaces your leaving employee.

4. Do you feel you were given adequate support, resources, and tools to succeed in your job?

Employees want to be able to trust their managers and senior leadership to support them at work. 

So if your exiting employee doesn’t feel that they were well-supported in their role, you need to know about it. It points to a major area of potential improvement for your organization.

By asking for input on how you can do better, you acquire a valuable perspective on your company culture. If there’s a problem, your employee has probably thought about how it could be solved. Take advantage of that insight, and your remaining staff will reap the benefits.

5. Do you feel you received enough training and upskilling opportunities? 

Opportunities for reskilling and upskilling are an increasingly big concern for people deciding where to work. According to research from PwC:[1]

77% of workers are ready to upskill or retrain

74% of workers see upskilling as an important professional responsibility

93% of CEOs who use upskilling programs see an improvement in talent retention

If your departing employee doesn’t feel they received enough opportunities to grow within your organization, you need to act on that valuable feedback. Offering more chances to train and upskill is an easy way to limit employee turnover.

6. Do you feel that your contributions have been recognized and valued? 

Whatever we do, we all want to feel recognized and appreciated at work. Conversely, employees who don’t feel valued are likely to look elsewhere for opportunities.

If your employees are not feeling acknowledged, it can lead to morale issues, which generate turnover. And if your turnover problem gets out of hand, they lead to further problems with morale throughout your company – creating a vicious cycle.

Asking this question helps you to identify whether your company is doing enough to recognize its staff. If your feedback on this question is negative, it’s time to think harder about ways to show appreciation to your team members.

7. Were your working conditions flexible enough?

Since the pandemic, remote working has seen a major boom. But flexible working is about more than just remote work. It’s also about other benefits, including:

Paid time off

Schedule flexibility

Part-time work options

Scope for sabbaticals or career breaks

And it’s an increasingly important concern for employees. In a survey by McKinsey, 21% of respondents cited flexible working arrangements as a top priority when looking for a new job.

If your employees aren’t getting what they need in terms of flexibility from your company, they’re likely to look elsewhere. Understanding what your exiting employees want from their work arrangements helps you to offer your current staff a better deal.

8. How would you describe the overall culture of our company? 

Understanding your company culture enables you to hire more efficiently and establish common ground with your employees. The shared values of a company’s culture are foundational to an efficient team.

There are four key benefits of having a strong organizational culture:

Improves employee performance and productivity

Attracts the best talent

Reduces turnover rates and assists in retaining employees

Makes your organization more competitive on the whole

But devising a company culture is very different from implementing it in practice. Your team members, who experience your company culture first-hand every day, can bring a fresh perspective to your understanding of your company culture.

If the answers you receive when you ask this question don’t align with your goals for your company culture, it may be time to reevaluate your approach.

9. Did you encounter any problematic company policies?

Like company culture, policies can look very different depending on your angle of approach. A policy that makes perfect sense to managers may cause serious difficulties for the employees who have to navigate it every day.

This question helps you dig into the specific difficulties your employee encountered in their post. Whether a problematic policy impacted the day-to-day logistics of their work or their overall experience of the company, you benefit from understanding what went wrong and why.

Answers to this question provide constructive feedback on how to fix persistent problems at work. The information you glean here could save your current employees real frustration while improving overall productivity as a bonus.

10. How was your overall experience working with your colleagues?

Most full-time workers spend more time with their colleagues than with their families. It’s always better for a company to build teams that work well together – it leads to better employee engagement and higher productivity for everyone.[2]

But on the other side of that coin, teams that don’t work well together can torpedo an employee’s morale.

If your departing employee mentions difficulties in working with their colleagues, you should consider changing your hiring approach. With the right tests, like the popular 16 Types Personalities test , you can gauge who’ll get along well with your teams and avoid this problem.

11. Did you have a good experience working with your manager? 

A recent Flexjobs study shows that poor management is the number three reason why people leave their jobs. It’s an indicator of how crucial it is for employees and managers to work well together – and how a bad relationship with a manager sours the job experience.

While that bad relationship can come down to something as innocuous as a mismatch of leadership styles , it may also point to a larger problem with the manager’s approach. 

Asking this question of all your departing employees gives you the data you need to determine whether your company has a management problem. If multiple employees working with the same manager are quitting, it’s worth examining that manager’s performance more closely.

12. What do you think the company could have done differently to retain you?

The ultimate goal of these questions is to learn what you could have done better to retain your employee. This specific question doesn’t apply to all departing employees – it isn’t worth asking how you could have retained an employee who is retiring, for example. But in most cases, this question gets right to the point of the exit interview.

If you followed this guide from the beginning, you have probably already asked what prompted your employee to start looking elsewhere. This question is more focused on potential changes than on root causes. It asks directly for feedback and suggestions that may benefit your remaining staff.

