Exit survey question bank

What an exit survey has to find out

Every exit survey is really trying to answer three questions. Why is this person leaving? Could anything have changed that decision, and when? What should change for the people who are staying? The strongest questions pin down what started the search for another job, which is often different from the reason given in a resignation letter, and whether the same cause is repeating across the organisation. Questions about the manager, workload, pay, progression and culture come next, because those are the areas an organisation can actually change.

Survey or interview

An exit survey is a form the person fills in on their own, and an exit interview is a conversation, often with the same questions as a guide. The survey collects more comparable data and is easier to answer honestly about a direct manager, while the interview finds out more about one person's situation. Many organisations use both: the survey for every departure and an interview for roles that are hard to replace. Whichever is used, the person should be told who will read the answers and whether they will be linked to their name.

Timing and follow through

Send the survey in the last week or shortly after the final day, not on the day notice is given, when feelings are sharpest and the person still has weeks to work alongside the people they are describing. Keep it short enough to finish in ten minutes, since a departing employee owes the organisation nothing. Most importantly, report the patterns back to someone who can act on them. An exit survey that is filed and never read teaches the remaining staff that feedback goes nowhere. The bank opens with how many questions to ask and the three never to skip.

Every page in this collection

• Exit interview questions grouped by why people leave

  An exit interview has to find out what actually started the search, what could have changed the outcome, and whether that cause is repeating across the organisation. These twenty five questions are grouped by the usual reasons people leave, so each section can be kept or cut depending on what the departing employee names first.