Every leaver gets asked
Start the checklist when a resignation is logged and the interviewer is assigned straight away, with a due date inside the notice period. Leavers stop slipping through because the interview was nobody’s job that week.
Exit Interview Template & Process
Most organisations run exit interviews. Far fewer can name one thing that changed because of them. The notes go into the leaver’s file, the same reason comes up six times in a year, and nobody puts the six together.
An exit interview is worth doing only if two things happen. The conversation has to be honest, which depends on who asks, when they ask and what the leaver is told about confidentiality. And the answers have to be counted, compared and turned into actions for the managers who can do something about them. This free exit interview template covers both: a per-leaver process for scheduling, preparing, running and coding the interview, and a quarterly analysis that finds the trends and sends actions back to managers. It includes a question bank organised by theme. The rest of a departure, such as access removal, final pay and equipment return, is covered by the Employee Offboarding Checklist.
Two Loops: The Conversation and the Analysis
Who asks matters most. People rarely give a candid account of why they are leaving to the manager they are leaving. Research published in Harvard Business Review by Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg argues that interviews are more useful when run by someone outside the leaver’s reporting line, such as an HR partner or a more senior manager, and when the organisation is clear about what it wants to learn. The same research treats the exit interview as a retention tool, not an HR formality.
Timing matters next. On the last afternoon, the leaver is handing over work and saying goodbye. Holding the interview in the second half of the notice period gives them time to reflect while they are still engaged. Some organisations add a short survey a couple of months after the leaving date, when people often speak more freely.
Confidentiality has limits, and the leaver should hear them. Tell the leaver who will read their answers, that themes are reported in aggregate, and that anything suggesting harassment, discrimination, fraud or a safety risk will be passed to the formal process. Do not promise more confidentiality than you can give. Exit interview notes are also personal data, so hold them under your normal HR retention rules.
Three numbers are worth tracking from the start. The share of leavers who were interviewed tells you whether the process is being followed. The share of leavers you regret losing tells you whether turnover is a problem or just movement. And the count of each coded reason, quarter by quarter, tells you whether the actions you took last quarter changed anything. None of the three needs a survey platform; each only needs every interview to be recorded the same way.
Loop 1: every leaver
The exit interview
Who: HR or a skip-level manager, never the direct manager.
When: the second half of the notice period.
Output: notes in the leaver’s words and a coded reason for leaving.
Covered by: Phases 1–4.
Loop 2: every quarter
The trend analysis
Who: the HR business partner or people analytics lead.
When: once a quarter, on a fixed date.
Output: a trend report, actions for managers and a check on last quarter’s actions.
Covered by: Phases 5–6.
What the Exit Interview Process Covers
Four phases run for every leaver. Two more run once a quarter, when the checklist is started as the quarterly review.
Phase 1
Phase 1: Trigger & Scheduling
- Log the departure — leaver, role, team, manager, tenure, last day and whether it is voluntary
- Offer an interview to every voluntary leaver, and decide case by case for other exits
- Choose the interviewer — an HR partner or a skip-level manager, never the direct manager
- Schedule the interview in the second half of the notice period, not the final afternoon
- Send the invitation — purpose, length, format, that it is optional and how answers will be used
Phase 2
Phase 2: Preparation
- Review the leaver’s history — tenure, role changes, promotions and recent reviews
- Check the team’s recent exit themes and engagement results, so the interviewer knows what to probe
- Choose the questions for this leaver from the question bank below
- Prepare the confidentiality statement to read at the start
Phase 3
Phase 3: Conduct the Interview
- Open with the purpose and the confidentiality statement, including its limits
- Ask the core questions, then follow up — “Can you give me an example?”
- Take notes in the leaver’s own words rather than a summary
- If harassment, discrimination, fraud or safety is raised, explain it goes to the formal process
- Close by thanking them and asking whether they would like to stay in touch
Phase 4
Phase 4: Record & Code
- Write up the notes within one working day, while the conversation is fresh
- Code the primary and secondary reason for leaving from the fixed list of themes
- Record whether the loss is regretted and whether the leaver would return or recommend us
- Pass any allegation to the formal process the same day
- Mark the record ready for the quarterly analysis
Phase 5 — Quarterly
Phase 5: Quarterly Trend Analysis
Shown when the checklist is started as the quarterly review rather than for a leaver.
