Lecture 4: Employee Exit Interview

Overview

In this lecture student, will be introduce to Exit Interview Process which is the most
commonly used method to gather employee feedback. When employees don’t rely on the
organization for their livelihood, they’re more likely to provide honest and constructive
feedback. Not everyone will speak forthrightly about an organization and its culture, but
your best bet is usually with a worker who won’t face any consequences for sharing
his/her honest opinion.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lecture students, will be able to get knowledge about:
▪ Problems in the Present Exit Interview Process
▪ Important in the Exit Interview Process
▪ How to Plan an Exit Interview
▪ Methods of Conducting an Exit Interview
▪ Automated Exit Interview Process
▪ Common Questions Asked in an Exit Interview
▪ Updating Exit Interview Checklist
▪ What is an Exit Interview Checklist?
▪ The Need for an Employee Termination Checklist
▪ Key Elements of a good Employee Exit Checklist
▪ Benefits of Automating Exit Interview Checklists

Discussion

Introduction

The steep rise in the ‘churn and burn’ rate is an ever-growing concern for all HR leaders.
It can be impossible to retain a person who is intent on leaving your organization, but
understanding the reason why he or she decided to quit will help you rein in your churn
rate. This is where employee exit interviews play an integral role in employee
offboarding. When appropriately handled, the exit interview process is a golden
opportunity to reveal why your employee turnover is swelling at an alarming rate. But
most organizations seem to consider these treasures as a pointless endeavor that give out
conflicting or vague insights. Due to the mounting pressures from other aspects of their
work environment, the HR team often does the bare minimum needed to complete the
task. Instead of blatantly disregarding exit interviews as a lost cause, try to find out how
to derive desired results from them.
▪ Where does the problem lie in the current process?
 ▪ What makes an employee withhold their true views even when they are about to
leave your organization?
▪ What are they concerned about and how do you alleviate those concerns?
▪ Does your typical face-to-face approach make your employees feel hesitant to
share their opinions candidly?
▪ Or is your thick questionnaire booklet killing their brain cells with repeated and
mundane questions?
▪ Is the background noise and use of colloquialism making phone interviews a huge
no-no?
Before you start pondering over the problems in the current system and look for ways to
solve them, take a minute to understand why exit interview process is an essential part
of the offboarding process and what exactly they are all about.

Present Exit Interview Process Problems

Most organizations take a conservative approach towards exit interview process. Manual
exit interviews:
▪ Make people hesitant to share information
▪ Can be a time-consuming affair
▪ Are soloed, and so it is hard to track information
▪ Complicate the process of compiling, tracking, and analyzing data
▪ They are not ready to spend additional resources digitizing something as
seemingly inconsequential as exit interviews.
▪ And so, they conduct exit interviews in-person, over the phone, and on paper
forms.

Exit Interviews Process Important

The exit interview process is the most commonly used method to gather employee
feedback. When employees don’t rely on your organization for their livelihood, they’re
more likely to provide honest and constructive feedback. Not everyone will speak
forthrightly about an organization and its culture, but your best bet is usually with a
worker who won’t face any consequences for sharing his/her honest opinion.
If you want to uncover valuable information through your exit interviews, you need to
focus on two crucial factors: getting genuine answers to your questions and aggregating
the data in an easy-to-interpret way. Digitizing your exit interview and automating it to
analyze the data will make it more efficient. It also eases the workload that your HR staff
has to face.
Offboarding checklists offer accurate data to evaluate the quality of work-life within an
organization and pinpoint problems associated with employee retention and
engagement. Solid employee exit interview data gives the HR department a lot of
valuable insight. They can:
▪ Discover flaws in current management policies
 ▪ Reveals patterns in employee resignations
▪ Highlight opportunities available for employee development
▪ Offer employees the opportunity to share constructive criticism
▪ Provide insights to improve your recruiting, onboarding, and employee training
process
▪ Detect opportunities for improvement in your organization’s culture.