Because this question is so general, it often helps to target issues that are harder to spot at a glance. A salary differential between your company and a competitor is an obvious reason for an employee to leave, but concerns like inefficient processes or unresponsive managers can be harder to pin down. 

13. Would you consider returning to the company?

Believe it or not, not all your departing employees are gone for good. Visier offers some key stats on returning employees : 

29% of newly hired employees were rehires in 2020

25% of returning employees were high performers when previously employed by their companies

Returning employers generally come back to their former employers after one year away

So-called “ boomerang employees ” come with real advantages. They already know your company and have valuable experience with how you work. This means they take less time and money to onboard. 

If there are factors that would encourage your exiting employees to return, it’s worthwhile to know what they are. Knowing these factors helps you out in the long run.

14. Do you have any more suggestions for how we could improve as a company?

No matter how much you plan your exit interview, there’s always the risk that you won’t ask the right question to prompt your employee to talk about their experience. If you don’t leave them room to share additional comments, you could miss out on vital information that could help to improve your company.

This open-ended final question is designed to cover any bases you may have missed.

Knowing the best exit interview questions to ask is only half the battle. To get the most out of an exit interview, it’s important to understand exactly how it benefits your company.

This guide to the best practices for exit interviews offers a path to meaningful insights about your workplace. You can use these for continuous improvement so your organization stays competitive when it comes to recruiting top talent .

In this section, we go over why exit interviews matter. Then we delve into the best ways to make them work for you so you learn as much as possible and have the greatest scope to improve your practices in the future.

What is an exit interview?

An exit interview is a 1:1 meeting between an employee and a human resources professional. It’s an opportunity to ask questions about your worker’s decision to leave. Even better, it’s a chance to learn from their experiences of your company – good or bad – so you can continue to develop as an organization.

An exit interview should:

Formally end the relationship between employer and employee in a constructive way

Provide information about your employee’s experience of the company, its culture, its management, and their team

Help you to understand your employee’s reasons for leaving

Give you the tools to identify areas for improvement within your organization 

Why are exit interviews important?

7 best practices for gaining maximum insight from exit interviews.

Beyond asking the right questions, you must approach the exit interview process with sensitivity and care. Handling this gracefully increases your chances of gaining meaningful, honest feedback from your employees. 

Follow these steps, and you’ll see a real improvement in the quality of the data your exit interviews yield.

Exit interview best practices at a glance

1. get the timing right.

You should schedule exit interviews after your employee has told you they plan to leave, but before they go anywhere. This means the exit interview acts as a definitive capstone on their experience with your organization.

This is true even for remote employees . Although you don’t need to worry about them being inaccessible in person or face-to-face after they leave, you should still aim to give them a coherent, orderly offboarding process .

That way, you can be sure that your company treats its employees fairly and professionally to the end of their time with you.

2. Have a neutral party conduct the interview

Your employee may have a fraught relationship with their manager, especially if they’ve been laid off or fired. Even if that’s not the case, it’s important to remember that they probably worked very closely with their manager. They may not feel comfortable being totally honest about their experiences when that manager tries to collect exit interview feedback.

Having an HR professional or coach conduct the exit interview leaves more room for your employee to speak frankly. This improves the quality (and accuracy) of the data you gather.

3. Be aware of your employee’s feelings

The average person spends 1,936 hours at work every year. Even if they’ve voluntarily decided to leave, your employees might find it challenging to move on from a place where they’ve invested so much time.

Be aware that your employees may have difficulty transitioning out of their workplace, and approach the exit interview sensitively. Try to use non-judgmental language, give people space to speak openly, and respect the answers they give you.

4. Gather consistent data by asking standardized questions

It’s a known fact in the scientific community that standardized measures yield more reliable results. The same is true of interview questions.

Whether hiring new employees or offboarding your existing staff, structured interviews help you gather the most useful information. They also help you collate responses to your standardized questions more easily, so you can spot any patterns that emerge.

Don’t be afraid to follow up on the answers you get (the next point shows you an effective way to do that without losing focus). But sticking to your overarching structure gives you a clearer picture of your employee’s experience than a wide-ranging conversation.

5. Use the five whys technique to dig into your employee’s answers

One-size-fits-all questions won’t always yield the in-depth results you need. Techniques like the five whys help you go beyond the superficial and get to the heart of any issues your employees raise.

The steps to a five whys analysis are as follows:

Begin by discussing a specific problem

Ask why the problem happened

Ask why again: What caused the event that caused the problem?

Keep asking why until you have found the root cause of the initial problem

It typically takes five iterations of “why” to reveal the root cause, hence the name.

Use the data this process yields to pinpoint the structural issues that may create problems for your employees. From there, you can work on rectifying them.

