50 Sample Exit Interview Questions + Free Exit Interview Templates

Nobody likes saying goodbye. It’s hard parting ways with employees, especially after a long-term partnership. While the exit interview as a concept is nothing but incredibly beneficial, its success relies heavily on execution. Which exit interview questions should you ask?

How will you conduct the interview itself? Is there an exit interview template you can use?

When it comes to exit interviews, there are many amazing resources that offer amazing insight and great sample questions.

As Teamflect, we wanted to offer you a different approach to conducting exit interviews. One that may initially sound counter-intuitive but that we are positive will yield great results in the long run with your exit interviews.

In this article, we want to turn your attention to conducting online exit interviews through templates, which can be more beneficial than conducting them face to face or through a video call.

The idea might sound a bit controversial but today, we want to show you how a simpler, easier, and digitized approach with less elbow grease, just might be more effective in the long run.

Regardless of how you’re conducting them, it is an undisputed fact that exit interviews are a crucial part of the employee offboarding process.

50 Sample Exit Interview Questions

No matter how the interview is conducted, there are some must-have questions that need to be included. There are many useful resources to go to for some great sample questions, like Glassdoor’s “13 Must Ask Exit Interview Questions” but we wanted to compile some of our favorites sample exit interview questions here.

We divided these exit interview questions into five categories to make everything simpler. So here are 50 exit interview questions you should definitely consider asking :

Reasons for Leaving

This particular category speaks for itself, doesn’t it? When you are conducting an exit interview survey, you are not asking questions just for the sake of it.

Each employee exit interview question you will be asking should serve a distinct purpose. The most obvious of those is to understand why your employee is leaving the organization.

Every employee exit interview template should include questions on why your this departure is happening:

• What prompted your decision to leave the company?

• Were there any specific issues or concerns that led to your departure?

• Did the job meet your expectations? If not, what were the gaps?

• Were there any missed opportunities or initiatives that you think the company should have pursued?

• Did you have opportunities for advancement and growth within the company?

• Were you satisfied with the support and resources provided by the company?

• How would you rate the quality of communication within the company?

• Were there any specific incidents or conflicts that negatively impacted your experience?

• Did you feel your opinions and ideas were valued and considered?

• Were there any areas where you felt the company’s policies or practices were outdated?

Feedback on Company Culture

Another key piece of information you should be getting out of your exit interviews is how you can improve your organization. Every piece of feedback matters.

The real importance of exit interviews is that they are the last bit of feedback you will be receiving from an employee. That means you need to make them count. You should most certainly be getting feedback on your company culture!

• How would you describe the company culture?

• Did you feel valued and recognized for your contributions?

• What suggestions do you have for improving the work environment?

• How would you rate the level of teamwork and collaboration in your department?

• Were there any areas where you felt the company fell short in terms of diversity and inclusion?

• Did you have the opportunity to provide input and participate in decision-making?

• How would you rate the overall leadership within the company?

• Were there any specific instances where you felt there was a lack of transparency?

• Were there any specific instances of discrimination or unfair treatment that you experienced or witnessed?

• Did you feel the company encouraged and supported a healthy work-life balance?

Leadership and Management

While not one of the most common exit interview questions, you should definitely be asking questions about leadership and management. Employee feedback on leadership and management is usually harder to receive, simply because of the fact that employees are often a little more hesitant to give feedback on management.

When you are conducting an exit interview, however, you will be interacting with an individual who is less likely to demonstrate those restraints. After all, the answer to the question, “How honest should you be in an exit interview?” is always “As honest as possible!”

• How would you rate the overall leadership within the company?

• Were you given clear performance expectations and feedback?

• Were there any particular strengths or weaknesses you observed in the company’s management style?

• Were there any specific instances where you felt there was a lack of accountability?

• How would you rate the quality of communication from your supervisors?

• Did you feel your skills and expertise were fully utilized?

• Were there opportunities for professional development and growth within the company?

