Exit survey questions to ask before people leave

An exit interview depends on who runs it and how comfortable the person feels that day. A short survey asks everyone the same questions, so you can compare answers across teams and over time. It also gives quieter people a way to speak up without sitting across from someone in the room.

The best results come from using both: a survey sent to everyone who leaves, and a conversation for roles where you need more depth. The survey gives you patterns. The conversation gives you context.

Timing changes how honest people are.

• Send it after the resignation is confirmed and the notice period has started, not in the same meeting.
• Aim for the last week or two before the final day, when the person is still engaged but the decision is settled.
• Some teams also send a short follow-up survey a couple of months after departure, when people often speak more openly.
• Explain who reads the answers and whether managers see them. Keep the manager out of the reading group by default.

Keep the survey short: ten to fifteen questions, with two or three open ones. People leaving owe you nothing, so respect their time.

Start here. These questions set the frame for everything else.

• What is the main reason you decided to leave?
• When did you first start thinking about leaving?
• Was there a specific moment or event that made you decide?
• Did you raise the issue with anyone before deciding? What happened?
• Could anything have changed your mind?
• Would you consider coming back in the future?

Open version for voice or video: "In a minute or two, tell us the story of how you decided to leave. When did it start, and what tipped the balance?"

• Was the role what you expected when you joined?
• Did you have the tools and information you needed to do your job well?
• How manageable was your workload, from 1 to 5?
• Did you feel your skills were used well?
• What part of the work did you enjoy most?
• What part of the work would you change for the next person in this role?

These answers are sensitive. Report them only for groups large enough to protect the people who answer.

• How would you rate the support you got from your manager, from 1 to 5?
• Did you get regular, useful feedback?
• Did you feel comfortable raising concerns with your manager?
• How well did your team work together?
• Did you feel recognized for your work?
• What could your manager have done differently?

Open version: "Describe your working relationship with your manager. What helped you, and what made things harder?"

• Did you see a clear path to grow here?
• Did you have enough opportunities to learn new skills?
• How fair did your pay feel compared with your role and the market?
• Which benefits mattered most to you?
• Is your new role offering something we did not? What is it?

Pay is often named as a reason because it is easy to say. Ask about growth and the manager too, so you see whether pay is the full story or the polite one.

• Did you feel you belonged here?
• Did you understand the company's direction and your part in it?
• How well did leadership communicate important decisions?
• Did you feel treated fairly?
• What should the company keep doing?
• What should the company stop doing?

• Would you recommend this company as a place to work, from 0 to 10?
• What advice would you give to the person who replaces you?
• Is there anything else you would like us to know?
• May we contact you about your answers?

The advice to the replacement often surfaces practical problems no one else mentions: missing documentation, unclear ownership, a broken process.

Talking is often easier than writing when the topic is emotional. A good spoken prompt feels like a respectful, private conversation.

• Ask for a story, not a verdict. "Tell us how" works better than "Rate".
• Keep one topic per question.
• Suggest a length, such as "a minute or two".
• Offer text on every question. Some people will not record their voice or face about a former manager, and that is fine.
• State who hears the recording and how long it is kept.

With voice feedback and video surveys, each open exit question can accept text, a voice note in the browser or a video from a phone or laptop, and recordings are transcribed so the HR team reads them like text.

Some departures need a slightly different set. Add two or three of these to the core survey when they fit.

For people who leave within their first months:

• Did the job match what was described during hiring?
• What did you expect from your first weeks that did not happen?
• Was there anyone you could ask for help when you were stuck?
• At what point did you start to doubt the role?

For remote and hybrid employees:

• Did you feel connected to your team while working remotely?
• Did you have the equipment and setup you needed at home?
• Did remote work affect your chances to grow or be noticed?

For people moving to a competitor:

• What does your new employer offer that we did not?
• Was the offer the reason you started looking, or did it come after you had already decided?
• What would we have needed to offer to keep you?

For managers who leave:

• Did you have the support you needed to lead your team?
• Which decisions above you made your job harder?
• What should your successor know about the team on day one?

Exit data only changes things when the right people see it in the right form. Leadership needs themes, trends and a few anonymized quotes. Department heads need the themes for their area. Individual managers should see results only when the group is large enough that no one person can be identified.

Present exit results next to engagement results. When the same theme appears among people who stay and people who leave, it is no longer one person's opinion. Keep the report short: top reasons for leaving this quarter, how they changed since last quarter, two or three quotes and the actions you propose.

• Sending it from the manager. People will not criticize the person who sends the survey.
• Only asking multiple choice. A checkbox list of reasons hides the real story.
• Making every question required. Let people skip what they do not want to answer.
• Defensive follow-ups. If someone contacts the leaver to argue with an answer, word spreads.
• Collecting and filing. Exit data that nobody reads is worse than none, because people notice nothing changes.
• Mixing exit and offboarding admin. Keep equipment returns and paperwork separate from the survey.

Exit surveys show patterns only when you look at them together. Review them each quarter rather than one at a time.

Start with the main reason for leaving and tag each answer with a theme: pay, growth, manager, workload, culture, relocation, personal reasons. Count themes by team, role, tenure and manager group, keeping groups large enough to protect individuals. Compare against your engagement survey results to see if the same themes show up among people who stay.

Then read the open answers behind the top themes. Note the sentiment and the specific moments people describe. Pull a few anonymized quotes to share with leadership. One clear quote about a broken promotion process often moves a decision faster than a table.

Decide on a small number of changes, assign owners and check in the next quarter whether the theme shrinks. Survey analysis software can transcribe spoken answers, group them into themes, mark sentiment and pull quotes, which matters when the reading falls on a small People team.