6 of the Best Exit Interview Questions to Ask Departing Employees

The individuals looking for a change of organisation and getting new positions in another company are not new to many businesses. It is considered normal when an employee decides to resign and shift to another competitor for multiple reasons. It could be a higher position in the hierarchy, a better paycheck, a good work environment and proximity to the place he lives. Irrespective of the reason why an employee searches for a job, the employer must ask his HR personnel to conduct exit interviews of the staff leaving the organization with some really thought-provoking exit interview questions.

In this blog, we are going to cover everything related to the exit interview questions and their importance for the success of a business. We would be covering the following points in this blog -

Why have proper exit interview questions already listed?

These interviews are conducted in the business when its one of the employees has decided to move ahead in his career. The employees leaving an organization can offer better insights to the business owner by sharing his good and bad experiences, and where the company needs to improve. He can share highlights about the company’s work culture and processes which he found to be cumbersome. It helps the employer understand the potential weaknesses of the organization which could be the hindrances to its growth.

These exit interviews of the employees must be taken positively by the business owner. He should understand that this honest feedback from a soon-to-be ex-employee can help him know the loopholes in the work processes and even assist him to evaluate the management team. Furthermore, it can give the business owner ideas for increasing the employee retention rate at the workplace.

What are the statistics for the need for exit interview questions?

Departing employees can give candid yet honest answers about their experience with the business to an employer. These answers to exit interview questions might be the same for the currently employed workers but they are reluctant to share them with HR for the fear of being taken wrongly.

According to available data, almost half the employees in a company are looking out for new opportunities or planning to check for new positions in different companies in this pandemic era. This pandemic era phenomenon has been referred to as Great Resignation and is still an ongoing phenomenon in 2022. As per the details of the United States of America, 44 per cent of the employees can be called job seekers. Furthermore, to be more precise, 38 per cent of them are active job seekers and have been on the lookout for an opportunity since the fourth quarter of the previous year, 2021. Also, 11 per cent of the employees had planned to look for another job since the start of the year 2022.

How can an HR conduct the best exit interviews?

To get impactful and real insights from the exit interview questions, the HR personnel should be prepared well in advance for them. Having a pre-decided format for these questions can save time for both, HR and the departing employee. It will be easier for the employee to conduct this interview and also take minimal time, thereby ensuring no disruption in the productivity of the workplace. It gives HR or employees conducting exit interview questions an opportunity to collect information from the departing employees and get actionable insights for the better future of the organization. Here are a few tips that the questioner must consider while being a part of such interviews with the leaving employees -

If the business owner has a separate human relations department in his organization, the HR should ask exit interview questions to the departing employees. It makes the whole process easier and ensured that they get honest and forthcoming answers from the departing employees.
The best time to ask the exit interview questions is when the employee has already submitted his resignation and has completed around two weeks of his notice period. It means that the employee must be in the middle of the tenure of his notice period to give a proper response to these questions. It means these interviews should not be conducted immediately after the employee gives his resignation or right before the last day of his notice period.
The exit interview questions for the departing employee could be conducted in person, on phone or even on a video call by HR. However, the employee must be informed in advance about this meeting with proper reason. Furthermore, HR should provide a happy and friendly atmosphere during this interview. The employee must be told in advance that he is not obligated to answer every question and can even skip the exit interview questions that make him feel uncomfortable or is not willing to answer. The interviewer should be ready to listen to the employee's feedback calmly rather than putting expressing his opinions and inputs for every question.

Best Exit Interview Questions

The exit interview is the time when HR gets a chance to have a final conversation with the employee leaving the business. Hence, he should be very particular about the exit interview questions if he wants to have fruitful feedback to communicate to the employer. Here are a few questions that an employer must include in the list to get honest feedback from the leaving employees -

What compelled you to search for another job opportunity?

In most businesses, this is considered to be the kickstart to exit interview questions. It sets the tone for the interviewer and departing employee at the beginning of the conversation. The answers from the employee could be various - relocating to a different area, better paystub, family issues related to the health of elders or monotonous work after spending quite some time in the organization. The answer given by the employee can be a guide for further discussion in the exit interview and even spark ideas for the follow-up questions for the HR.

