When one of your employees resigns, an exit interview is an essential tool to understand the reasons for their departure, gather their feedback and thus improve your employee retention.
In this article, discover the key steps to conduct a successful exit interview.
Why should you do an Exit Interview?
A resignation is a good opportunity to gather honest feedback. It is therefore essential to conduct an exit interview in order to understand the reasons and motivations that led to your employee's leaving.
Among other things, this could give you relevant information to improve your retention in the future.
Who should conduct the Exit Interview?
In order to maximize the chances of getting honest and transparent answers, select the person who will conduct the exit interview wisely.
Considering that the relationship with the manager may be one of the reasons for the departure, it is recommended to choose a neutral person to meet with the employee. If you do not have an internal HR advisor, contact us to inquire about our exit interview service.
What Questions should you ask?
By asking the right questions, you may discover, for example, that there are tension between coworkers. Or you might notice a correlation between a type of position and a particularly high turnover rate.
It is recommended that you ask open-ended questions or with several choices so as not to influence the employee.
In addition to gathering information about the employee that is leaving (years of seniority, type of position, etc.), we recommend that you ask questions about :
- The employee's new job, if applicable
- The main reasons for leaving
- Experience in your company (feedback on the manager, employer and job)
- Employee's suggestions, if applicable
If you don't have any predefined questions, check out our Exit Interview Grid.
How to use the Information from the Exit Interview?
If the exit interview highlights recurring issues within the company, it is important to take action to prevent the situation from causing further departures. In addition to avoiding resignations, solving the problems within your teams will help mobilize your employees, since they will see that you care about their well-being.
It also shows that you are proactive and take resignations seriously. It also shows that you are proactive and take the issue of departures seriously, so your employees will know that you don't want them to leave, and that you are taking action.
In conclusion, an exit interview is an effective tool to improve your company's policies and practices and even improve the quality of the employee experience.
