When someone gives their notice, the question you should be asking yourself, as an employer, is whether you can learn anything useful before they go.
Exit interviews are one of the few times that an employee will tell you what they actually think. They’ve got nothing to lose. The filter comes off. And, if they’ve got complaints about how they were managed or have a reason why they started looking elsewhere, this is when you’ll hear it.
That feedback can be uncomfortable. But it can also tell you what your current employees might be thinking and not saying.
Critical feedback can improve your business
The feedback that stings is often the feedback that can move the needle in your business.
If someone tells you that their manager never gave them clear expectations or that nobody listened when they raised concerns, those are things your remaining employees might be experiencing right now.
Exit feedback gives you a direct line into how people actually experience working for you, day to day. When you act on it, you fix the things that drive people out. When you ignore it, you keep losing people for the same reasons.
How to handle it when the feedback is negative
Try to remember that the more critical the feedback you get, the more you can use it to make a positive impact on your business.
If the departing employee says something critical about a manager or about how things are run, the worst thing you can do is get defensive or dismissive.
Ask open-ended questions and write everything down.
A few other things to keep in mind:
- Let them talk without interrupting or justifying
- Ask follow-up questions so that you understand the full picture
- Take notes during the conversation, not afterwards from memory
- Thank them for being honest, even if you disagree with what they’ve said
The goal is to understand their experience, not to win the conversation.
Spotting the patterns
One person’s feedback is an opinion. The same feedback from several departing employees is a pattern.
Track what comes up across your exit interviews. If two people in a row mention the same manager or the same frustration, that’s telling you something specific about your business.
This is where it can benefit you financially. Replacing people is expensive. Losing experienced employees disrupts your team and your output. If your exit interviews keep pointing to the same problems, fixing those problems is cheaper than constantly filling roles.
What to do with what you hear
Feedback only has value if it leads to a change. Collecting it and filing it away doesn’t help anyone.
After each exit interview:
- Look for themes that match what previous departing employees have said
- Share relevant findings with your managers
- Decide on one or two specific actions that you can take
- Follow through and let your team see that feedback leads to change
That last point is crucial. When employees see that exit feedback actually changes something, they’re more likely to raise concerns before they get to the point of leaving.
Keep it confidential
Exit interview feedback needs to be handled carefully. Employees should feel safe to speak openly and that means limiting who has access to individual responses.
If someone shares feedback about a specific manager, don’t pass on the exact words or make it obvious who said what unless you need to investigate or act on the issue. Use the information to address the issue, but protect the person’s privacy as far as possible. If someone raises harassment, discrimination, or a safety concern, you’ll need to look into it, so don’t promise complete confidentiality up front.
This also helps you to get better feedback in the future. People talk. If departing employees feel that their comments were handled properly, word gets around.
How we can help
We help business owners set up an exit interview process that actually delivers useful information. This includes designing the right questions and running the interviews on your behalf, where needed. We also help you identify patterns and turn what you’re hearing into specific operational changes.
If you’re not currently running exit interviews, or you’re running them but nothing useful is coming from them, book a free 30-minute call. We’ll walk you through what a good process looks like for your business.