6. Reassure all employees that their feedback is confidential and anonymous

Speaking up about problems in the workplace can be challenging for employees. Even at the best of times, it’s hard to feel as though you’re complaining. And depending on your company culture, your team members may be worried about pushback or even reprisal from management. 

But by reassuring your employees that you take their feedback seriously and respectfully, you encourage them to be more forthcoming about their experiences. The safety net of confidentiality ultimately improves the quality of your data.

7. Gather feedback proactively before your employees leave

If you wait until the exit interview to gather feedback from your employees, it could point to a problem with your organization’s culture. Ideally, your employees should feel safe to share their input before they reach the point of leaving. 

Fostering a culture of transparency, respect, and feedback in your workplace helps your employees to feel more psychologically safe. This ensures that they feel comfortable raising issues before they become more serious problems.

This approach limits employee turnover and may even reduce your reliance on exit interviews in the long run.

By asking the right exit interview questions, your organization can turn the loss of an employee into a valuable resource for future hiring and retention. 

A clear structure and an emotionally intelligent, sympathetic approach to the exit interview enable you to learn much more from your employees. Using the techniques you’ve learned in this guide, you can gather useful, honest data and identify patterns that will help your company grow and improve.

Learn how to maintain organizational stability when an employee leaves with our succession planning guide .

Or use the Leadership and People Management test to assess potential candidates for succession.

“Upskilling’s impact on learning, talent retention and talent acquisition”. (n.d.). PwC ProEdge . Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://proedge.pwc.com/upskilling-and-talent-strategies

Gurchiek, Kathy. (December 16, 2014). “Survey: Workplace Friends Important Retention Factor”. SHRM . Retrieved March 6, 2023. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/workplace-friendships.aspx

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Performing Effective Exit Interviews

If it’s time for your organization to get a better understanding of why employees leave, connect with us to learn more about how work institute can help., request a call from our workforce experts, gathering the data, benefits of performing exit interviews.

The methods used to gather employee feedback in the exit space matters. Multiple studies have shown that conducting Exit Interviews after an employee leaves and using a 3rd party reveals different reasons for leaving 40%-63% of the time.

Most organizations conduct their exit surveys before the employees leave. Therefore, many employees are not honest about their true reasons for leaving. They may be concerned about references, last pay checks, or retaliation from their manager. Conducting exit interviews has the following benefits:

You gain a deeper perspective into why employees are leaving

A significant benefit of conducting exit interviews is that it allows you to understand why employees are leaving. Employees leave for different reasons, even if your workplace culture is excellent. Businesses get to understand whether the reason is within the management or beyond their control.

It is a cost-effective way to provide useful insights into the weaknesses of the business.

Conducting exit interviews helps highlight problems that would have been missed. For instance, if there are some issues within the company that you need to be aware of or need immediate attention, an effective exit interview will bring to light underlying issues affecting the company’s productivity. It could also help uncover HR practices that are driving employees out the door, such as poor employee recognition efforts.

Information gathered is invaluable to the future growth of a business.

Employees at the offboarding stage may give unbiased opinions about your company or even strategies to make it stand out from your competition. You are now better positioned to make the work environment conducive for the remaining employees.

With the interviews, you will be able to reduce turnover rates

If the interview summary reports uncover poor work conditions or a lack of work-life balance, managers can work towards reinforcing a positive organizational culture that engages and keeps employees satisfied. Most likely, they will be less inclined to leave their jobs, hence reduced turnover rates.

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How We Help With Exit Interviews

To help our partners identify the real reasons why employees leave we use a high touch, deep dive approach to conducting Exit Interviews. The key to getting high quality exit data is putting the former employee in control of the conversation. Utilizing the Voice of the Employee approach, our Exit Interviews allow interviewees to participate by web or in a live telephonic interview while they control the conversation. There is no better way to learn from someone than to listen to them share their thoughts and stories in their own words. Do not restrict their responses for the sake of convenience. In both the web-based and telephonic formats, we go beyond simple ratings and multiple-choice questions by conducting intentional and conversational interviews with your former employees.

EXIT INTERVIEWS

Reveal the reasons why employees left the organization and learn ways to prevent future turnover.

Parkview Health partnered with  Work Institute  to better understand the specific causes of first year nurse turnover. The specificity of the data from Work Institute’s exit interviews informed multiple interventions including:

• Building out a nursing career ladder
• Partnering with local university to provide increased tuition assistance
• Strategically removing several poor nurse managers as well as
• Realignment of some personnel to ensure adequate supervision
• Revamped the orientation & onboarding process

These efforts reduced first year turnover by 34% across the included departments. Meaningful change starts with quality data.

