How Exit Interviews Can Help With Employee Retention

Once an employee has handed in their notice and is on their way out the door, they’re usually a lot more willing to be open about what they didn’t like about their job.

And while that honest feedback can be hard to hear, it’s also some of the most valuable you can get when it comes to preventing employee turnover and absenteeism.

Follow these exit interview best practices to make sure you’re getting the most from one of the most powerful tools in the Human Resources toolbox when it comes to increasing employee retention.

How do exit interviews reduce turnover?

Employee exit interviews are so effective because they help your company overcome what’s known as “the iceberg of ignorance”.

“The iceberg of ignorance” is the idea that because senior leaders are removed from their organizations’ day-to-day operations, they only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the problems it faces. Researcher Sidney Yoshida even quantified how many problems the average executive team is aware of at just 4%.

On the other hand, a business’s front-line employees are collectively aware of 100% of its problems, since they’re the ones dealing with them. And some well-chosen employee exit interview questions will go a long way to revealing a lot more of that iceberg to your leaders.

They’ll help you unearth if your people are leaving because of:

• Bad pay or benefits.
• Lack of career opportunities.
• Unfulfilling work.
• Lack of mental health support.
• A bad manager.
• A toxic company culture.
• A toxic teammate.
  

Once you know what’s driving your people out of your business, you can address those issues – and improve your company culture, employee engagement, and retention rates.

And when your employees see their leaders are willing to fix the problems that get flagged in exit interviews, they’re more likely to open up about them before they’re on their way out in pulse surveys and one-to-ones.

What to say in an exit interview?

These are the employee exit interview questions to ask to get actionable feedback from your outgoing employees:

How reasonable was your workload?

Overworking your employees is a surefire way to drive them out the door. In fact, 10% of HR leaders blame employee burnout for causing more than half of the turnover in their organization. And a massive 77% of workers say they’ve experienced employee burnout at their current job – with more than half saying they’ve felt burned out more than once.

If burnout is a big driver behind the voluntary turnover in your business then you need to fix it – fast. Asking your outgoing teammates if they felt overworked in their role will help you spot the problem early and change course before it drives more talented teammates out the door.

Book a demo of Assembly today to see how easy it can make tracking burnout across your business

Which of our benefits did you take advantage of?

Strong benefits can help you attract and retain employees. And a great way to get to the bottom of which benefits your people care most about is by asking outgoing teammates which they actually use. Then you can improve your benefits package by simply doubling down on which ones people make use of and replacing the ones people don’t.

Was there a specific event or person involved with your decision to leave?

82% of people have thought about quitting a job because of a bad manager. And this question will help you get to the bottom of whether that’s why a teammate quit – and if there was a particular straw that broke the camel’s back.

If employees are resigning because of a specific person you need to take immediate action. Managers driving talented employees out of your business need to be provided with training, shifted into a role that suits them better, or let go. And you need to handle toxic employees fast before they alienate more of their teammates.

How fairly do you think this company treats all of its employees?

Your company culture will seriously suffer if your employees are left feeling like there’s “one rule for them and another for us” or your company’s leaders “talk the talk but don’t walk the walk”. And your top performers might choose to leave if they feel like leaders don’t deal with toxic teammates that impact how much they enjoy coming into work each day.

You can get to the bottom of this by asking if exiting employees feel like your company treats everyone equally – no matter what their job title is. Encourage them to be honest if they feel certain individuals got preferential treatment or were discriminated against.

Could we have done anything more to help support you achieve your career goals?

41% of people have quit a job because it wasn’t providing them with enough progression opportunities. So, it’s crucial that you check if this was what drove each of your outgoing employees out the door.

If you’re regularly being told that people are jumping ship because they feel like they’ve hit a glass ceiling in your company you need to take this seriously. Restructuring teams or departments to redistribute responsibility to those who are keen to take it on is a great way of retaining top talent. And if a lot of your people are leaving because they feel like they’re stagnating, then every dollar you spend on a learning and development strategy is bound to have a huge return on investment.

Try Assembly to get all the tools you need to support each of your employees’ career goals and objectives in one place

What are you getting from your new job you weren’t getting in this one?

Exit interviews are a great chance to see how the pay, benefits, and progression opportunities you were giving outgoing employees stacks up against the company they’re leaving for. If you spot trends in where you’re falling short across multiple exit interviews then you’ll know exactly what you need to change to keep your current teammates around – and make your job descriptions more appealing.

What tasks did you enjoy doing as part of your job – and which did you not like?

Employee engagement and staff retention go hand in hand. But since “engagement” isn’t a concrete and easily quantifiable metric, it can be hard to get a feel for just how engaged your people are. While running regular engagement surveys certainly helps, your teammates might be guarded about what they’re willing to say while they’re still your employee.

Your outgoing employees, on the other hand, are a lot more likely to be open about what parts of their job they don’t enjoy. While they might – understandably – feel uncomfortable criticizing individuals who’ve led to them leaving your ranks, they’re a lot more likely to be candid about the bad parts of the work itself. Asking them what tasks they did – and didn’t – like doing as part of their job will give you invaluable information when it comes to making sure you’re giving the teammates they’ve left behind interesting and engaging work.

Book a demo of Assembly to make tracking employee engagement a lot easier

How flexible do you think we are as a company?

Flexible working options are a priority for a lot of talented and ambitious employees in 2023. In fact, 71% of employees open to looking for a job aren’t happy with how flexible their current organization is willing to be.

With this in mind, it’s well worth asking your outgoing teammates how rigid they think your working policies are. Since 75% of workers would make flexibility the deciding factor between two jobs with identical pay, loosening up prescriptive work policies that don’t suit all your employees’ lives could help you attract and retain the best workers.

The best way to start is with the valuable information you can find in this exit interview template:

The final word

Follow these interview tips to walk away from each one with actionable feedback that can help you boost retention rates across your business – and transform your company into a go-to destination for future employees.

Just don’t make the mistake of waiting until an employee is on their way out before you ask for their constructive feedback on how you run your business. Stay interviews, performance reviews, and well-chosen one-to-one meeting questions all help you understand what your employees do and don’t like about their jobs before they’ve handed in their notice. So, be sure to bake those into your employee retention strategy as well for the best results.