How to Write Exit Survey Questions: Examples and Platform Guide

Essential Questions to Include

A well-structured exit survey covers primary departure reason, the role of management, culture and belonging, growth and development, and likelihood to return or recommend. A typical exit survey runs 15-25 questions and takes 8-12 minutes to complete.

Primary departure reason (mandatory)
"What is the primary reason you are leaving [Company]?" with a predefined list of categories:
Better compensation elsewhere / Career advancement opportunity / Relocation / Better work-life balance / Relationship with manager / Company culture / Role not as expected / Personal reasons / Retirement / Other (please specify)
This single-select question enables departure reason analysis across your whole departing population.

Role of management
"My manager supported my professional development." (5-point Likert)
"My manager treated me with respect and fairness." (5-point Likert)
"My decision to leave was influenced by my relationship with my manager." (Yes / No / Partially)

Culture and belonging
"I felt included and respected as a member of my team." (5-point Likert)
"I would describe the culture at [Company] as..." (open text)

Growth and development
"I had sufficient opportunities to grow and develop my skills at [Company]." (5-point Likert)
"I felt my contributions were recognised and valued." (5-point Likert)

Likelihood to return and recommend
"Would you consider returning to work at [Company] in the future?" (Yes / No / Maybe)
"Would you recommend [Company] as a place to work to a friend or colleague?" (Yes / No / Maybe)

Open feedback (strongly recommended)
"Is there anything else you would like to share about your experience at [Company]?"

Question Wording Best Practices

Exit surveys benefit from more direct question wording than engagement surveys because the social pressure to respond positively is lower for departing employees. Frame questions about management and culture directly - "My manager treated me fairly" rather than "How would you describe your relationship with your manager?" The closed-ended format enables quantitative analysis across all exits.

The departure reason question should use mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive categories. Avoid categories that overlap (e.g. "better pay" and "compensation dissatisfaction" are the same thing). Include an "Other (please specify)" option and review it quarterly - consistently appearing "other" responses signal a missing departure category.

Make the survey anonymous where operationally possible. Exit surveys completed anonymously produce more honest responses about management and culture than named surveys where the employee may fear the content affecting references or final pay.

Platform Configuration

Qualtrics: Use skip logic to route respondents to manager-specific questions only if the departure reason question indicates a management-related departure. This keeps the survey shorter for respondents leaving for relocation or retirement. Use Qualtrics anonymisation and set response tracking to "Anonymous" to encourage honest responses about sensitive topics like manager relationships.

Microsoft Forms: Use the Choice question type for the departure reason question. Rating questions handle the Likert items. Microsoft Forms supports basic branching to skip management questions based on the departure reason response. For larger organisations with high attrition volume, Qualtrics or Glint provides better analytics for exit data.

Google Forms: Use Multiple Choice for departure reason and Linear Scale for Likert items. Add a Long Answer question for open feedback. Google Forms does not support skip logic at the question level - use section-based branching to route past manager questions if needed, though this is less precise than question-level logic.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Sending the survey after the final day. Exit surveys sent after the employee has already left show dramatically lower response rates than surveys sent in the final week of employment. Send the survey at least 5 days before the last working day to allow time for completion.

Only collecting qualitative responses. Exit surveys that rely entirely on open-text responses cannot be analysed at scale. Include structured questions with predefined categories for the departure reason and rating scales for key experience dimensions. Open text complements structured data; it does not replace it.

Not segmenting exit data by role level, tenure, and department. An aggregate exit survey score across all departments masks the signal. Segment departure reason and experience ratings by department and manager to identify where systemic issues are concentrated.

Treating exit survey data as confidential to HR only. Exit survey findings aggregated and anonymised at the department level should be shared with business leaders and managers. Keeping exit data siloed in HR prevents it from driving the organisational changes that would reduce future attrition.

Frequently Asked Questions