Offboarding template

Exit Interview Survey Template

A structured exit survey covering the real reason for leaving, what would have changed the decision, manager relationship, growth, compensation, workload and whether they would return or recommend. Written to separate the polite answer from the true one.

16 questions 6 min to complete On resignation, before last day Departing employees

Use this template free

When to use it

Send it after the resignation is accepted and before the last week, when people are candid but not yet checked out. Pair it with a six-month post-exit follow-up if you can — answers get more honest once the relationship is fully over.

The full question set

Copy these as they are, or adapt the wording to your organisation — just keep it identical between waves, because changing a question resets its trend line.

Reason

1.What is the primary reason you decided to leave?Options: Career growth · Compensation · Manager or leadership · Workload or burnout · Company direction · Personal or relocation · Culture or values · Better offer elsewhere · OtherMultiple choice
2.In your own words, what actually made you start looking?Open text
3.Is there anything the company could have done to keep you?Open text
4.How long had you been considering leaving before you resigned?Options: Less than a month · 1–3 months · 3–6 months · 6–12 months · Over a yearMultiple choice

Growth

1.I had a clear path to grow my career here.1–5 scale

Manager

1.My manager supported my development.1–5 scale
2.My manager was a factor in my decision to leave.1–5 scale

Workload

1.My workload was sustainable.1–5 scale

Compensation

1.I felt fairly compensated for my work.1–5 scale

Recognition

1.My contributions were recognised.1–5 scale

Psychological safety

1.I could speak up honestly without fear of consequences.1–5 scale

Expectations

1.The role matched what I was told during hiring.1–5 scale

eNPS

1.How likely are you to recommend this company as a place to work?0–10 scale

Boomerang

1.Would you consider returning in the future?Yes / No

Open

1.What should we absolutely keep doing?Open text
2.What advice would you give to whoever takes your role?Open text

How to run it well

Send the written survey before any exit conversation, so the answers are not shaped by the room.
Have someone other than the departing person's manager review the responses.
Report only in aggregate, by department and tenure band, never individually attributed upward.
Track the stated primary reason against your own hypothesis — the gap is the finding.
Review quarterly alongside engagement scores for the same teams.

Questions people ask

Do people tell the truth in exit surveys?

More than in exit conversations, and much more when the survey is written rather than face-to-face and reviewed by someone outside their reporting line. The classic tell is a mismatch between the multiple-choice reason and the free-text answer — when someone selects 'career growth' but writes three sentences about their manager, believe the sentences.

How do we use exit data without singling people out?

Report by department and tenure band, never by individual, and set a minimum of five responses before a segment is shown. Patterns across a quarter are actionable; a single exit is an anecdote.

Should we still run exit interviews as conversations?

Yes — but run the written survey first. The conversation is for depth and closure; the survey is for data you can trend and compare across teams.

Related templates

Engagement

The 15-question monthly pulse

Leadership

Upward feedback that managers can actually act on

Wellbeing

Spot exhaustion before it becomes resignation

Send this template in five minutes

Load it into TruePulse, import your team, and let automatic reminders and anonymity thresholds do the rest. Free — every feature, every seat.

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