Exit Interview Plan

The departing employee should be given enough time to have the chance to think about
their answers to the questions to ensure that you get good quality, well thought-out
feedback. Listed below are the seven best practices for conducting an effective exit
interview:
▪ Organize exit interviews face to face
▪ Allow a two-way, effective conversation
▪ Encourage openness by ensuring confidentiality
▪ Ask appropriate and useful questions
▪ Don’t just document feedback analyze it to find turnover trends
▪ Create and implement a retention plan to solve recurring issues
▪ Keep it natural and don’t force employees to share
With the help of exit interview best practices outlined above you can garner honest
feedback that will form the cornerstone of the exit interview process.
What does an automated exit interview look like?
It starts with an automated form for the departing employee to fill out. It’ll already have
all their important data already populated. Then, the information can be sent to a
manager, who can use that data to conduct a live interview to get more qualitative
answers. These answers also go on the same form. Dropdowns and checkboxes can be
used to categorize responses for future reference. All of this data is automatically sent to
the HR team. This appears on a master spreadsheet that analyzes trends in responses. In
addition to this, automating exit interviews online can:
▪ Make employees comfortable sharing sensitive information
▪ Sort and compile information automatically for tracking
▪ Provide instantaneous, easy-to-read reports
▪ Spot trends in employee departures
▪ Make it easy to compare data and acquire actionable insights
▪ Offer employee self-service options and ease the burden of Human Resource (HR)
team.
▪ Increase participation rate in exit surveys

Methods of Conducting an Exit Interview

There are a few different methods with that to conduct an exit interview; each has its
advantages and disadvantages. When what method is used should be decided by each
company depending on their individual situation during the offboarding.
1. On Paper
The first is on paper, using an exit interview template, whereby an employee’s manager
hands them the questions on a sheet of paper and asks them to fill it in and return it. This
is quite a manual process and it is also difficult for the organization to track and analyze
the results and any subsequent trends across the wider business.
Pros: Always accessible, simple to create and manage, and no risk of data corruption
Cons: Data entry errors, high risk of being lost or misplaced, and susceptible to natural
calamities
2. Face-to-face
Another method of conducting exit interviews is face to face. This method is a great way
to build rapport between the interviewer and interviewee and perhaps gain some more
in-depth and valuable answers and information about the employee’s views. On the
downside, much depends on the skill of the exit interviewer to get the individual to open
up to them and it can also lack confidentiality and take up valuable HR manpower.
Pros: Chance for personal interaction, capture non-verbal cues, and increase trust
Cons: Relatively higher cost, time consuming in nature, and subject to interviewer bias
3. Interactive
Finally, many organizations use interactive, web-based exit interview software. This can
be a great way to encourage individuals to give honest and direct answers to exit
interview questions as they have the time and privacy to consider them. The organization
can also track the results to get a handle on headline reasons for leaving across the
company.
Pros: Ensure consistency, easily retrieve actionable insights, and can prompt genuine
answers
Cons: Difficult to build rapport with exit employees and risk of employees getting
complacent

Asking the Right Questions

Asking the right questions in an exit interview make the entire difference after all, you
can only get out what you put in.
2. Questions to ask
Focus on questions relating to the reasons why the employee is leaving and what their
biggest areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the organization relate to. And don’t
forget to ask them how they feel the business could make changes for the better–exiting
staff are often more likely to give you the honest feedback that current employees won’t.
2. Questions not to ask
What about what not to ask? Questions about office gossip are a no-go, as are personal
questions about the employee’s relationship with particular colleagues or
managers. Remember not to use leading questions if you want to get impartial and honest
answers in return.

Automated Exit Interview Process

Cloud-based HR tools like Kissflow HR Cloud will not only notify stakeholders about
the resignation or termination of an employee, but also initiate an exit interview process
offering employees the opportunity to give feedback. Here’s what an exit interview
process in Kissflow HR Cloud looks like:
▪ Once an offboarding process is initiated (voluntarily or involuntarily), the leaving
employee will automatically receive exit interview documentation
▪ The exit interview documentation will typically consist of an exit interview
template or questionnaire which covers common exit interview questions that are
formed to identify their decision to leave.
▪ Once the employee successfully completes the exit interview questionnaire, their
answers will be forwarded to relevant stakeholders for perusal
▪ Simultaneously, the system will collect and store exit interview answers that can
be analyzed to retrieve actionable insights about employee pulse and exit patterns.

Questions in an Exit Interview

You can’t find answers to questions you don’t raise. It helps to prepare an exit interview
questionnaire that asks the right questions. This way, you can gather data from departing
employees. Here are a few frequently asked exit interview questions:
▪ Why did you decide to quit?
▪ What would make you stay?
▪ Did you have any issues with your supervisor/manager?
▪ Were your role and expectations communicated clearly?
▪ What did you like/dislike about our organization?
▪ Did you receive the resources required to perform your job properly?
▪ How would you describe our company’s culture?
▪ Would you recommend our organization to your friend?
▪ If offered an opportunity, would you come back to work with us?
▪ What are the key qualities we should look for when hiring your replacement?