• The onboarding process needed to be improved
• Leadership needed to be realigned in specific areas to be able to better retain nurses

Based on these key findings, changes were implemented that resulted in a 33% increase in “Excellent” ratings for onboarding, 36% decreases in “Poor” ratings for onboarding, and an overall 36% decrease in First Year Nursing Turnover. View the case study in its entirety here:

READ THE CASE STUDY

Benefits of Outsourcing Exit Interviews

Since conducting exit interviews may be time-consuming, outsourcing provides an excellent opportunity to eliminate this challenge. For instance, managing all the interviews can be overwhelming for existing managers, potentially leading to burnout. Outsourcing to the Work Institute will allow your company to maintain productivity while we compile interview session insights.

It helps you get the most accurate viewpoints. With an external firm conducting the interviews, employees become more open and give honest feedback without fearing repercussions. Moreover, exit interviews can be uncomfortable if conducted by the employer. However, by outsourcing services such as those of Work Institute, you get unbiased feedback, and employees are more comfortable giving responses to an impartial party.

Also, an outsourced agency is professionally skilled and knows the right questions to ask. An outsourced agency has intensive experience and is more knowledgeable on the best practices to achieve the goals of an exit interview. With well-crafted questions, you will get satisfactory responses.

Download the Essential Guide to Exit Interviews

Our exit interview best practices.

The following are our best practices for conducting a successful exit interview: We will conduct the interview as soon as possible. This ensures that their responses to the exit interview questions will still be fresh in their minds.

For exit interviews to be effective, we come well prepared. The effectiveness of these interviews depends on how well-prepared the managers and the employees are. We will prepare questions and send out exit interview invitations to employees in advance.

By employing our Ask, Listen, Communicate, Act method, we give employees a platform to speak their minds while not dominating the conversation. Even though the employee may display negative emotions, an employer must refrain from taking it too personally as it may jeopardize the session.

Using a mix of multiple-choice, open-ended, and rate-scale questions allows employees to express their concerns openly with the utmost level of honesty.

More Resources

Work institute has data backed science to help with employee retention.

If you choose to outsource the exit interview process, Work Institute has a track record of working with many companies to provide exit interview solutions to them. Our experts know how to handle exit interviews and will customize the questions according to your needs. Contact us to learn more about our services.

Free Download: The Essential Guide to Exit Interviews

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Exit Interview

Ivan Andreev

Demand Generation & Capture Strategist

ivan.andreev@valamis.com

August 10, 2021 · updated April 2, 2024

11 minute read

In this article, we’ll cover how to conduct exit interviews, what questions to include, and how to make the most of the information you gain from those exit interviews.

What is an exit interview?

Exit interview guidelines, exit interview tips and best practices, exit interview questions.

An exit interview is an organized discussion between a company representative and an employee choosing to leave the company. Exit interviews include questions about the employee’s experiences during their time working with the company and provide a point of closure for both parties.

Why is an exit interview important and what are the benefits?

An exit interview gives employers a chance to learn why the employee may choose to leave their job.

It also allows employees to give valuable feedback and sets the stage for an amicable relationship moving forward even after the employee leaves the company.

If the employee is deciding to leave because of issues within the workplace, you can figure out what those issues are, and prevent other employees from leaving for the same reasons.

The main benefits of exit interviews include:

• Solving workplace issues
• Finding the root cause of the employee’s choice to leave
• Getting valuable feedback to improve the company
• Gives you a clear picture of the real employee experience
• Stay competitive when employees leave for another company

Exit interview template

Conduct an exit interview and collect valuable information that can help improve the work culture in your organization.

If you’re not sure how to conduct your exit interviews, you can use this guide as a template and modify it as needed.

1. Create your list of questions

While exit interviews can (and should) become an open conversation that allows for extra commentary, a list of questions is the best starting place.

These questions will guide the exit interview, and ensure that no critical parts of the conversation are forgotten.

Your questions should cover many aspects of the company in general, the employee’s specific role, and their reasons for leaving.

Note : It’s a good idea to allow extra room for comments that may not be pre-planned in your questionnaire.

2. Include everyone

Any employee that leaves your organization should go through an exit interview. Even if the employee, in particular, is disgruntled, aim to conduct an exit interview whenever possible.

This may not be possible in every case (i.e. an employee simply walks off the job or is not amenable to the interview), but you should still make every attempt to get an exit interview.

While interviewing an unhappy person may not be pleasant, it can give them a chance to air their grievances and give you insight into why they’re unsatisfied.

Skipping interviews means that you also skip the opportunity to get valuable information about the employees’ perspective on the company and their roles within it.

3. Find a suitable time

Employees all have different schedules and commitments within their days, and it’s important to consider that so you don’t miss getting an exit interview. Having set times throughout the day where you’re available for exit interviews is important.

