No matter how engaged your team is, people will sometimes leave. Just as you wouldn’t employ someone without interviewing them, it’s not a good idea to let someone leave without talking to them either.
Everyone who came to work for you did so for a reason: the money, the job, the brand or the leadership team. When you hired them, you both felt good about the decision. Over time, something changed, and they decided to move on. So what changed? When did it change? And why? An exit interview is your chance to find out.
Why do exit interviews matter?
Because understanding why people leave shows you what to change, so the next good person stays. Most businesses don’t put enough value on the exit interview. They decide the person wasn’t a good fit any more, and move straight on to recruiting a replacement. That wastes time and money, and the reason they left is still there for whoever comes next.
Ask yourself:
- Do you hold exit interviews? If you do, what value do you place on what you hear? If you don’t, why not? The person is leaving anyway, and you might learn something.
- Do your questions get to the real reasons people leave?
- What do you do with what you hear? Do the themes from leavers feed into your engagement plans?
How do exit interviews and exit surveys work together?
They go hand in hand. An exit survey asks every leaver the same questions in the same way, so the answers add up to a pattern you can compare across teams, sites and lengths of service. An exit interview gets the story behind the answers, and the detail a list of options can’t hold.
Send the survey first. What someone says in it is a good way into the conversation: a low score for their manager, a reason you didn’t expect, or a comment you’d like to understand. You can start from “You said…” rather than a blank page.
And expect the answers to differ. People often say different things in writing than they do face to face. In one study of 80 leavers, only 41% gave the same reasons for leaving in an exit interview on their last day as they later gave in writing (Lefkowitz and Katz, Personnel Psychology, 1969, as described by Feldman and Klaas, Journal of Managerial Issues, 1999). Neither tells the whole story on its own. Together, they tell you far more.
Why do exit interviews on the last day disappoint?
Because by then, most people either have strong opinions they want to get off their chest, or just want it over with. Either way, you’re unlikely to get the insight you’re hoping for. And people often hold back face to face, especially about their manager. They say more when it is safe to: Feldman and Klaas found people were more likely to give their real reasons for leaving when answers were treated confidentially and reported only across a group, and when they were protected from a bad reference.
How do you run an exit interview that tells you something?
- Hold it during the notice period, not on the last day. Some experts suggest about halfway between someone handing in their notice and leaving, once the first rush of emotion has passed (Spain and Groysberg, Harvard Business Review, April 2016).
- Ask someone other than their manager to hold it, such as a person in HR they haven’t worked closely with.
- Make it safe. Say who will hear what they tell you, share themes across leavers rather than one person’s words, and make clear that nothing they say will affect their reference.
- Keep to a few open questions, and follow up on what matters, rather than working through a long list.
See exit survey and exit interview questions for more.
Why end on good terms?
Because an exit interview is your last chance to make someone feel heard, valued and respected. Done well, it leaves them with a good impression of your business, which they will share with others: positive word of mouth can help you recruit. And it keeps the door open. If they regret their decision, they may come back one day.
What should you do with what you hear?
Don’t waste it. You’ve gone to the effort of asking, so make sure it has the impact it deserves. Look for the themes that come up again and again, act on them, and tell people what changed. What leavers tell you could stop the next good person leaving, and help you build an outstanding culture for everyone who stays.
See how Ten Space hears from every leaver. Book a 30-minute demo, or email hello@tenspace.co.uk.
