16 questions to guide your conversation with departing employees to collect insights and improve retention in your team
- 16 questions to guide your conversation with departing employees to collect insights and improve retention in your team
- Reasons for Leaving
- Role
- Team Dynamics
- Management
- Closing
- ➠ Related Notion templates
- ➠ Related Management Frameworks
As a manager, you may have come across the concept of exit interviews — a structured conversation between a departing employee and their manager.
Think of it as peering through a looking glass into the inner workings of your organisation, revealing the intricate details of what drives employees away and what could have been done differently.
It is not an easy conversation.
To start with, the goals of both parties diverge: the manager wants to know how they can decrease employee turnover, while the employee wants to… well, leave.
The departing employee may not be open to share all reasons linked to their leaving, especially to their manager.
In this article, I will provide a comprehensive list of questions you can use to make the most of these conversations. I’ll focus on exit interviews with resigning employees, as their feedback can help improve retention for those you want to keep. For fired or let go employees, HR colleagues should handle the situation.
As a manager, you need to show humility and readiness to listen and accept the feedback of your employee to get them to speak openly and give you constructive insights.
While it may not be the most enjoyable conversation, it’s incredibly valuable. Exit interviews offer insights into the employee’s experience, helping you identify turnover trends, understand company culture’s strengths and weaknesses, and gather honest feedback to improve processes and policies.
I encourage you to resist the urge of skipping the exit interview, roll up your sleeves, and use the questions below to gather useful insight.
Reasons for Leaving
- Can you share one key reason that led to your decision to leave?
- Can you describe any particular events or situations that influenced your decision to leave the team?
Role
- What did you enjoy most and least about your role, and why?
- How did your role evolve, and how did this impact your decision to leave?
- How were your skills and interests aligned with the assigned tasks & projects?
- Which growth or development opportunities were valuable or lacking?
- Were there resources or support that would have helped you?
Team Dynamics
- Can you describe your experience working with other team members?
- Can you recall a specific instance of teamwork that stands out?
- How would you rate the overall morale within the team?
- Were there any communication challenges?
Management
- How would you describe the balance between autonomy and guidance from your manager?
- In what ways do you feel the team and management supported your goals?
- What could we have done differently to keep you in the team?
Closing
- What positive experiences will you keep from your time here?
- Looking back, what advice would you give to someone joining the team in a similar role as yours?
Conducting exit interviews may not always be easy, but they’re an essential tool for understanding why employees leave and how to improve the work environment. As a manager in a small or medium-sized company, taking the time to have these conversations will ultimately benefit the entire organisation. By asking thoughtful questions and genuinely listening to the feedback, you can gather valuable insights and create an action plan to address any issues and improve employee satisfaction and retention.
➠ Related Notion templates
➠ Related Management Frameworks