Don’t wait too long, nor schedule the interview too early. An employee that still has to work another week before they leave may not be as candid. However, a former employee that’s asked to do an exit interview a week or more after leaving the company has no real motivation to do an interview that doesn’t directly benefit them.

Whenever possible, conduct your exit interview near the end of the employee’s last day at work.

4. Choose the right interviewer

Employees often don’t feel as comfortable giving raw feedback to their direct supervisors, especially if the feedback contains complaints about their supervisor in question.

While it may be helpful to have management within the same department conduct the interview (and they may have more department-specific knowledge to draw upon), try to avoid using a direct supervisor.

In fact, many employees feel more at ease giving honest answers during exit interviews with the supervisor above their own.

You may choose to use another supervisor within the employee’s department. However,  another tried and true interviewer would be someone from the human resources (HR) department. This is their area of specialty and they may be able to conduct more impartial interviews for both the employee and the department as a whole.

5. Conduct your interview

Make sure to take notes when needed and record any noteworthy comments that may be useful for future analysis.

Introduce yourself (if the employee and yourself aren’t already familiar), and briefly remind them that you’re here to conduct the exit interview. It may also help set the tone to review the main topics you plan on covering.

Your exit interview questions should be in an order that smoothly transitions from one topic to another (i.e. what was your role? Next, what were your main responsibilities, and do you feel your compensation for your role was fair?). This allows you to conduct the interview in a more natural feeling order, while still covering the questions on your list. However, don’t stop your interviewee if they have other information to offer- you’re not bound to the order of your question list. Make notes of it as you go along.

In concluding the interview, thank the interviewee for their time and their answers. Ask for permission to contact them in the future if you need clarification or extra information. If needed, make sure you have the proper contact information.

6. Use and spread your knowledge

The exit interview itself is every bit as important as what you do with the answers you get after you conduct it.

Exit interviews give you a wealth of information you may not otherwise ever find out. Gathering this information and spreading it to management are simply the first steps, however. Once you have the feedback, you need to assess what portions, in particular, are the most valuable.

• Are there issues consistently brought up in exit interviews?
• Do employees often have the same reason for leaving the organization?

Pinpoint these crucial areas, and then work with management to create a plan to make changes within the company that can solve these issues.

It may be tempting to only provide certain feedback (especially that specific to a certain department) to certain areas. However, a comment about leadership in accounting could also be valuable for leadership in other departments to assess their own performance.

Note : Remember, while sharing the information you do need to respect the interviewee’s privacy.

This list of tips and best practices will help you streamline a successful exit interview process.

1. What to say in an exit interview

It’s important to phrase questions and responses correctly to achieve the results you want in an exit interview.

Open-ended questions are incredibly important since it allows people to give a more personal response that you can’t get from “yes or no” types of questions.

Make sure your interviewee knows that you’re looking for honest feedback and that their answers won’t reflect on future references from the company.

Ask targeted questions, but also allow the interviewee to lead as much of the conversation as they feel comfortable with.

2. Don’t let the questionnaire take over

Yes, you do need to keep a list of questions to cover during an exit interview. However, there are plenty of valuable insights you can gain that might not be specifically covered in your questionnaire.

Let the questions lead the conversation, but don’t cut off your interviewee when responses lead to other relevant topics being brought up. You may find that some of your most unexpected (and helpful) information comes from organic conversation.

3. Follow up after the interview

The initial exit interview doesn’t have to be the end of the conversation. You should conduct interviews near the employee’s last day, although you can still follow up afterwards. Some people may not feel comfortable giving specific answers so close to their last day or may change answers after moving to another company and having time to reflect.

Likewise, if there are answers that management feels are especially helpful, you can follow up with a call or email to get expanded feedback.

4. Keep the pressure off

Let employees know that this interview is to help the company get honest feedback and valuable insights from an employee perspective. Make it very clear that there won’t be any repercussions for their feedback.

Keep the atmosphere relaxed, casual, and open so that your soon-to-be former employee can answer all questions fully and truthfully.

Another part of keeping a relaxed environment is making sure the employee doesn’t feel outnumbered.

Tip : You don’t need a group to conduct the interview.

Here is a list of exit interview questions you can use, and the reasons they may be pertinent to your company.

1. What was your job, and what were your responsibilities?

This is a small question in the scope of the interview, but it’s there for clarity. It also helps when you track responses to your exit interview.

2. Did you receive sufficient support and training?

Even with a regular training program, employees may find knowledge gaps that would otherwise go unnoticed, which means you need to update training materials.

Support refers to resources, tools, software, and assistance available to employees that they need to successfully complete their jobs.

3. Were there other things you needed to help in your role?

This helps you ensure a smoother workplace for new and existing employees that may not feel comfortable asking for extra resources.

4. What is the most difficult part of your job?

As employees leave, they may feel more comfortable airing grievances with their supervisors, coworkers, or the requirements of their job in general.