The Trials of Exit Interview Process

Are you interested in implementing a strategic and effective exit interviews that yields
ongoing and long-term benefits? Tired of using inflexible forms with irrelevant data
fields? Then, it is time to make your exit interview process painless with the power of
automation. When it comes to automating your exit interview process, you can take two
roads. You can either choose a standalone exit interview app or take the easy way out.
Or, choose an all-in-one HR suite like Kissflow HR Cloud and streamline your HR
processes end to end.
Kissflow HR Cloud offers valuable insights that unlock the reason behind unwanted
attrition and identify troubles that prompt top performers to quit. With Kissflow HR
Cloud, businesses get a better understanding of the employee pulse, improve
organizational practices, and strengthen the work culture.
If your exit interviews are not as smooth as you want it to be, take Kissflow HR Cloud for
a spin and easy-button your offboarding process.

Updating Exit Interview Checklist

Anjali hated her company, and decided to leave. This happens in every company from
time to time, and while addressing the why is critical to the health of your team, securing
the how is just as important.
The HR staff who handled Anjali’s offboarding or exit interview process has no clue why
Anjali hates the company. They also have no idea what can be changed, policy-wise, to
make sure other people don’t feel the same way Anjali did. A number of exit interviews
don’t fulfill the purpose they are conducted for. Many employee exits get botched up,
just because one HR exec slipped up during the offboarding process. But this can be
sorted with a good employee exit checklist and an efficient.

Exit Interview Checklist

An employee exit interview checklist is the handout document used by HR professionals

to ensure that all repetitive employee offboarding steps are accomplished in the right
order. These checklists display the list of items that need to be verified and approved
before sending off an employee, so to speak. Exit interview checklists allow HR teams to
control and systematize offboarding activities.

The Need for an Employee Termination Checklist

A good exit checklist or termination checklist is an absolute necessity for one good
reason: complacency. When you repeat what seems like an easy, straightforward
procedure regularly, it is a human tendency to slip up every now and then. Maybe you
forget to collect some company property or remove access to confidential information.
This sort of mistake is all too common–which is exactly why you need an employee
offboarding (or employee departure) checklist. Other benefits of employee exit checklist
include:
▪ Ensuring that the exit of one employee does not interrupt the flow of business
▪ Making the offboarding process comply with company policies, certifications, and
recommended safety measures
▪ Collecting feedback from employees to provide insight into the success of the
company’s policies for employees
 ▪ Safeguarding company’s assets: both physical assets as well as proprietary
knowledge
Okay, so what goes into a good employee exit checklist? Here’s how to create a great exit
interview checklist template. Your organization’s exit interview checklist gives you a
chance to analyze the reasons behind employees’ exodus. But oftentimes, exit interviews
can turn into heated arguments because HR folks use this session to grill deserting
employees with all kind of interrogative questions, while the latter groups see it as an
opportunity to vent out their pent up emotions. When such situations become a concern,
you can conduct exit interviews en masse and give people the mask of anonymity.
Here are a few more tips for you to create an effective exit interview checklist template:
▪ Include only relevant exit interview questions that double down on finding out
why people are leaving the company
▪ Include industry-specific questions, but tailor them to fit your organization’s goals
and requirements
▪ Assure participants that their identities will be kept confidential and responses
will be taken objectively, and not against them
▪ Use quality HR workflow automation software, preferably built on the cloud, to
schedule interviews
▪ Create a customizable form in the automated app to make sure you can change
the interview checklist if and when needed

