Exit interview questions: 36 examples plus a short survey

The questions that make an exit interview useful ask for the main reason the person is leaving, what would have made them stay, what their manager did and did not do, and whether they would come back. Ask them in a written survey sent a few days before the last day, keep it confidential, and report results in aggregate every quarter. The 36 questions below are grouped by subject; the 12-question version at the end is the survey to send if you only send one.

This page covers the question bank, the rules on anonymity, timing and who sees results, and a short survey you can copy into any tool.

Interview or survey?#

Do both when you can. A written survey gets a consistent, comparable record from every leaver, including the ones who will not say much face to face. A conversation gets the detail and the story. The practical order is survey first, so the conversation can follow up on what the person wrote, and so you still have data when the conversation does not happen.

Reason for leaving (7 questions)#

1. What is the main reason you decided to leave? (single choice: a better offer; career growth; pay; manager; team or culture; workload or hours; relocation or personal; the work itself; other)
2. Were there other reasons? Select all that apply. (same list, multiple choice)
3. When did you first start thinking about leaving? Less than a month ago; 1 to 3 months; 3 to 6 months; 6 to 12 months; more than a year ago
4. What was the single event or change, if any, that made the decision final? (open text)
5. What would have made you stay? (open text)
6. Did you raise your concerns with anyone before deciding to leave? Yes, with my manager; Yes, with HR; Yes, with a colleague; No
7. If you raised concerns, how were they handled? (Very poorly to Very well, with Not applicable)

Question 1 forces a single main reason and is the one you trend over time. Question 2 catches the secondary reasons that usually explain the first.

Manager (6 questions)#

Scale: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither, Agree, Strongly agree.

1. My manager gave me clear expectations.
2. My manager gave me regular, useful feedback.
3. My manager supported my development.
4. My manager treated people on the team fairly.
5. I felt comfortable raising problems with my manager.
6. What should your manager keep doing, and what should they change? (open text)

Keep this group short and the scale consistent. Results by manager need a minimum group size (see the section on who sees results) before anyone reads them.

Role and work (6 questions)#

1. The job matched the description I was given when I was hired. (agreement)
2. I had the tools, access and information I needed to do my job. (agreement)
3. My workload was manageable. (agreement)
4. I had opportunities to learn and grow in my role. (agreement)
5. How satisfied were you with the work itself? (Very dissatisfied to Very satisfied)
6. What part of the job did you find most frustrating? (open text)

Team and culture (6 questions)#

1. I felt respected by the people I worked with. (agreement)
2. I felt included on my team. (agreement)
3. The company's stated values matched how people behaved. (agreement)
4. I could be honest about problems without fear of consequences. (agreement)
5. How would you describe the culture to a friend considering a job here? (open text)
6. Did you experience or witness behavior that should have been addressed and was not? Yes; No; Prefer not to say (if Yes, an optional text box and a pointer to the formal reporting channel)

Question 25 needs a visible path to a real report. An exit survey is not a complaint process, and the person should know where to go.

Compensation and benefits (5 questions)#

1. My pay was fair for the work I did. (agreement)
2. My pay was competitive with similar roles elsewhere. (agreement)
3. How satisfied were you with the benefits (health, leave, retirement, other)? (Very dissatisfied to Very satisfied)
4. Did compensation play a role in your decision to leave? Main reason; One of several reasons; Not a factor
5. If you are moving to a new job, how does the total compensation compare? Lower; About the same; Up to 10 percent higher; 10 to 25 percent higher; More than 25 percent higher; Prefer not to say

Question 30 is the one finance will ask about. Keep the "Prefer not to say" option and expect a third of leavers to use it.

Would you return, and would you recommend (6 questions)#

1. Would you consider returning to the company in the future? Yes; Maybe, under the right circumstances; No
2. What would need to be different for you to return? (open text)
3. How likely are you to recommend the company as a place to work to a friend? (0 Not at all likely to 10 Extremely likely)
4. Would you recommend the company's products or services to others? Yes; No; Not sure
5. What did the company do well that you hope continues? (open text)
6. Is there anything else you would like to tell us? (open text)

Question 33 is an employee NPS question. Report it as a score and compare it with the same question in your engagement survey; leavers normally score lower, and the size of the gap is the signal.

Anonymity, timing and who sees results#

Confidential, not anonymous. Exit surveys are tied to a known leaver, so promising anonymity is not honest. Say instead: "Your answers are confidential. They are seen by [the HR team], are not shared with your manager individually, and are reported to leadership in aggregate for groups of five or more." Then follow that rule exactly. The anonymity entry covers the difference in more detail.

Timing. Send the survey between the resignation and the last day, ideally three to five days before the end, when the person has decided but still has context. Sending it after departure drops the response rate sharply. For involuntary departures, use a shorter version or skip the survey; the questions above assume the person chose to leave.

Who runs it. HR or a people operations team, through a tool that sends from a neutral address. Not the direct manager, and not a system the manager can open.

Who sees results.

Combine exit results with the same questions from your employee engagement survey so you can compare leavers with people who stay.

A 12-question exit survey#

About 5 minutes. Send three to five days before the last day.

Questions 4 and 8 each combine two ideas to keep the survey short. If you have room for 14 questions, split them.

Common mistakes#

• The direct manager sends or reads the survey. Route it through HR.
• Promising anonymity on a survey tied to a named leaver. Promise confidentiality and define it.
• Sending it after the last day. Send it before, while the person is still reachable.
• Reading manager scores for a team with two leavers. Set a minimum group size and keep to it.
• Only open-ended questions. Add the single-choice reason and the agreement items so you can trend results.
• Collecting the data and never reporting it. Put the quarterly aggregate on the leadership agenda.
• No path for serious reports. Point to the formal channel next to the culture questions.

Doing this in Claform#

Build the 12-question survey once and send it by email to each leaver from a neutral HR address, with one reminder two days later; contact import and scheduling handle the sending, and the privacy settings keep the identifying data the survey collects to what HR needs. Skip logic shows the "What would need to be different for you to return?" question only to people who answered Yes or Maybe, and the compensation comparison only to people moving to a new job. In the results view, compare-by breaks the agreement items down by department, tenure or main reason, and the AI Analyst reads the open-text answers for themes across a quarter's leavers. The HR solutions page covers the surrounding programs; if you also run customer exit surveys, the exit survey template for churned customers is the equivalent on the customer side.

Frequently asked questions#

What are the most important exit interview questions?#

The main reason for leaving (single choice), what would have made the person stay, whether they raised concerns before deciding, how their manager set expectations and handled problems, and whether they would return. Those five produce the trends that change retention decisions.

Should exit interviews be anonymous?#

They cannot be fully anonymous because each one belongs to a known leaver. Promise confidentiality instead: name who sees individual answers, state that managers only see aggregates for groups of five or more, and keep that promise. Candor depends on the process being run by HR, not the manager.

When should an exit survey be sent?#

Three to five days before the person's last day. They have decided to leave, still have context, and are still reachable on work systems. Surveys sent after departure get far fewer responses.

How long should an exit interview survey be?#

Ten to fifteen questions, about five minutes. Use a single-choice reason, six to eight agreement items on manager, role, team and pay, a would-return question, and two optional open-text questions.

Who should conduct the exit interview?#

HR or a people operations partner, not the direct manager. The manager is often part of the reason, and the person leaving will not say so to them. The manager receives aggregate results from HR once there are enough leavers to protect individuals.

Start building for free