5. What is the best part of the job?

This feedback can help you determine what keeps employees happy, and allow you to enhance this aspect of the workplace.

6. What is your main reason or reasons for leaving the company?

Figuring out the driving factors for employees leaving may not help you keep the person you’re interviewing, but it can help you avoid losing other valuable employees.

7. Is there anything the company could have done to prevent you from leaving?

This question supports the previous one. Here you can learn what could be done to prevent employees from leaving for the same reason or in similar cases shortly.

8. How do you feel about your supervisors and management?

Sometimes problems in a department trickle from the top down. While employees may not complain while they’re employed with the company, they’re more likely, to be honest about management issues when leaving.

9. Is there sufficient communication within the company? Your department?

Communication is key and without it, workers can quickly fall behind.

This question can help you discern if there are communication issues within the company at large or even in certain departments.

10. Do you feel you received fair payment and benefits?

If your employee is leaving because of pay or benefits, they’ll typically tell you when you ask their reasons for leaving. However, you may also find they leave the company for a similar job in another organization that provides better insurance, higher wages, etc.

11. How was the working environment during your time here?

This question helps you get an inside view of how employees see their day-to-day environment at work and includes everything from relationships with coworkers to inclusivity in the workplace.

12. Did you get sufficient feedback on your performance?

Learn about if management is properly communicating with their team about expectations or performance.

Without sufficient feedback, employees can’t correct issues or may feel dissatisfied if they are doing a good job and don’t hear about it.

13. Would you return to work for this company or recommend it to a friend?

You may be able to regain valuable employees in the future with the proper changes, and satisfied employees that leave for another reason may be able to recommend a suitable replacement for their role.

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Home » Purpose & Importance Of Exit Interviews [10 Reasons To Conduct Them]

Purpose & Importance Of Exit Interviews [10 Reasons To Conduct Them]

Exit interviews are important because they offer a deeper look at your workplace culture, day-to-day processes, management solutions, and employee morale. The purpose of an exit interview is to assess the overall employee experience within your organization and identify opportunities to improve retention and engagement.

Having a clear set of standards in place when conducting exit interviews can also play an essential role in risk management. When employee issues are addressed justly and effectively within the workplace, there is no need for external investigations, litigation, or bad publicity to follow.

When completed in a consistent and standardized way, these interviews can help you foster positive relationships and a welcoming working environment. If you aren’t already completing exit interviews, their purpose can bring a lot of value to your company.

Tips for Conducting a Successful Exit Interview

Considering the importance of exit interviews, it’s critical to conduct them in the most effective manner. For example, many experts say it’s best to wait until after the employee has already left. This is because the individual will be more relaxed and honest about any issues he or she experienced. In terms of the method, most employers prefer face-to-face over phone interviews, although follow-ups over the phone can be an effective supplement to the in-person talk. When conducting the interview itself, it’s important for the interviewer to allow the outgoing employee to speak his or her mind and avoid trying to dominate the conversation. This will ensure employers get the most candid and useful information.

10 Reasons Why Exit Interviews Are Important

We’ve compiled a list of 10 reasons highlighting the importance of exit interviews to help your organization get the data and insights needed to create a more positive work environment and to protect your organization from risk.

• Departing employees are generally more forthcoming than those still in their jobs
• You will learn the reason for an employee’s departure (it may be different than you think!)
• The exit interview allows the employee to provide constructive feedback and leave on a positive note
• That last touchpoint provides you with an opportunity to review continuing obligations with the employee (e.g., non-competes, intellectual property agreements, etc.)
• It provides the opportunity to ask if there are any open issues of which you need to be aware. This can help reduce risk and identify matters that may require immediate attention.
• You will get a candid assessment of your organization’s environment and culture
• Insight into recruiting, on-boarding, and training needs may be revealed
• The feedback will help you to identify areas that can help improve staff retention
• Improvement opportunities in management development and succession planning can be detected
• It’s cost-effective to facilitate quality exit interviews

No matter the size of your company, exit interviews provide an opportunity for an employee to discuss the workplace environment, concerns about misconduct, or issues within management.

Learn how employees feel about how management teams handle issues in the workplace and what bearing that has on whether they stay or leave the organization.

Learn from the best in ER & HR.

See all of our upcoming expert employee relations webinars.

How to Use Data from Exit Interviews

While these interviews can bring incredible value to your company, they need to be executed in the proper way to provide useful insights. Over 90% of Fortune 500 companies conduct exit interviews, yet just over 40% of them view the practice itself as successful.

Reaping the benefits that go hand-in-hand with conducting exit interviews all starts with asking relevant questions specific to the employee’s role. An essential next step is understanding how to analyze and interpret the answers to improve your employee relations and workplace environment.

