Exit Interviews/Questionnaire

Angela D · May 2008

Can anyone help me with the how to conduct the exit interview? Do you give the separating employee a questioinnaire to fill out or do you ask the questions and take notes on the responses? Do you have the employee sign off on the bottom of the questionnaire?
Thanks!

cnghr · May 2008

I send out a questionnaire about a week before the employee leaves to give them time to fill it out and get it back to me before their last day of work. Or, if they leave abruptly, I send it in the mail, with a postage-paid return envelope. Generally, our employees who fill out the questionnaires are very forthcoming and honest, sometimes I think moreso than they would be in an actual face-to-face or phone interview. We do ask them to sign the questionnaire after they complete it.

ACU Frank · May 2008

I send it with their final check. That way, they have no reason to think we can still screw them over.

Susan in La · May 2008

We ask them to fill out a questionaire when they come in to resign, but they can leave their name off of it.

davids · May 2008

If the employee has given notice, we set up a time before the last day to sit down with the employee and go through our exit interview questionnaire. We have an HR employee ask the questions and write down the responses. We do ask the employee to sign the last page. The exit interview questionnaire then gets routed to the HR Director (me), the employee's supervisor and up the chain of command to the employee's department head. All of us sign off as having read the exit interview. The questionnaire then comes back to HR to be placed in the employee's file.

If the employee leaves without notice, we will call the employee and ask if s/he would like to come in for the exit interview or we will mail him/her the questionnaire.

NaeNae55 · May 2008

I set up an interview on the last day of work. I have a set of questions I ask. I write down the answers and confirm with the exiting employee that I have documented everything correctly. The employee signs the document, and the paperwork goes in their file.

We are a very small company and occasionally employees are concerned about how much they should say. I always promise discretion. This sometimes means I have to wait awhile to act if some change needs to be made. Usually the responses are good though. This is a great place to work and turnover is small.

Good luck!

Nae

Dutch2 · May 2008

I too wait until their last day of employment and usually this is the last thing they do prior to leaving. I explain to the departing ee that the purpose of the Exit Interview is to help us make this a better place to work. Also that we are not on a "witch hunt" but if they know of any witches that need hunting to please let us know so we can be about fixing any problems. I have the employee complete the Exit Interview and I look it over as soon as they have finished to see I have any questions regarding their responses and to ensrue I can read their penmanship. A copy of the Exit Interview is forwarded to our Divisional Presidents.

Texas · May 2008

Would any of you be willing to share your questionnaire? Thanks!

Aurora IL · May 2008

Send me your e-mail address and I'll send you a questionnaire.

Texas · May 2008

Thank you!
[email]cphelps@womenscenter.info[/email]

Texas · June 2008

Aurora...Can you please send the questionnaire?
thank you!

3959635 · July 2008

Hi - I know I am late to the party - but can you send me a copy of your exit interview form - always looking for improvments to ours.

[email]llerche@duperon.com[/email]

Thank you.

AJ SPHR · July 2008

We send the questionnaire out ahead of time, asking the employee to fill in as much as possible and then schedule a meeting with them on their last day, during which I will review all the questions and answers on their questionnaire. As we discuss each item, they usually add more input to each of their responses and I write their comments down on the form. I have found most all exiting employees are interested in helping improve the environment, where possible, and being incredibly honest about their work experiences.

One way we differ from others is that I don't simply route the completed questionnaire to mgmt. Instead, I create a summary email for the company president so that he's aware of the feedback, and then create a more detailed summary email for the executive in charge of the exiting employee's department. In this way, I can provide more info regarding general tone of the discussion rather than just having the executives read the form.

Paul in Cannon Beach · July 2008

I think that is probably the perfect approach. Can you estimate what percentage of the leaving employees fail or decide not to complete the questionnaire?

I was thinking about creating an online exit interview form and then e-mailing a link to it about a week or so after the employee has left. If they complete the form in a meaningful, informative manner, they would be sent a $10 Starbucks card.

My thought was that perhaps some employees may be hesitant to tell you the truth until after they have left.

Or maybe I just like the idea of online forms...

AJ SPHR · July 2008

Since I've been here (approximately 7 years), I've 100% completion rate. We are a relatively small employer (<150 ee's) with a great work environment and work hard to treat employees with respect. They return that respect when exiting by complying with our exit interview requests.

I like the notion of an online form, but my fear is that if you wait until an employee leaves to ask for input, they may develop a "so what" attitude and not complete it, particularly if they have to take the initiative by clicking on the link and accessing the survey.

I do believe that employers who contract with third party vendors who conduct phone exit interviews a month or so after the employee has departed do tend to get good results from those, but that's an expensive step we're not willing to take, nor do I think we need to take that step at this time. But large employers may find that a valuable approach to take.

Paul in Cannon Beach · August 2008

I went ahead and created my online "exit survey". I have added a few options for the exiting employees to choose:

- level of confidentiality (who gets to read the survey responses)
- options for meeting with me personally to discuss their survey
- options for the kind of gift card they will recieve after completing the form

I'll notify the staff by letter when someone gives notice and direct them to our website where the exit survey has been posted. When they complete the survey, I'll recieve an e-mail with the survey responses that I can distribute to the appropriate supervisors.

We'll see how it goes. The goal is honest and appropriate feedback that allows us to identify areas of improvement. Only time will tell if this will prove to be an effective method.

AJ SPHR · August 2008

Paul, I like what you've created but I don't know that I would give employees the option to determine the level of confidentiality. The purpose of exit interviews is to find areas to improve and I wouldn't want to be hampered in who I could share comments from the exit interview with.

Exit Interviews/Questionnaire

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