Key Elements of Good Employee Exit Checklist

Before initiating the employee exit process

▪ Notification sent to HR as soon as employee sends in a resignation letter
▪ If the employee hasn’t sent in a resignation letter, the termination checklist should
ensure that they hand one in, with the date of resignation mentioned clearly
▪ If it’s a termination, termination details need to be collected (reason, timing, an
official responsible for termination order)
▪ Checkpoints for handover, or completion of assigned tasks
▪ During the employee exit process
▪ Notification to the IT department, so they can restrict limited access to proprietary
or sensitive information once termination is effective
▪ Notification to office security staff, to collect employee ID, entry pass, entry codes
and swipe cards
▪ Alert the IT team about when to terminate employee’s access to the office email
ID, and other workplace-related software
▪ Recollect all company property, including keys, books materials, company-
supplied computers, and other hardware
▪ Settle up all salaries, according to company wage policies
▪ Compensate employee for all eligible vacation days left
▪ Account for all unpaid payroll advances
▪ Check all expense reports, and ensure there are no outstanding issues
 ▪ Review confidentiality and/or non-competition agreements
▪ After the exit interview process
▪ Record exit interview date as soon as it is set, and notify those involved
▪ Check if the employee will need references
▪ Discover reason for resignation, unless it’s termination
▪ Receive and record feedback in exit checklist form from the employee on relevant
company policies

Benefits of Automating Exit Interview Checklists

In addition to identifying the reason why employees leave, automated exit interview
checklists offer an array of value-added benefits. Automated exit interview checklists are:
1. Comprehensive
Using automated exit interview checklists, templates and forms, you can create a
comprehensive exit interview process with real-time analytics.
2. Cost-Effective
Automating exit interviews is more cost effective and scalable than paper-based exit-
interview process.
3. Consistent
Using automation, you can standardize the exit interviews that are executed through an
exit interview app with perfect accuracy.
4. Time Saving
Without searching for paper checklists or following up on missed tasks, exit interviews
can be quick and complete.
5. Insightful
You can create reports that are insightful and helpful in scaling up your exit interview
process.
Automate your exit interview checklists with Kissflow HR Cloud
When looking for a solution that can automate your exit interview process, choose
something that offers effortless integration. The tool shouldn’t be something that will
require your business departments to rely heavily on IT. Choose an all-in-one HR suite
like Kissflow HR Cloud which comes with a built-in employee offboarding module.
Businesses can gain actionable insights that enable them to continually improve
employee morale, happiness, and work culture holistically. Its exit interview
questionnaires are designed to highlight potential risks and offer specific
recommendations to determine what actions you need to take to course correct. Planning
to refine your exit interview checklists? Sign up for a free demo of Kissflow HR Cloud
and see how easy it is to gain the insight you’re looking for.
 Lecture 4: Employee Exit Interview

Overview

In this lecture student, will be introduce to Exit Interview Process which is the most
commonly used method to gather employee feedback. When employees don’t rely on the
organization for their livelihood, they’re more likely to provide honest and constructive
feedback. Not everyone will speak forthrightly about an organization and its culture, but
your best bet is usually with a worker who won’t face any consequences for sharing
his/her honest opinion.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lecture students, will be able to get knowledge about:
▪ Problems in the Present Exit Interview Process
▪ Important in the Exit Interview Process
▪ How to Plan an Exit Interview
▪ Methods of Conducting an Exit Interview
▪ Automated Exit Interview Process
▪ Common Questions Asked in an Exit Interview
▪ Updating Exit Interview Checklist
▪ What is an Exit Interview Checklist?
▪ The Need for an Employee Termination Checklist
▪ Key Elements of a good Employee Exit Checklist
▪ Benefits of Automating Exit Interview Checklists

Discussion

Introduction

The steep rise in the ‘churn and burn’ rate is an ever-growing concern for all HR leaders.
It can be impossible to retain a person who is intent on leaving your organization, but
understanding the reason why he or she decided to quit will help you rein in your churn
rate. This is where employee exit interviews play an integral role in employee
offboarding. When appropriately handled, the exit interview process is a golden
opportunity to reveal why your employee turnover is swelling at an alarming rate. But
most organizations seem to consider these treasures as a pointless endeavor that give out
conflicting or vague insights. Due to the mounting pressures from other aspects of their
work environment, the HR team often does the bare minimum needed to complete the
task. Instead of blatantly disregarding exit interviews as a lost cause, try to find out how
to derive desired results from them.
▪ Where does the problem lie in the current process?
 ▪ What makes an employee withhold their true views even when they are about to
leave your organization?
▪ What are they concerned about and how do you alleviate those concerns?
▪ Does your typical face-to-face approach make your employees feel hesitant to
share their opinions candidly?
▪ Or is your thick questionnaire booklet killing their brain cells with repeated and
mundane questions?
▪ Is the background noise and use of colloquialism making phone interviews a huge
no-no?
Before you start pondering over the problems in the current system and look for ways to
solve them, take a minute to understand why exit interview process is an essential part
of the offboarding process and what exactly they are all about.