- Pull the quarter’s coded exit interviews and turnover figures by team
- Count reasons for leaving and compare them with the previous four quarters
- Break results down by team, manager, tenure and role, where groups are large enough for anonymity
- Compare with engagement survey results and the regretted leaver rate
- Write the quarterly report — top themes, what changed and anonymised quotes
Phase 6 — Quarterly
Phase 6: Actions Back to Managers
- Review last quarter’s actions — done, in progress or dropped, and whether the theme has moved
- Share team-level themes with each manager and their manager
- Agree one or two actions per theme, each with an owner and a date
- Present the organisation-wide themes to the leadership team
- Tell employees what changed as a result — it makes the next leaver more likely to be candid
The Exit Interview Question Bank, by Theme
Pick eight to twelve questions for each interview: always the first and last theme, plus the themes that fit the leaver’s role. Each theme is also a reason code. When the interviewer codes the primary reason for leaving in Phase 4, they choose from these same themes, which is what makes the quarterly counts possible.
Always ask
Reasons for leaving
- What made you start looking?
- What does the new role offer that this one didn’t?
- Was there a moment you decided to leave?
- What could have changed your decision?
Code: Role
Role & workload
- Was the job what you were told it would be?
- How manageable was your workload?
- What took up time that shouldn’t have?
Code: Manager
Manager & team
- How well did you get the support you needed?
- How often did you get useful feedback?
- How did the team work together?
Code: Growth
Growth & career
- Did you see a next step for yourself here?
- Were you able to learn and use new skills?
- Was progression explained clearly?
Code: Pay
Pay & benefits
- Did you feel fairly paid for the work?
- Which benefits mattered and which didn’t?
- Did pay play a part in your decision?
Code: Culture
Culture & inclusion
- Did you feel able to speak up?
- Were people treated fairly and consistently?
- What is one thing you would change about how we work?
Code: Tools
Tools & process
- Did you have the tools and information to do the job?
- Which process frustrated you most?
- What would have made your work easier?
Always ask
Closing
- Would you recommend working here to a friend?
- Would you consider coming back?
- Is there anything we haven’t asked that we should have?
Add two codes that are not about the job: Personal (relocation, study, caring responsibilities, health) and Other. Keeping them separate stops personal reasons from diluting the themes managers can act on. A code list should stay fixed for at least a year, or quarter-on-quarter comparisons stop working.
Why Run Exit Interviews in CheckFlow?
Answers you can count
The reason for leaving is a fixed dropdown, not a paragraph of notes. Regretted loss and would-return are recorded the same way for every leaver, so the quarterly analysis starts from clean data instead of a re-read of fifty write-ups.
Actions that come back round
The quarterly review runs on a recurring schedule, and its first task is to check last quarter’s actions. Managers see their team’s themes, own the actions and know they will be asked about them again.
Exit interviews sit alongside the rest of the employee lifecycle. CheckFlow’s HR checklist software runs recruitment, onboarding, performance reviews and departures from templates, with assignments and approvals between HR and line managers.
The interview is one part of a departure. Our HR offboarding checklist guide covers the full process, from the resignation letter to final pay, and the Employee Offboarding Checklist turns it into assigned tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an exit interview?
An exit interview is a structured conversation with an employee who is leaving, to find out why they are going and what the organisation could do better. Its value comes from the analysis afterwards: when reasons are coded consistently and reviewed together, they show which teams, managers or policies are driving people away, and whether changes made in response are working.
Who should conduct an exit interview?
Someone outside the leaver’s reporting line: usually an HR business partner, or a manager one level above the leaver’s own. Leavers are less candid with the manager they are leaving, and many of the most useful answers are about that relationship. The interviewer should be trained to listen, follow up and stay neutral rather than argue with the leaver’s account.
When should an exit interview take place?
In the second half of the notice period is a good default. The decision has settled, but the leaver is still engaged and not yet busy with goodbyes. Avoid the final afternoon. Some organisations also send a short survey a month or two after the leaving date, when people may speak more openly about their manager or pay.
Are exit interviews confidential?
They should be confidential within clear limits, and the leaver should be told those limits at the start. Report themes in aggregate and only break results down where the group is large enough that no one can be identified. Tell the leaver that allegations of harassment, discrimination, fraud or safety risks will be passed to the formal process, because the organisation may have a duty to act on them. Store the notes as HR records under your normal retention policy.
How do you analyse exit interview data?
Code every interview’s primary reason for leaving from a fixed list of themes, then count them once a quarter. Compare each theme with the previous four quarters, break it down by team, manager, tenure and role where the numbers allow, and set it against turnover and engagement data. Turn the main themes into one or two actions per manager, and check those actions at the next quarterly review.
Should exit interviews be surveys or conversations?
Both work, and many organisations combine them. A conversation gets richer answers and lets the interviewer follow up. A survey is quicker, easier to count and may feel safer for some leavers. The template supports either: record the format in Phase 1, and use the same reason codes in Phase 4 so both kinds of input feed the same quarterly analysis.
Is CheckFlow free for this template?
14-day free trial, no card required. The Business plan is $10 per user per month after the trial. Full details at checkflow.io/pricing.