An exit interview can help you as an employer to gain valuable information about a departing employee’s experience with your business. Issues covered in an exit interview can cover operations, managerial style, workplace ethics, morale and health and safety issues. They can also provide valuable insight about skills and abilities required to perform the job that the employee is vacating.


Some experts suggest that an exit interview should only be offered when an employee voluntarily quits to start a new job or to look for a new employer. A departing employee who is leaving involuntarily may not provide as accurate information due to their emotions surrounding job loss.

Guidelines:

• An exit interview should always be voluntary.
• It should be held in private and face to face.
• The departing employee should be told that the interview is to focus on the workplace issues exclusively so that the company can improve.
• The exit interview is not a discussion of the employee’s performance, nor is it an opportunity for the employer to defend his organization.
• The information provided by the employee should not affect their reference.
• Some employers offer the employee a questionnaire to complete as an alternative to a face to face interview.
• The employee should always be thanked for their contribution to the organization as well as for the information provided in the interview.

Example of issues to explore:

• the primary reason an employee is leaving
• the areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the job
• the skill sets and personal attributes required to perform the job
• the employee’s opinion about the compensation and benefits
• the employee’s ideas about how the organization can improve