Present Exit Interview Process Problems

Most organizations take a conservative approach towards exit interview process. Manual
exit interviews:
▪ Make people hesitant to share information
▪ Can be a time-consuming affair
▪ Are soloed, and so it is hard to track information
▪ Complicate the process of compiling, tracking, and analyzing data
▪ They are not ready to spend additional resources digitizing something as
seemingly inconsequential as exit interviews.
▪ And so, they conduct exit interviews in-person, over the phone, and on paper
forms.

Exit Interviews Process Important

The exit interview process is the most commonly used method to gather employee
feedback. When employees don’t rely on your organization for their livelihood, they’re
more likely to provide honest and constructive feedback. Not everyone will speak
forthrightly about an organization and its culture, but your best bet is usually with a
worker who won’t face any consequences for sharing his/her honest opinion.
If you want to uncover valuable information through your exit interviews, you need to
focus on two crucial factors: getting genuine answers to your questions and aggregating
the data in an easy-to-interpret way. Digitizing your exit interview and automating it to
analyze the data will make it more efficient. It also eases the workload that your HR staff
has to face.
Offboarding checklists offer accurate data to evaluate the quality of work-life within an
organization and pinpoint problems associated with employee retention and
engagement. Solid employee exit interview data gives the HR department a lot of
valuable insight. They can:
▪ Discover flaws in current management policies
 ▪ Reveals patterns in employee resignations
▪ Highlight opportunities available for employee development
▪ Offer employees the opportunity to share constructive criticism
▪ Provide insights to improve your recruiting, onboarding, and employee training
process
▪ Detect opportunities for improvement in your organization’s culture.

Exit Interview Plan

The departing employee should be given enough time to have the chance to think about
their answers to the questions to ensure that you get good quality, well thought-out
feedback. Listed below are the seven best practices for conducting an effective exit
interview:
▪ Organize exit interviews face to face
▪ Allow a two-way, effective conversation
▪ Encourage openness by ensuring confidentiality
▪ Ask appropriate and useful questions
▪ Don’t just document feedback analyze it to find turnover trends
▪ Create and implement a retention plan to solve recurring issues
▪ Keep it natural and don’t force employees to share
With the help of exit interview best practices outlined above you can garner honest
feedback that will form the cornerstone of the exit interview process.
What does an automated exit interview look like?
It starts with an automated form for the departing employee to fill out. It’ll already have
all their important data already populated. Then, the information can be sent to a
manager, who can use that data to conduct a live interview to get more qualitative
answers. These answers also go on the same form. Dropdowns and checkboxes can be
used to categorize responses for future reference. All of this data is automatically sent to
the HR team. This appears on a master spreadsheet that analyzes trends in responses. In
addition to this, automating exit interviews online can:
▪ Make employees comfortable sharing sensitive information
▪ Sort and compile information automatically for tracking
▪ Provide instantaneous, easy-to-read reports
▪ Spot trends in employee departures
▪ Make it easy to compare data and acquire actionable insights
▪ Offer employee self-service options and ease the burden of Human Resource (HR)
team.
▪ Increase participation rate in exit surveys

Methods of Conducting an Exit Interview

There are a few different methods with that to conduct an exit interview; each has its
advantages and disadvantages. When what method is used should be decided by each
company depending on their individual situation during the offboarding.
1. On Paper
The first is on paper, using an exit interview template, whereby an employee’s manager
hands them the questions on a sheet of paper and asks them to fill it in and return it. This
is quite a manual process and it is also difficult for the organization to track and analyze
the results and any subsequent trends across the wider business.
Pros: Always accessible, simple to create and manage, and no risk of data corruption
Cons: Data entry errors, high risk of being lost or misplaced, and susceptible to natural
calamities
2. Face-to-face
Another method of conducting exit interviews is face to face. This method is a great way
to build rapport between the interviewer and interviewee and perhaps gain some more
in-depth and valuable answers and information about the employee’s views. On the
downside, much depends on the skill of the exit interviewer to get the individual to open
up to them and it can also lack confidentiality and take up valuable HR manpower.
Pros: Chance for personal interaction, capture non-verbal cues, and increase trust
Cons: Relatively higher cost, time consuming in nature, and subject to interviewer bias
3. Interactive
Finally, many organizations use interactive, web-based exit interview software. This can
be a great way to encourage individuals to give honest and direct answers to exit
interview questions as they have the time and privacy to consider them. The organization
can also track the results to get a handle on headline reasons for leaving across the
company.
Pros: Ensure consistency, easily retrieve actionable insights, and can prompt genuine
answers
Cons: Difficult to build rapport with exit employees and risk of employees getting
complacent

