Exit interviews are sometimes overlooked in favor of focusing on the people who choose to stay rather than those who leave. However, departing employees often provide candid insights into your company’s strengths and weaknesses, making exit interviews a strategic opportunity to gain data for improved retention.
Why Exit Interview Data Matters for Retention
Recent research shows that 51% of U.S. employees are actively seeking a new job, which often leads to resignation.
While often conducted under regrettable circumstances, exit interviews are a goldmine for understanding why employees leave and what you can do to keep your top performers. In sales, the average turnover cost per representative is $97,690—covering lost sales, recruitment, and training costs.
Systematically collecting and analyzing feedback and data from exit interviews helps you and your HR team uncover recurring issues and their root causes. In turn, you can make targeted improvements and strengthen your retention strategies.
5 Actionable Ways to Use Exit Interview Data for Retention
Collecting exit interview data is half the battle—your next step is to evaluate and leverage these insights to improve your retention strategies. Use these tips to better organize and understand your exit interview feedback:
1. Identify Recurring Themes
Look for patterns in feedback from departing employees, such as dissatisfaction with management, concerns about work-life balance, or limited career growth. You can also track team-specific data. Are any particular managers, roles, or departments experiencing unusually high attrition? Identifying themes and categories can pinpoint systemic issues influencing employee turnover.
2. Benchmark Against Industry Data
Compare your company’s exit statistics with industry benchmarks from sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sometimes, external circumstances influence turnover rates, and this step provides the necessary context to inform your retention efforts.
3. Prioritize High-Impact Issues
Some problems affect retention more than others. Use your data to identify issues that most frequently contribute to resignations, especially from high performers. These issues may also be impacting the morale and productivity of your current employees.
Many employees who quit their jobs often cite low pay and lack career advancement opportunities as primary reasons for leaving. Prioritizing these high-impact concerns can lead to higher retention gains.
4. Create Retention Initiatives
Translate your exit interview data and insights into clear, actionable strategies for better retention. If your exit data highlights a lack of professional development, consider launching training or mentoring programs. If compensation is a significant issue, revisit your salary package, benefits, and budget to see where to improve.
5. Track Outcomes and Continuously Improve
Retention strategies should evolve. Set relevant goals and key performance indicators, like lowering retention rates or improving employee engagement. Measure the impact of your initiatives over time and continue recording and incorporating feedback to refine your approach. This practice ensures a continuous improvement cycle.
Best Practices for Conducting Exit Interviews
Exit interviews are more than a formality when an employee leaves. You can use them strategically to learn more about your company’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.
Clarify Your Intentions
Exit interviews only work if everyone is honest. Some HR practitioners might only see them as a formality, and employees might fear their answers could hurt their reputation or future career prospects.
Before the exit interview, it’s essential to reach out honestly and clarify that the company will only use the feedback to improve and that the employees’ answers remain confidential. Reassuring employees that the interview is a safe space encourages honesty, which can lead to valuable feedback.
Ask Targeted Questions
General questions lead to vague answers. Instead, prepare specific questions that uncover employees’ real reasons for leaving. For example, you can directly ask what prompted their decision and how they felt about particular aspects of their job, like management support, career growth opportunities, or company culture.
Use a mix of multiple-choice and free-response questions to gather both quantitative and qualitative information to guide retention reports and campaigns.
Inquire About Your Strengths
Apart from discovering improvement opportunities, exit interviews can also reveal the company’s strengths. This information can help you determine what practices and strategies to keep and revise.
Ask employees about what they liked and valued most in their time with the company. Doubling down on your current positives can do wonders for improving retention.
Turn Exit Insights into Retention Wins
More than being an offboarding checklist item, an exit interview presents an opportunity to investigate the merits and weaknesses of your workplace. You can then turn this feedback into actionable improvements that reduce turnover and create a more supportive and engaging environment for your employees.
Zac Amos is the Features Editor at ReHack Magazine and a regular contributor at TalentCulture, AllBusiness, and VentureBeat. He covers HR tech, cybersecurity, and AI. For more of his work, follow him on LinkedIn or X (Twitter).