Also, it helps the businesses understand what opportunities, benefits or perks are offered to employees which could prove to be a strong point for attracting new talent. It could also help in employee retention.

2. Did you get constructive feedback for the work done and did it help you grow?

It is very necessary to understand the personal objectives of an employee when he is making his career. If there is answer in the employee exit interview questions which has not receiving a proper feedback or guidance for the business projects, it means the employee feels that there is no opportunity for growth and his career is getting stagnant. It means he did not receive enough challenges and projects that will aid is skill growth.When the manager gives a constructive feedback to the employees, it inspires them to put more efforts in the organization. It can also mean revising their existing skills or taking efforts to sharpen their skillset which would prove to be added advantage while stepping up the ladder in career. It can help the business owner understand if the respective team manager gave proper input for the projects and assisted in individual as well as company’s growth.

3. Do you feel that the company has the necessary tools, resources and working conditions for your position? If not, where you would like an improvement?

This is one of the most important exit-interview questions.When the employee gives an honest feedback for this question, the HR will be able to understand the shortcomings of the work environment. He would know about the inadequacies which might have been overlooked by the employer in the workplace environment. The answer could be different for different businesses. It could be staff shortage, outdated equipment, uncomfortable work shifts, issues related to office systems or even room temperatures. The employees could mention about the problems faced in an unappealing hybrid workplace or even other issues in the office related to the internet connectivity which is much needed setup in today’s digital environment.

4. Would you like to talk something about the company culture?

Usually this question does not ask the employees to point out at something specific when they are exiting an organization. It is asked in the exit-interview questions to identify the overall trend that the departing employees feel about the company. It talks about the trend they have associated the business with. While some employees do bad opinion about the company’s culture or even get emotional while leaving, it gives the business owner a fair idea to understand how his business is looked on by the industry. For instance, if a small business owner receives a feedback about the company’s culture being open and honest or the words similar to this, denotes how the brand is perceived in the market.

5. Would you like to discuss the best and worst part of your job?

Every employee would have a different answer to these exit-interview questions as each has a different role in the company. Here, the question is related to employee engagement and their opinion about the workplace. It can help the interviewer understand which position the employee enjoyed working in and what he learned . The employee can also be asked to elaborate on times when he felt more successful and got complete work satisfaction for the best days. The HR should not miss any answers and focus on minimizing the problems in the office for the worst parts in this question.It is where the employee mentions the difficulties he had faced in his work tenure.

6. Would you recommend the company to your friend or another professional?

This is among the final questions in this type of interview where the employer needs to understand whether has a positive outlook towards the organization he is going to leave soon. Hence, the departing employee must always keep a proper answer showing “yes” perspective for this question. Even if the outgoing employee is a bit dissatisfied with tiny aspects at the workplace, he can present them to the HR who would ensure these reach out to the correct person in the organization. It depicts that the depart employee has no ill towards the business. If the answer is no, then the HR or interviewer must understand why the employee does not want to recommend the company to friend or others and try for corrective solutions to fix it.

Conclusion

An exit-interview can be viewed as an opportunity to give upright feedback for the current and future employees of the organization. It helps the business owner understand on the core areas he should take efforts to improve for the success. It gives a clean valuable information about why employees are resigning and leaving from the workplace. Also, the employer can understand what strategies he need to include for increasing the employee retention rate in the organization for more business profits.

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Key Takeaways

Exit-interview questions must be listed by the HR or a professional conducting it in advance. The interviewer must inform the departing employee about it 2 to 3 weeks after his notice period begins after resignation.
The exit interview questions can help the business owner understand if there are any serious concerns faced by the employees or there is some issue with the management team.
The employee must not be obligated to answer all the exit-interview questions. He should be informed about the interview by HR in advance. The interviewer must not react to his feedback and properly listen to the answers as they are valuable inputs for the growth of the business.
The questions can be related to the best and worst part of the employee’s job, why he wants to leave, would he consider rejoining the organization in the future etc.
The interviewer can also ask about whether the employee would recommend it to another professional or friend to join the company. He can ask questions related to company’s culture, availability of resources, project guidance and feedback from the manager etc.