Exit Survey Questions: Examples and a Practical Guide

An exit survey is a short survey given to employees who leave an organization voluntarily, asking about their reasons for leaving, their experience at the organization and what the organization could do better. Its main purpose is not to look at individual departures, but to see the recurring reasons behind them and take action before more employees are lost. Below you will find sample questions by category, along with recommendations on how to run the survey.

Why are exit surveys important?

Departing employees generally speak more openly than those who stay; with nothing to lose, they point out the organization's weaknesses more clearly. Exit survey data collected on a regular basis:

• Makes the common reasons behind departures (manager, career, pay, workload) visible,
• Reveals problems concentrated in a particular department, location or manager,
• Shows whether problems seen in the engagement survey are actually turning into employee turnover,
• Catches problems in recruitment and onboarding, especially through employees who leave in their first year.

Exit surveys have one limitation: the information arrives late, because the employee is already leaving. That is why exit surveys are used alongside, not instead of, surveys that measure the engagement of current employees and stay interviews. To measure other moments in the employee lifecycle, see our article on employee experience survey questions. We explained how these methods complement one another in our article how to measure employee engagement.

Reason-for-leaving questions

This is the most important section of the exit survey. Ask about the reasons as multiple-choice questions and keep the options the same every year, so that you can compare the distribution of reasons over time.

"Which reasons influenced your decision to leave?" (select all that apply)

• Career and promotion opportunities
• Pay and benefits
• My relationship with my direct manager
• Workload and working hours
• Flexible or remote working options
• The content of my work
• Training and development opportunities
• Company culture and work environment
• My relationships with my teammates
• Uncertainty about the organization's future
• Commute and location
• Personal or family reasons
• Other (please specify)

Then add these two questions:

• Which of these reasons had the greatest influence on your decision to leave? (single choice)
• When did you first start thinking about leaving? (Within the last 3 months / 3–6 months ago / 6–12 months ago / More than 1 year ago)

The last question shows how long before the departure the decision took shape, and how much time the organization had to intervene.

Questions about the new job

These questions can be sensitive; make them optional.

• What is the most important thing your new job offers that you could not find here?
• Is your new job in the same industry?
• Did you actively look for your new job, or did an offer come to you?

The last question matters: an active job search points to dissatisfaction within the organization, whereas accepting an unsolicited offer may have more to do with competitive conditions.

Questions about the manager

The following questions are answered on a 5-point scale ranging from "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree." To evaluate managers before their team members leave, see our article on manager evaluation survey questions.

• My manager clearly communicated what was expected of me.
• My manager gave me regular, constructive feedback.
• My manager took an interest in my development.
• I could comfortably share my ideas and concerns with my manager.
• My manager treated the team fairly.

Questions about the role and job

• My duties and responsibilities matched what I was told when I started.
• My knowledge and skills were put to good use in my job.
• My workload was reasonable.
• I had the tools and resources I needed to do my job.

Questions about career and development

• I felt I could advance my career at this organization.
• Promotion and job change decisions were made fairly.
• I was supported in developing the new skills my job required.

Questions about pay and benefits

• My pay was in line with the responsibilities of my job.
• My pay was fair compared with similar jobs in the market.
• The benefits met my needs.

Questions about company culture and the team

• I felt valued at this organization.
• We trusted one another in my team.
• The organization's values were genuinely put into practice day to day.
• My contributions were noticed and appreciated.

Recommendation and return questions

• On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend as a place to work?
• Would you consider returning to this organization if a suitable position became available in the future? (Yes / Maybe / No)

The recommendation question can be calculated using the eNPS approach and tracked as a separate indicator for departing employees; we explained the calculation in our article what is eNPS. The return question shows whether the departure represents a break with the organization or a choice driven by circumstances.

Open-ended questions

• If there was one thing that could have made you stay, what would it have been?
• What did you like most about working at this organization?
• What would you change to make things easier for the person who replaces you?
• Is there anything else you would like to add?

The first question is perhaps the most valuable question in an exit survey: it often points directly to a reason the organization could have prevented.

How should an exit survey be conducted?

• Timing: Send it once the departure is confirmed, during the last week of work. Surveys left until the last day are either not completed at all or filled in hastily amid the rush of handovers.
• Who should collect the answers: HR or an independent firm, not the direct manager. Some departing employees hesitate to criticize their former manager because they may need a reference.
• Confidentiality: Because the number of departing employees is small, full anonymity is often not possible. Instead, state clearly who the answers will be shared with, and report results to managers in aggregate once a certain number is reached, not on an individual basis.
• Length: Do not exceed 15–25 questions or 10 minutes.
• Support it with interviews: Hold a short exit interview after the survey with employees in critical roles or high performers; it deepens the reasons the survey reveals.

How should the results be analyzed?

Rather than reading exit survey results person by person, analyze them in aggregate on a quarterly or annual basis:

1. Most common reasons for leaving: Map the distribution of answers to the "greatest influence" question and track how it changes over the years.
2. Breakdowns: Examine the reasons by department, location, tenure and management level. A reason concentrated in a particular unit points to a problem specific to that unit.
3. First-year departures: Examine separately the reasons of those who leave within their first 12 months; this group mostly reveals problems in recruitment and onboarding. To measure this period, see our article on recruitment surveys.
4. Employees you do not want to lose: Group departing employees by performance and criticality. The reasons high performers leave may differ from the overall picture and should be addressed with higher priority.
5. Read them alongside the engagement survey: If the areas that score low in the engagement survey match the reasons for leaving in the exit survey, that area is a priority action area.

Common mistakes

• Having the manager fill in the survey or showing it to the manager: This is the mistake that most undermines the honesty of the answers.
• Changing the reason options every year: This makes comparisons across years impossible.
• Relying only on "Other" and open-ended questions: This creates a pile of data that is hard to analyze and impossible to compare.
• Collecting the data and not using it: The value of an exit survey is measured by the steps taken for the employees who stay. For practices aimed at increasing engagement, see our article on how to increase employee engagement.

Frequently asked questions