Exit Interviews

Understanding why an employee decides to leave your organisation is vital to your future success, and there could be many reasons why - maybe they couldn't cut it; maybe they decided their time was up; or maybe they got a better offer. Using VETTING.com's Exit Interview survey software allows employers to capture and evaluate these reasons.

Employees exit organisations every single day and businesses are used to having employee turnover. However, turnover time (TT) becomes a critical issue when it is 'unwanted attrition' – losing your high performers or employees that were previously highly engaged.

The key to reducing unwanted attrition is to understand why it happened and what can be done to prevent the same thing happening to other employees. Asking good exit interview questions will provide you with valuable information, allowing you to understand why employees are leaving.

The VETTING.com exit interview creates simple actionable data and insights that will help you reduce unwanted attrition. We empower you to move away from a face-to-face interview to a data-driven approach.

Top Exit Interview FAQ

What is an exit interview?

Exit interviews are a valuable opportunity for you to gain a deeper understanding of your employees' experience and can provide you with actionable insights to transform your company culture.

You can identify trends, learn from them, and take action to reduce your attrition. The outcome may be the implementation of more robust hiring strategies or improvements to your management styles and culture.

Why should we do an exit interview?

Retain your top talent and build a happier, more engaged team.
To understand any long-standing themes or issues affecting your culture.
Analysis will help you understand if higher attrition is linked to certain teams, roles or demographic groups.
Aim to improve relationships with those leaving to ensure they don't end up detractors of your business.

Why should we do exit interviews online rather than face to face?

Using an online exit interview allows you to capture the exit data in a consistent and meaningful way.

From our research, employees are more likely to reflect honestly on their experience with your business when doing this online, due to being able to discuss sensitive issues anonymously.

There will be a reduced bias, and in turn, an increased accuracy compared to a face-to-face exit interview where the interviewers may find it difficult to remain neutral, either consciously or subconsciously.

Setting up an exit questionnaire in VETTING.com is quick and easy and can be sent to the employee with a click of a button, improving the experience for the leaving employee.

Online exit interviews are conducted at the convenience of the employee with the VETTING.com platform being available 24/7. Once completed, results are provided instantly, removing the time taken to arrange and conduct face to face or video exit interviews.

Vetting.com removes the hassle, friction, and pain from the exit interview process. It is intuitive, slick, and seamless for clients and the employee leaving.

What does a good exit interview look like?

Firstly, it should be simple for the employee to interpret, but the questions asked are up to you.

We advise open text fields and multiple-choice questions.

The most effective exit interviews:

Give direction at the start e.g.: 'Help us understand more about your decision to leave.'
Thank the employee for their work e.g.: 'We really appreciate the work you've done with us, and we're sorry to see you go!'
Are not afraid to ask tough questions, particularly ones that shine a light on potential issues within your business.
Take into consideration employee's feelings and emotions, especially if you have let an employee go.
Re-assure the respondent that their feedback is confidential, and it will not to be directly shared with their manager. Most importantly, you must emphasise that it will not affect any reference they may seek in the future.

COMPLETION TIME: IMMEDIATE

COVERAGE: GLOBAL

Our platform provides the option of a single or multi check report for all checks that you carry out. All the information you need is available to read and save at the click of a button.

Sneak Peek

Exit Interview Candidate Flow — Candidate Flow

Exit Interview Sample Report — Sample Report

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Further Exit Interview FAQ

Hopefully we can answer all of your Exit interview questions below, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.

Why do you need to have exit interviews?

Exit interviews provide an opportunity for employees who are leaving to voice their opinion about their time in the company.

As the employee is already leaving, they are likely to be very honest, therefore you may find areas in your organisation that could be developed, thus improving staff retention in the future.

When do you do an exit interview?

An exit interview historically has been a formal meeting between the employee and HR and or a member of the management team.

They normally happen very close to when the employee leaves the company, maybe a day or two before their last day.

Employees are less likely to take the survey after they've already left. They should be short and simple, focusing on their role and helping to identify any changes needed.

Why do people leave businesses?

Employees deciding to leave, and unwanted attrition generally results from:

Employee job dissatisfaction
Employees not feeling valued
Poor management practices
A lack of career opportunities
Conflict with a manager or co-worker

These are all things that can build up over time, and the trigger to leave can happen at any stage in the employee lifecycle. Doing Pulse surveys are very important to try and solve any issue/s before the employee is at the stage of leaving.

How many people will complete the exit interview?

Typically, a third of employees leaving an organisation complete an exit interview.

An exit interview could contain a wealth of exit information; therefore, we advise all organisations to request that every leaver completes their exit survey.

You must remember the goal of an exit survey is not to prevent the employee from leaving. Instead, it is to learn and use it to gain insights to help retain talent, prevent bad hires, improve management practices, and ultimately drive better organisational performance.

It really does pay to invest time, energy and care into finding out why people are leaving in order to minimise future attrition.

Why are exit interviews and surveys important?

The hiring process is expensive and can be long. If at the end of it, you employ people who stay with your company only briefly:

You waste time and money on recruitment.
Every time someone leaves, a bit of company knowledge or process goes with them.
Leavers may also be detractors, affecting your company reputation.

By providing departing employees with the opportunity to give honest feedback, you can gather valuable insights to improve the employee experience for both current and future staff.

Can we customise the questionnaire of our exit interview?

Yes, you can customise it or use the standard VETTING.com Exit Interview template.

As a candidate, how should I answer this exit interview questionnaire?

Be honest
Stick to the facts
Remain professional
Don't get personal

Remember, you never know who you might need a reference from one day!