Essential offboarding questions every HR team should be asking in summary:
- Discover the critical offboarding questions HR teams should ask leavers to gain valuable insights and improve future employee retention.
- Learn how to gather feedback on job satisfaction, company culture, and career development during exit interviews.
- Asking questions around company policies, compensation and rewards and management are also vital.
All good things must come to an end… eventually. Whilst retaining staff is always a top priority for businesses, there’ll inevitably be times when employees move on to pastures new.
It could be the next step up their own career ladder, or maybe they’ve received an offer simply too good to refuse? Maybe they just need or new challenge… or perhaps it’s the sign of something a little more ominous? Regardless, the end of an employee’s journey with your business doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the story.
Offboarding employees: a process that shouldn’t be forgotten!
The offboarding of employees provides an unmissable opportunity for people professionals to gather valuable feedback and better understand reasons for leaving. It’s also vital when it comes to identifying potential areas for improvement.
Offboarding employees can be done through a few different methods. These include relaxed exit interviews or casual surveys where departing employees can share their honest thoughts and experiences. And, by asking the right questions, HR can uncover insights about workplace culture, management practices, and operational hiccups that might not be obvious from the inside.
That feedback is worth its weight in gold because it directly helps HR teams figure out what might be driving employees away. It also gives the organisation a real fighting chance to tweak their workforce strategies for the better. So, while saying goodbye can be bittersweet, it’s also a chance to make things even better for those who stay.
If you want to make the most of your offboarding processes, these questions can provide comprehensive insights into the employee’s experience. Helping you and your business to make data-driven decisions to enhance the workplace environment, and reduce excess future turnover.
The essential offboarding questions every HR team should be asking
General feedback
The end of an employee’s journey with your business is a great place to start when offboarding them. You should start by asking for general feedback to understand the underlying reasons for leaving. This will then allow you to dig a little deeper to identify areas for organisational improvement, ultimately helping you to enhance employee retention and satisfaction. Questions to start with include:
- What prompted you to start looking for a new job?
- What ultimately led you to accept your new job offer?
- What aspects of your new job appeal to you that are lacking here?
Job satisfaction
Now you know why an employee has chosen to leave, you can drill down into specific details of their experiences with your business. Understanding their general levels of job satisfaction is crucial for spotting areas of improvement, and making targeted changes to enhance employee engagement and retention efforts. Ask the following:
- Were you satisfied with your job role and responsibilities? Why or why not?
- Did you feel your skills and abilities were utilised to their full potential?
- Did you receive adequate support and resources to do your job effectively?
Work environment and culture
Your offboarding process is the perfect time to ask an employee how they truly feel about the culture of a business. With their focus firmly on their new horizons, they’ll likely be much more relaxed and willing to be honest about what your company’s culture is really like. Ask the following:
- How would you describe the company culture here?
- Did you feel valued and recognised for your contributions?
- How was your relationship with your manager and team members?
Career development
As our own research discovered, the chance to develop skills and enhance career prospects are a huge part of positive and high-performing company cultures. By asking your leavers if they had adequate support on their own career paths, you can learn if your business is helping its workforce be the best version of itself… or is potentially a career dead end! Ask the following:
- Were there adequate opportunities for career growth and development?
- Did you receive sufficient training and development during your tenure?
Compensation and benefits
Whilst cultures, career development and job satisfaction are incredibly important for retaining employees, let’s face it: money talks! Your offboarding process is the perfect time to find out whether your leavers feel your business is giving its workforce a fair deal, or is undervaluing their services. Consider asking:
- Were you satisfied with the compensation and benefits package?
- Were there any benefits or perks you found particularly valuable or lacking?
Work-life balance
It isn’t just a healthy annual salary employees want from a job. Our research found that having a positive work-life balance is the driving force behind continued employee job satisfaction. So, it makes sense to find out if your workplace is either serene or a circus!
- How would you rate your work-life balance while working here?
- Did you feel the workload was manageable?
Management and leadership
Asking about the quality of your company’s leadership and management will reveal how effective and supportive your leaders are. This will help you to uncover any issues that might be driving talented employees away, and ensure your management team fosters a positive and productive work environment.
With your leavers likely feeling much more relaxed, they’ll be more inclined to open up about their experiences – giving you a truer picture of what’s really going on in your organisation. Questions to ask include:
- How would you evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s leadership?
- Were you satisfied with the communication from management?
Company policies and procedures
Whilst policies and procedures may not be the most exciting subject, you should definitely ask about them during an employee’s offboarding. This is because it’s like getting an insider’s perspective on what rules and guidelines are working, and which ones might be driving people nuts. The feedback you get can help you tweak things to make sure your policies are fair, reasonable, and actually helpful for your people!
- Did you find the company policies and practices fair and reasonable?
- Were there any policies that you found particularly positive or negative?
Final thoughts and suggestions
Lastly, you should also give your leavers to speak more candidly about their experiences and discuss anything they feel is key. Giving your leavers the opportunity to be heard on issues close to them is crucial in understanding their perspective and ensuring they leave with a positive feeling about their time with the company.
- What would you suggest we do to improve the workplace for current and future employees?
- Would you consider returning to this company in the future?
- Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience working here?
Kim Holdroyd
HR & Wellbeing Manager
Kim Holdroyd has an MSc in HRM and is passionate about all things HR and people operations, specialising in the employee life cycle, company culture, and employee empowerment. Her career background has been spent with various industries, including technology start-ups, gaming software, and recruitment.
