Exit interviews without the exit meeting
The most honest thing a departing employee says is rarely said to someone’s face on their last afternoon. Give them a link instead.
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An exit interview is a voice interview nobody wants to schedule
The classic exit interview has a structural problem: it asks someone to be candid, in person, with a representative of the organisation they are leaving, during the single most socially awkward hour of their employment. Then it is surprised by how diplomatic the answers are.
Asynchronous changes the incentives. Sent a day or two after the last day, answered from their own kitchen, with no face across the table, people say the thing they actually mean. There is no interviewer to spare the feelings of.
Stay interviews are the version that still helps
By the time you are running an exit interview, the decision is made. A stay interview asks the same questions of people who have not left — and that is where the answers are still actionable.
The same set of stay interview questions, sent as a three-minute link every six months, gives you a running record of what nearly made good people look. It costs each of them less time than replying to the email asking them to book a meeting.
You hear how they say it
Exit interview software that transcribes on the way in throws away the part that matters. The pause before “well, honestly…” is data. Candid Reply stores the recording itself, so whoever reads the report can also hear it.
Answers that are typed instead are equally welcome — every question has a text box under the record button, and nobody is forced to talk.
Exit interviews questions worth asking
Six open questions is roughly four and a half minutes of someone’s time. Copy these straight in and edit them to sound like you.
- What made you start looking?
- Was there a single moment when you decided?
- What would have had to change for you to stay?
- What was the job actually like, compared with what you were told?
- How was your relationship with your manager?
- What should we ask the next person that we did not ask you?
Common questions
- What are the best exit interview questions?
- The ones that ask for a story rather than a rating. “What made you start looking?” gets you a timeline. “Rate your satisfaction 1–5” gets you a 3. Six open questions is enough, and it takes about three minutes to answer out loud.
- When should you send an exit interview?
- A day or two after the last day works better than the last afternoon. The person has left, the awkwardness has gone with them, and they still remember everything.
- What is the difference between an exit interview and a stay interview?
- An exit interview asks why someone left. A stay interview asks the same things of someone who has not, while you can still act on the answer. Both work well as short voice surveys.
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