Employee exit survey templates and questions

Use our employee exit survey questions and templates to get started today.

When an employee gives notice, it might feel a bit personal. You might wonder what your company could have done differently to keep them around longer, or why they're leaving in the first place. If they got a new job, what does this new employer have to offer that you don't? If employee retention is an important issue at your company, it's essential to get answers to these questions to improve it moving forward and realize a lower turnover rate. One way to get these answers is with an employee exit survey. The answers become valuable insights to make improvements.

Why conducting an employee exit survey is important

For several reasons, most companies want to avoid a high turnover rate. Every time an employee leaves, human resources and the impacted management team have to interview and train a new employee. This takes time away from other projects, while new employees also take time to get up to speed.

Not only does employee turnover lead to increased expenses and lower productivity, but it can negatively impact other employees. If there's a common denominator at your company that is causing employees to quit that you're unaware of, this can drive a downward spiral. Conducting an employee exit survey when someone quits can help you gather valuable feedback regarding why they are leaving, what they disliked about working at your company, what they liked, and new policies to prevent other employees from leaving for the same reasons.

Strong employee retention generally means higher employee satisfaction and company loyalty. This leads to a better work environment and more motivated employees. Every employer dreams that their workers do not want to work anywhere else.

Although this is a difficult goal to achieve, employee exit questionnaires can make it more of a possibility. The key to an offboarding survey is to ask the questions that will garner effective feedback that can be used to improve operations while also getting information about what you're doing right.

An employee exit interview survey is the perfect complement for exit interviews

When someone decides to leave, instruct them to take an exit questionnaire for employees before their exit interview. You can use their answers to focus on what to ask or follow up on during their in-person offboarding interview. Whether the feedback was good or bad, having more details can help improve the workplaces and experiences of current and future employees.

Asking an employee to take an exit interview survey prior to their exit interview is also a great way to get feedback that an offboarding interview normally wouldn't provide. For some people, it's easier to express feelings and thoughts in writing than in person. By allowing to elaborate on their thoughts about the company and what changes it could benefit from, you might receive much more in-depth answers from employee exit survey questions than from the exit interview.

If you ask employees to take an anonymous employee exit survey, this can help gather ideas about what types of exit interview survey questions you should ask all employee offboarding interviews. It will also help employees feel more comfortable being candid with their answers because they're anonymous. You can then use this anonymous feedback to make improvements at your workplace.

An employee exit interview survey is the perfect complement to exit interviews

When someone decides to leave, instruct them to take an employee exit questionnaire before their exit interview. You can use their answers and reasons for leaving to focus on what to ask or follow up on during their in-person offboarding discussion. Whether the feedback was good or bad, having more details can help improve workplaces and the experiences of current and future employees.

Tips for conducting an exit interview

Asking an employee to take an exit survey before their exit interview is also a great way to get feedback that an offboarding interview might not provide. For some people, it's easier to express feelings and thoughts in writing than in person. By allowing outgoing employees to elaborate on their thoughts about the company and what changes it could benefit from, you might receive far more in-depth answers with the exit survey questions than the exit interview.

By asking employees to take an anonymous exit survey, you can gather ideas about what types of exit interview questions to ask in all employee offboarding interviews. This will also help employees feel more comfortable being candid with their answers because they're anonymous. You can use this incognito feedback to make improvements at your workplace and institute best practices in the future.

Employee exit survey templates and question examples

Here are some questions to create your own exit interview survey template:

Which of the following factors influenced you to leave our company?
What did you enjoy most about your job?
Were you satisfied with your salary?
How do our benefits compare to those of your new employer?
How often did your supervisors give you recognition for your work?
Did you feel valued as an employee?
What did you dislike about your job?
How satisfied were you with your work-life balance?
What could we do differently to retain employees?
Did you feel like there were professional advancement opportunities?
Would you recommend someone you know to work here?
Were you trained effectively to perform your job?
How satisfied were you with upper management?
Do you have any other suggestions or comments about how we can improve our company?

How to create employee exit surveys

Now that you have an employee exit survey template, you can create your own survey using software like SurveyPlanet, which provides access to dozens of templates, beautiful themes, and everything you need to create an effective exit survey. Create specific questions or use our employee exit survey templates to save time.