When it comes to exit interviews, their importance cannot be overstated. Creating and implementing more effective and consistent interviews can seem challenging and time-consuming at first, but the insights you will gain from understanding the connection between employee feedback, behavior, and organizational trends will tell you everything you need to know to grow your business tenfold.

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Reducing employee turnover through enhanced exit interview process

Solent NHS Trust

As a values-led NHS provider with a strong community ethos and commitment to offering a great place to work, Solent NHS Trust partnered with NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) to pilot a new bespoke exit interview service, which has helped the Trust in its efforts to manage nursing staff turnover and inform retention priorities.

Key benefits

• Reduction in employee turnover in line with Model Hospital benchmarking
• Provides new invaluable workforce insights and identifies trends
• Impartial and anonymous process leads to more valuable and reliable data
• Significant increase in exit interview participation
• Almost 100% of leavers rate the process positively
• Independent Board level assurance for workforce policies and processes

“The NHS SBS independent exit interview process has enabled us to provide board level assurance that we are doing the right things. The invaluable narrative has given us new important insights but also validated much of what we already knew and the steps already taken.”

Ceri Connor, Associate Director of People and OD

With NHS Trusts struggling to fill a record number of job vacancies and research suggesting there will be a shortage of more than 350,000 NHS employees by 2030, taking steps to recruit and retain more doctors, nurses and other health professionals is essential for the sustainability of NHS providers up and down the country.

As one of the largest community providers in the NHS and a major employer across Hampshire, managers at Solent NHS Trust knew that positive engagement with departing employees could help inform the organisation’s workforce processes, identify areas in need of priority attention, enhance the workplace environment, and ultimately, reduce staff turnover.

But with the Trust struggling to connect with outgoing employees or collect meaningful data through the traditional exit interview process on ESR (Employee Staff Record), its forward-thinking HR and People team recognised the value of the independent and tailored service being developed by NHS SBS.

Kevin Gaugler, Head of People Operations at Solent NHS Trust, explained:  “The main reason we were keen to pilot a new exit interview process with NHS SBS was our need for critical insight into staff turnover, particularly amongst nursing staff. There was a real appetite for a detailed understanding of why people were leaving in a competitive local recruitment marketplace.

“The existing exit interview, however, had become a bit of a tick-box exercise and in reality the majority weren’t being done. Those that were recorded on ESR were limited by a fairly antiquated questionnaire, with pre-loaded drop down answers and no capacity to capture any narrative or identify trends.”

With this in mind, NHS SBS worked closely with the Trust to design an anonymised exit interview process and bespoke reports, which captured both leaver data for statistical analysis and qualitative information to inform the organisation’s decision making.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all online questionnaire, employees leaving Solent NHS Trust were instead offered a comprehensive telephone interview with an independent HR specialist from NHS SBS.

For Ceri Connor, the Trust’s Associate Director of People and Organisational Development, the pilot enabled a change from an internal to externally managed process, which was key to obtaining valuable intelligence.

Ceri said:  “With an internal, manager-led process there was often a question mark about the value of the exit interview. Those leaving the organisation questioned whether the information they provide actually goes anywhere or leads to any sort of change.

“So the impartial and anonymous nature of the NHS SBS process was a key element of the success of the pilot. People feel more able to give the real reasons why they are leaving and aren’t limited to providing just one, as they are with ESR. So, for us, the data becomes far more meaningful, revealing and reliable.”

The four month pilot at Solent NHS Trust led to a marked increase in the number of leavers engaging with the exit interview process – 75 per cent compared with just one in three people previously. Significantly, ninety-four per cent of those who had an NHS SBS exit interview rated the service positively.

And with the narrative ‘reasons for leaving’ uncovering trends and highlighting issues in specific areas, the Trust was able to take positive action and increase nursing staff retention in line with the Model Hospital national average, surpassing it as of October 2018.

Ceri explained:  “After just a couple of months of the pilot we had already identified the need for immediate action in one service line. Without the enhanced data interpretation the NHS SBS exit interview provides, we simply wouldn’t have been able to see the data at a level that enabled us to act on reoccurring themes, and then take action straight away.

“In other areas, we’ve been able to rely on the data to ensure our interventions match the needs of employees. We have prioritised resource by focusing, for example, on projects like our mentoring programme for newly qualified nurses and on improving access to IT for our community nurses.”

In addition to helping the Trust identify areas for improvement, the detailed reports and analysis by NHS SBS has meant an independent assurance that did not exist with the previous internal process.

Kevin said:  “The pilot has, in many ways, backed up what we already thought anecdotally. But it has given us an evidence base and provided a level of governance that was previously missing. It has given us the assurance that we are in control of turnover and what we are now seeing is by design.”