• Were there any specific incidents or conflicts with your supervisors that negatively impacted your experience?

• Did you feel your supervisors provided sufficient support and guidance?

• How would you rate the level of trust between employees and management?

Work-Life Balance

The feedback you receive from your employee exit interview templates should always be used to make the lives of your staying employees a lot easier.

A lack of work-life balance can play a huge part in employee burnout and result in disengaged employees. Are you assigning too many tasks? Is your meeting cadence off? Here are some questions for you to ask to make sure you receive the necessary feedback in that area:

• Did you feel your work-life balance was respected and supported?

• Were there any specific obstacles that hindered your ability to maintain a healthy work-life balance?

• How would you rate the company’s commitment to work-life integration?

• Were you able to take advantage of flexible work arrangements?

• Did you have sufficient time off and vacation opportunities?

• Were there any specific instances where you felt the company did not support your personal well-being?

• Were there any missed opportunities for promoting work-life balance initiatives?

• How would you rate the overall employee morale regarding work-life balance?

• Did you have access to resources or programs to support your well-being?

• Were there any specific instances where you felt your work-life balance concerns were not addressed?

Job Satisfaction:

Employee engagement is one of the most important areas you should focus on as you are creating your exit interview template. Job satisfaction is the core component of employee engagement. The information you will receive from the questions we’ve listed below will help you create the best employee engagement action plan possible!

• What aspects of your job did you find most satisfying?

• Were you satisfied with your level of responsibility and the tasks assigned to you?

• Did you feel your compensation and benefits were competitive?

• Were you given opportunities to utilize and develop your skills?

• How would you rate the level of job security and stability?

• Were there any specific instances where you felt unappreciated or undervalued?

• Did you receive recognition for your achievements and contributions?

• How satisfied were you with the opportunities for professional growth and advancement?

• Were there any specific instances where you felt your job did not align with your career goals?

• How would you rate the overall job satisfaction within your department?

As important as it is to have open-ended questions that encourage a healthy discussion, it is just as important to have some questions that result in answers in the form of concrete and measurable data for further analysis and betterment of the company.

Benefits Of Using An Online Exit Interview Template

Using a review template to conduct these crucial interviews has multiple benefits. It makes sure that the interviewer has a structure to follow. These interviewers by no means, need to be improvised after all. It also, and this is the crucial part of our argument here, allows the exit review to be conducted by the exiting employee alone.

When conducting an online exit interview, the main objective is to gather data on why the employee left and how the conditions of their time in the company were. If the employee is conducting the exit review on their own, the answers they give and the data they present the company with is more likely to be accurate, without the effects of the inhibitions that naturally come up while being interviewed by someone else.

Teamflect’s Exit Interview Template for Microsoft Teams

Teamflect is an all-in-one performance management solution for Microsoft Teams, that functions as one of the best employee pulse survey software on the platform. With customizable employee survey templates that can be sent out instantly or better yet, automated, Teamflect provides a simple, comprehensive, and efficient survey experience.

Another extremely beneficial aspect of using a template like Teamflect’s employee exit interview template, visible above, is the fact that the answers to the yes/no questions can be stored and turned into statistics for future analysis. Seeing the percentage of “Strongly Disagree” answers to a certain question can shape the HR initiatives of a company.

While employee retention is the core objective here, improving these percentages can turn into KPI’s for the HR team in the long term.

Free Employee Exit Interview Template

If you are looking for a quick and easy employee exit interview template that you can send out to your employees instantly, you might find the free downloadable exit interview template we prepared for you to be quite helpful. This particular template is that of an employee exit survey with likert scale questions.

What are 5 most frequently asked exit interview questions ?