Asking the Right Questions

Asking the right questions in an exit interview make the entire difference after all, you
can only get out what you put in.
3. Questions to ask
Focus on questions relating to the reasons why the employee is leaving and what their
biggest areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the organization relate to. And don’t
forget to ask them how they feel the business could make changes for the better–exiting
staff are often more likely to give you the honest feedback that current employees won’t.
2. Questions not to ask
What about what not to ask? Questions about office gossip are a no-go, as are personal
questions about the employee’s relationship with particular colleagues or
managers. Remember not to use leading questions if you want to get impartial and honest
answers in return.

Automated Exit Interview Process

Cloud-based HR tools like Kissflow HR Cloud will not only notify stakeholders about
the resignation or termination of an employee, but also initiate an exit interview process
offering employees the opportunity to give feedback. Here’s what an exit interview
process in Kissflow HR Cloud looks like:
▪ Once an offboarding process is initiated (voluntarily or involuntarily), the leaving
employee will automatically receive exit interview documentation
▪ The exit interview documentation will typically consist of an exit interview
template or questionnaire which covers common exit interview questions that are
formed to identify their decision to leave.
▪ Once the employee successfully completes the exit interview questionnaire, their
answers will be forwarded to relevant stakeholders for perusal
▪ Simultaneously, the system will collect and store exit interview answers that can
be analyzed to retrieve actionable insights about employee pulse and exit patterns.

Questions in an Exit Interview

You can’t find answers to questions you don’t raise. It helps to prepare an exit interview
questionnaire that asks the right questions. This way, you can gather data from departing
employees. Here are a few frequently asked exit interview questions:
▪ Why did you decide to quit?
▪ What would make you stay?
▪ Did you have any issues with your supervisor/manager?
▪ Were your role and expectations communicated clearly?
▪ What did you like/dislike about our organization?
▪ Did you receive the resources required to perform your job properly?
▪ How would you describe our company’s culture?
▪ Would you recommend our organization to your friend?
▪ If offered an opportunity, would you come back to work with us?
▪ What are the key qualities we should look for when hiring your replacement?

The Trials of Exit Interview Process

Are you interested in implementing a strategic and effective exit interviews that yields
ongoing and long-term benefits? Tired of using inflexible forms with irrelevant data
fields? Then, it is time to make your exit interview process painless with the power of
automation. When it comes to automating your exit interview process, you can take two
roads. You can either choose a standalone exit interview app or take the easy way out.
Or, choose an all-in-one HR suite like Kissflow HR Cloud and streamline your HR
processes end to end.
Kissflow HR Cloud offers valuable insights that unlock the reason behind unwanted
attrition and identify troubles that prompt top performers to quit. With Kissflow HR
Cloud, businesses get a better understanding of the employee pulse, improve
organizational practices, and strengthen the work culture.
If your exit interviews are not as smooth as you want it to be, take Kissflow HR Cloud for
a spin and easy-button your offboarding process.

Updating Exit Interview Checklist

Anjali hated her company, and decided to leave. This happens in every company from
time to time, and while addressing the why is critical to the health of your team, securing
the how is just as important.
The HR staff who handled Anjali’s offboarding or exit interview process has no clue why
Anjali hates the company. They also have no idea what can be changed, policy-wise, to
make sure other people don’t feel the same way Anjali did. A number of exit interviews
don’t fulfill the purpose they are conducted for. Many employee exits get botched up,
just because one HR exec slipped up during the offboarding process. But this can be
sorted with a good employee exit checklist and an efficient.

Exit Interview Checklist

An employee exit interview checklist is the handout document used by HR professionals

to ensure that all repetitive employee offboarding steps are accomplished in the right
order. These checklists display the list of items that need to be verified and approved
before sending off an employee, so to speak. Exit interview checklists allow HR teams to
control and systematize offboarding activities.