With employee turnover down and 73 per cent of leavers saying they would recommend the Trust as a place to work, the pilot has offered external validation of the workforce measures it has put in place.

Ceri added:  “The NHS SBS independent exit interview process has enabled us to provide board level assurance that we are doing the right things. The invaluable narrative has given us new important insights but also validated much of what we already knew and the steps already taken.

“The Trust has a culture that is driven by our organisational values. Having a process like this one, which dedicates time to listen to you and values what you say – regardless of the fact you’re leaving – very much reflects the organisation we want to be.”

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Boeing CEO, other executives stepping down amid safety crisis

Three senior Boeing executives including its CEO are stepping down, the company said Monday, as the company continues to deal with an ongoing scandal and federal investigation into the safety of its passenger jets.

CEO Dave Calhoun confirmed he was leaving the company by the end of the year in a statement. Stan Deal, the CEO and president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has retired effective immediately. Larry Kellner, chair of the company's board of directors, will not stand for re-election at the next shareholders' annual meeting. Boeing board member and former Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf will succeed Kellner.

The company has been mired in a slew of negative stories since a door panel blew out on a Boeing 737 Max plane flown by Alaska Airlines in January. The fallout from that fateful flight shows no sign of stopping: The FBI informed passengers last week that they may have been the victims of a crime that the bureau is still investigating.

Despite Boeing announcing a range of measures to improve safety and committing to working with federal investigators, some passengers have spoken of feeling nervous climbing on board its aircraft.

In a letter to staff, posted on the Boeing website , Calhoun acknowledged that the Alaska Airlines incident had changed the company.

"As you all know, the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident was a watershed moment for Boeing," he wrote. "We must continue to respond to this accident with humility and complete transparency. We also must inculcate a total commitment to safety and quality at every level of our company."

"The eyes of the world are on us," he said, referring to ongoing efforts to reassure both the company's airline customers and the flying public that its aircraft are safe.

In an interview with CNBC following Monday's announcement, Calhoun acknowledged the ongoing challenges at Boeing.

"We have this bad habit in our company," he said, adding production pressures continued to weigh on performance. "When you move it down the line, it sends a message to your own people that 'Wow, I guess the movement of the airplane is more important than the first time quality of the product.' And we have got to get that in way more balanced. Without a doubt." 

Calhoun said in the letter to employees that the company had over the last five years faced “some of the most significant challenges our company and industry have ever faced in our 108-year history.”

Calhoun was appointed CEO in 2020 in the wake of two other air disasters that some experts blamed on failures at Boeing. The crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines in 2018 and 2019, which killed a total of 346 people, both involved the failure of a Boeing software system known as MCAS.

In an interview with the New York Times upon his appointment, Calhoun, who had served on the board of Boeing since 2009 and was appointed non-executive chairman in 2019, promised to change the internal culture at Boeing.

“It’s more than I imagined it would be, honestly,” Calhoun said at the time, describing the problems he was confronting at the plane manufacturer. “And it speaks to the weaknesses of our leadership.”

Yet in the same interview, he seemed to imply that American pilots would not have reacted to the MCAS system failures as the foreign-born ones did.

In the wake of the second crash in March 2019, the 737 Max was grounded worldwide and not re-approved for flight for nearly two years.

In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay a $2.5 billion penalty to settle criminal charges over accusations it concealed information about its 737 Max airplane, with Boeing admitting it had "deceived" the FAA about the MCAS system's reliability.

Calhoun said at the time that the settlement "appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations."

In an interview last week , Michael Whitaker, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, told NBC News that Boeing had no choice but to develop a plan to improve its culture and practices to meet the agency's safety standards.

Whitaker said Boeing’s priorities “have been on production and not on safety and quality.”

In a written statement in response to the leadership changes, Alaska Airlines said it has flown Boeing planes for nearly 60 years and is committed to the company.

"We share more than a hometown with Boeing; we share a passion for flying and a commitment to safety. We know the people behind the planes, who have dedicated their careers over these decades to make air travel better and safer," the statement said, adding "we will do everything we can to contribute to the critical work under way to ensure excellence in production quality and safety." 

In the wake of the January Alaska Airlines incident, some Wall Street analysts said more drastic change was needed.

“How many times can ‘won’t happen again’ happen again?” Bank of America Corp. analyst Ronald Epstein wrote in a report in January.

“Both Boeing and [Boeing parts supplier] Spirit [AeroSystems] need a drastic cultural overhaul. This cultural change won’t come from FAA mandates, congressional hearings, internal memos, or one-hour all hands meetings. For culture to move from corporate jargon to being embodied in the habits and minds of both workforces, we see it as necessary for Boeing and Spirit to drastically rethink the ways they have operated.”

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

Rob Wile is a breaking business news reporter for NBC News Digital.