Exit Surveys – a complete guide

Exit surveys are invaluable tools for gathering insights from employees leaving the company. They help organizations understand why employees leave, identify areas for improvement, enhance employee engagement, and provide insights that can help retain valuable employees with the right actions. This guide offers an in-depth look at how to conduct effective exit surveys and use the results to strengthen your organization.

Exit surveys are a systematic method for collecting feedback from departing employees. The aim is to identify reasons for leaving, which can provide valuable information to improve the work environment, increase engagement, and reduce turnover.

The Business Case for Exit Surveys

Exits are costly. When a person resigns and leaves a company, research shows exits negatively impact the bottom line. Why? Firms spend much time, energy and money looking for a suitable replacement.

Staff turnover has colossal costs; Gallop’s research in the US estimates that 1 trillion US dollars are lost annually.

But what is the cost to your organisation? Research indicates that you will likely spend six to nine months of the employee’s salary to find and train their replacement. Other research suggests, however, it could be as low as 16 percent of a salary if it’s to replace an hourly, contracted member of staff. In contrast, the figure could be upwards to 213 percent for a leadership position. Either way, quitting is expensive.

Worse, there are spillover effects. When someone leaves your firm, and they are not immediately replaced, productivity could fall as there are less people available to do the necessary work. Fewer employees lead to further knock-on effects—overwhelm can kick in due to work overloading. In turn, overwhelm risks lowering employee morale. Yet more costs often follow, for example, due to illness.

Therefore, while the data indicates resignation rates are slowing after the so-called ‘Great Resignation’, given the high costs of resignations and replacements, implementing exit surveys is vital.

Why exit surveys are important

Identify problem areas: Understanding why employees leave helps companies identify and address issues that may negatively affect satisfaction and performance.

Improve recruitment processes: Feedback from exit surveys can enhance recruitment strategies and hiring processes, especially if new hires leave early.

Increase employee engagement: Addressing identified issues can boost engagement and reduce turnover.

Benefits for different stakeholders

Management and HR:

Strategic insight: Understanding why employees leave provides crucial insights for strategic decisions and planning.
Improved HR processes: Feedback can enhance hiring, onboarding, and employee development processes.

Department heads:

Direct feedback: Managers receive direct feedback on their leadership and the department’s work environment.
Opportunity for improvement: Identifying specific issues enables managers to improve the work environment and team dynamics.

Remaining employees:

Improved work environment: Addressing issues from exit surveys can enhance the work environment for remaining employees.
Increased engagement: When employees see the company acting on feedback, their engagement and trust in the company grow.

Advantages of digital exit surveys

Employees leaving a company often want to maintain good relations and might hold back valuable feedback to avoid uncomfortable situations. Digital and anonymous surveys make it easier to provide honest feedback.

How to conduct an exit survey

Planning: Determine the purpose and focus areas, such as work environment, leadership, career opportunities, and work relationships.

Questionnaire: Design a survey with both quantitative and qualitative questions, such as:

Why are you leaving the company?
What did you appreciate most about your job?
What improvements would you suggest for the company?

Implementation: Decide on the method—personal interviews, phone interviews, or online surveys. Ensure anonymity for honest responses.

Analysis and actions: Analyze the results to identify patterns and trends. Develop action plans based on the feedback and communicate these actions to employees.

Prevention is Better than Cure

Exit surveys can play a hugely valuable role in preventing exits. While it’s too late to stop those completing an exit survey from quitting, exit survey insights hold the power to prevent further exits.

Research conducted by Gallop suggests that 52% of exiting staff state their leaving could have been prevented if their employer had intervened earlier. Given the staggering 1 trillion US dollars we mentioned earlier that are lost from the US economy each year, preventing even a tiny proportion is a considerable cost saving. And likewise for your company finances if you use exit surveys.

So how can exit surveys help prevent exits?

Exit surveys, designed well, can provide insights into why people quit. If we know why, we’re in a far better position to take corrective action.

Imagine, for instance, a recurring trend that indicates that 24% of your existing staff members leave due to poor growth opportunities. When you dive deeper into your exit survey data, you discover that quitters have poor perceptions of your online learning system. This gives you specific insight into how you can prevent, in part, people from leaving your organisation—improve your online learning and development activities.

Value-adding insights can be gleaned from both quantitative and qualitative data. For instance, the learning insight we gleaned in our hypothetical example could have emerged from comments written by quitters. Equally, exit data accumulates over time. This big data could be used in predictive models to discover who will most likely quit and why. Either approach allows you to predict and therefore prevent exits, but only if you act on your exit survey data.

How to conduct exit surveys

Example questions in your exit survey

Reasons for leaving: “Why have you chosen to leave the company?”

Work environment: “How would you describe the work environment at the company?”

Leadership: “How has your relationship with your manager been?”

Career opportunities: “Did you feel there were sufficient career opportunities within the company?”

Suggestions for improvement: “What improvements would you suggest for the company?”

Detailed questionnaire design

Open-ended questions

Allow employees to express their thoughts and feelings in detail.

Examples:

- “Can you describe specific situations that influenced your decision to leave the company?”
- “What would have made you stay at the company?”

Quantitative methods

Use Likert scales and other quantitative methods for structured measurement.

Examples:

- “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your overall experience at the company?”
- “How likely are you to recommend the company to a friend?” (eNPS)

Analysis methods and tools

Data analysis tools: Use tools like Excel, SPSS, the feedback tool’s analysis section, or specific HR analytics tools to analyze and interpret data.

Identifying trends: Analyze data over time to identify trends and patterns in employee feedback.

Data visualization: Create charts and graphs to visualize results and make them easier to understand and communicate to management.

Exit survey answers

Future trends

AI and automation: Future exit surveys will likely integrate AI and automation for quick and accurate data analysis, enabling more proactive actions based on real-time data.

Integrated platforms: Companies will use integrated platforms that collect feedback from all stages of the employee lifecycle, providing a holistic view of the employee experience.

Personalization: Exit surveys will become more personalized, with questions and topics tailored to the individual employee’s experiences and role within the company.

Exit surveys: common challenges and solutions

Employee resistance: Employees may hesitate to participate in exit surveys due to fear of retaliation or lack of trust. Solution: Ensure anonymity and emphasize the importance of their feedback for future improvements.

Lack of action on feedback: If companies do not act on collected feedback, employees may lose trust in the survey process. Solution: Create and communicate clear action plans based on the feedback.

Insufficient data analysis: Collecting data without a clear plan for analysis can lead to missed insights. Solution: Use advanced analysis tools and methodologies to process and interpret data effectively.

Frequently asked questions about exit surveys

How to handle sensitive responses? Anonymity and confidentiality are crucial for employees to feel comfortable sharing sensitive information. Explain how their responses will be used and protected.

What to do if response rates are low? To increase response rates:

Send reminders a few days after the initial invitation.
Offer incentives, such as gift cards or charitable donations, to motivate participation.
Clearly communicate the importance of their feedback and how it will be used to improve the company.
Ensure the survey is easy to understand and quick to complete.
Inform employees in advance that an exit survey will be sent and that their feedback is valuable to the organization.

How to ensure feedback leads to concrete actions? To ensure that feedback results in tangible actions, it’s important to:

Analyze results thoroughly: Identify patterns and trends in the responses.
Develop action plans: Create specific, measurable actions based on the results.
Communicate actions: Inform employees about the actions that will be taken based on their feedback.
Follow up: Evaluate the impact of the actions and make adjustments as needed.