Exit Survey (Exit Interview)

Population

Most exit surveys are sent only to employees who are voluntarily leaving the organization, the belief being that voluntary turns are considered regrettable losses. If an organization has limited resources to monitor or implement an exit survey, it might consider limiting the survey process to a select employee population (e.g., employees identified as key talent). If your organization chooses to target (or omit) a particular group, you must be sure that the group can be clearly defined and that the survey is consistently administered to the population selected. Otherwise, the door is open to legal concerns around inconsistent or discriminatory treatment.

Survey Content

In most cases, an exit survey is designed to gather information as to how the employee perceived his or her compensation, benefits, working conditions, opportunities for career advancement, workload, manager quality, and work–life balance, as well as the relationships between coworkers and supervisor.

An exit survey is typically a combination of multiple-choice, agree–disagree, and open-ended questions. There is great value in ensuring that any attitude or opinion questions included in the exit survey parallel those asked via internal surveys (see Table 1). In this way, the organization can compare responses obtained from stayers and leavers to gain an understanding of what truly differentiates them.

Ultimately, the content chosen for the survey should reflect the culture and values of the organization and provide information useful to enhance recruiting, retention, and employee engagement efforts. One cautionary note regarding open-ended questions: Former employees often have a great deal of feedback about the company, coworkers, management, and so forth. Unless your organization has the resources to regularly read, categorize, and address issues raised, it is recommended that only closed questions be used.

Administration Method

There are essentially three options for administering an exit survey: paper-and-pencil, Internet, and phone interviews. A paper-and-pencil survey is typically sent by mail 30 to 60 days after a person leaves the organization. The benefit of this process is that it is administratively efficient from the respondent's perspective—he or she completes the short survey and returns it via a stamped, addressed envelope. The major drawback is the administrative resources needed to create the mailing and capture the information once it is received. Scannable forms reduce the burden, but it is still an administratively cumbersome activity.

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