While all the questions we listed above can be used in an exit interview, your exit interviews shouldn’t be 50 questions long. That list is more of a question pool that you can pick and choose from. Just to make your life a bit easier, we also wanted to highlight some of the most frequently asked exit interview questions. The most asked questions of the exit interview process can be listed as:

1. What led you to look for a new job opportunity?
2. Did you feel supported in your role? If not, how could we have better supported you?
3. How would you describe the company culture?
4. Were there any specific incidents that contributed to your decision to leave?
5. What suggestions do you have for how we can improve as a company and retain employees in the future?

These questions help you understand why employees are leaving and identify areas for improvement in your workplace.

Exit Interview Statistics To Keep Remember

Employee Turnover Insights

Conducting exit interviews can offer valuable insights into the reasons behind employee turnover. Studies show that organizations that consistently gather feedback through exit interviews experience a 15-20% reduction in turnover rates. This emphasizes the role exit interviews play in identifying areas for improvement and making necessary changes.

Retention Strategies

Companies that use exit interview data to refine their retention strategies tend to experience a significant decrease in turnover rates by up to 20-25%. This highlights the potential for positive change that comes from analyzing departing employees’ feedback.

Exit Interview Benefits

Around 75% of organizations that conduct exit interviews find them to be beneficial in enhancing their workplace environment and overall company culture. Furthermore, organizations that actively address the concerns raised in exit interviews report up to a 30% increase in employee retention.

Employee Feedback Upon Leaving

Exit interviews provide a platform for employees to voice their opinions candidly upon leaving the organization. Approximately 80% of employees are more likely to share their true feedback during exit interviews than at any other point in their employment, offering unfiltered insights into their experiences.

Retention Through Insights

Companies that actively listen to exit interview feedback and take action are 2.5 times more likely to retain their top performers. By addressing concerns and implementing changes based on feedback, organizations can create an environment that encourages employee loyalty and longevity.

Exit Interview Trends

Recent trends indicate that more organizations are prioritizing exit interviews, with a 30% increase in their usage over the last two years.

Employee Offboarding Evaluations & Satisfaction

Organizations that incorporate thorough offboarding evaluations, including exit interviews, report up to a 25% boost in overall employee satisfaction even after departure, showcasing the lasting impact of a well-executed exit interview strategy.

Are exit interviews a good idea?

Are exit interviews a good idea? This is a question that has been debated by many companies and HR professionals over the years. Some believe that exit interviews are a valuable tool for improving company culture and retention rates, while others see them as a pointless exercise that only serves to gather information that is too late to act on.

We think that exit interviews are important for a company’s overall success. Keeping valuable employees can only be possible if you know the reasons they leave, and exit surveys provide valuable insights into the reasons why employees leave a company.

This information can help HR departments identify patterns and trends that may be contributing to high turnover rates. Armed with this knowledge, they can then take action to address these issues and create a more positive work environment that promotes retention.

Exit interviews also provide an opportunity for employees to give feedback that they may not have felt comfortable sharing while still employed with the company. This feedback can be extremely valuable for HR departments, as it can shed light on issues that may be causing problems for current employees as well.

However, some argue that exit interviews may not be the most effective way to gather this feedback. Employees who are leaving a company may be less likely to provide honest and constructive feedback, as they may be afraid of burning bridges or damaging their reputation.

Additionally, it may be too late to act on the information gathered in an exit interview, as the employee has already made the decision to leave.

Another potential drawback of exit interviews is that they can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. HR departments may struggle to keep up with scheduling and conducting interviews for every employee who leaves the company, particularly in larger organizations.

In Defense Of Conventional Exit Interviews

Don’t get us wrong, we are absolutely aware of the fact that exit interviews conducted in person, over the phone, or through video calls are great.

Alongside the fact that they are an extremely efficient way of gaining some useful insight for the future, they are also a great display of sympathy and positive company culture.

What we wanted to accomplish by presenting this counter-intuitive approach to online exit interviews was to offer a quick reminder of how a slightly unorthodox approach to an essential HR practice could actually be beneficial.

We hope that our take on online exit interviews and exit interview questions offered you some food for thought!