The Need for an Employee Termination Checklist

A good exit checklist or termination checklist is an absolute necessity for one good
reason: complacency. When you repeat what seems like an easy, straightforward
procedure regularly, it is a human tendency to slip up every now and then. Maybe you
forget to collect some company property or remove access to confidential information.
This sort of mistake is all too common–which is exactly why you need an employee
offboarding (or employee departure) checklist. Other benefits of employee exit checklist
include:
▪ Ensuring that the exit of one employee does not interrupt the flow of business
▪ Making the offboarding process comply with company policies, certifications, and
recommended safety measures
▪ Collecting feedback from employees to provide insight into the success of the
company’s policies for employees
 ▪ Safeguarding company’s assets: both physical assets as well as proprietary
knowledge
Okay, so what goes into a good employee exit checklist? Here’s how to create a great exit
interview checklist template. Your organization’s exit interview checklist gives you a
chance to analyze the reasons behind employees’ exodus. But oftentimes, exit interviews
can turn into heated arguments because HR folks use this session to grill deserting
employees with all kind of interrogative questions, while the latter groups see it as an
opportunity to vent out their pent up emotions. When such situations become a concern,
you can conduct exit interviews en masse and give people the mask of anonymity.
Here are a few more tips for you to create an effective exit interview checklist template:
▪ Include only relevant exit interview questions that double down on finding out
why people are leaving the company
▪ Include industry-specific questions, but tailor them to fit your organization’s goals
and requirements
▪ Assure participants that their identities will be kept confidential and responses
will be taken objectively, and not against them
▪ Use quality HR workflow automation software, preferably built on the cloud, to
schedule interviews
▪ Create a customizable form in the automated app to make sure you can change
the interview checklist if and when needed

Key Elements of Good Employee Exit Checklist

Before initiating the employee exit process

▪ Notification sent to HR as soon as employee sends in a resignation letter
▪ If the employee hasn’t sent in a resignation letter, the termination checklist should
ensure that they hand one in, with the date of resignation mentioned clearly
▪ If it’s a termination, termination details need to be collected (reason, timing, an
official responsible for termination order)
▪ Checkpoints for handover, or completion of assigned tasks
▪ During the employee exit process
▪ Notification to the IT department, so they can restrict limited access to proprietary
or sensitive information once termination is effective
▪ Notification to office security staff, to collect employee ID, entry pass, entry codes
and swipe cards
▪ Alert the IT team about when to terminate employee’s access to the office email
ID, and other workplace-related software
▪ Recollect all company property, including keys, books materials, company-
supplied computers, and other hardware
▪ Settle up all salaries, according to company wage policies
▪ Compensate employee for all eligible vacation days left
▪ Account for all unpaid payroll advances
▪ Check all expense reports, and ensure there are no outstanding issues
 ▪ Review confidentiality and/or non-competition agreements
▪ After the exit interview process
▪ Record exit interview date as soon as it is set, and notify those involved
▪ Check if the employee will need references
▪ Discover reason for resignation, unless it’s termination
▪ Receive and record feedback in exit checklist form from the employee on relevant
company policies

Benefits of Automating Exit Interview Checklists

In addition to identifying the reason why employees leave, automated exit interview
checklists offer an array of value-added benefits. Automated exit interview checklists are:
1. Comprehensive
Using automated exit interview checklists, templates and forms, you can create a
comprehensive exit interview process with real-time analytics.
2. Cost-Effective
Automating exit interviews is more cost effective and scalable than paper-based exit-
interview process.
3. Consistent
Using automation, you can standardize the exit interviews that are executed through an
exit interview app with perfect accuracy.
4. Time Saving
Without searching for paper checklists or following up on missed tasks, exit interviews
can be quick and complete.
5. Insightful
You can create reports that are insightful and helpful in scaling up your exit interview
process.
Automate your exit interview checklists with Kissflow HR Cloud
When looking for a solution that can automate your exit interview process, choose
something that offers effortless integration. The tool shouldn’t be something that will
require your business departments to rely heavily on IT. Choose an all-in-one HR suite
like Kissflow HR Cloud which comes with a built-in employee offboarding module.
Businesses can gain actionable insights that enable them to continually improve
employee morale, happiness, and work culture holistically. Its exit interview
questionnaires are designed to highlight potential risks and offer specific
recommendations to determine what actions you need to take to course correct. Planning
to refine your exit interview checklists? Sign up for a free demo of Kissflow HR Cloud
and see how easy it is to gain the insight you’re looking for.