Free Leadership Effectiveness Survey Template | Excel with Auto-Scoring
Free Leadership Effectiveness Survey Template | Excel with Auto-Scoring
Exit interview questions turn each departure into useful data instead of just a goodbye. With a simple, structured exit interview survey, you spot patterns in culture, leadership, workload or pay early and feed them into better decisions on hiring, development and retention.
Exit interview survey questions
Use the following exit interview questions as a 5‑point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 5 = Strongly agree), plus a few open prompts for deeper context. You can run them as an online survey or as a structured “Austrittsgespräch”.
Decision to leave
- My decision to leave was driven by finding a better career opportunity elsewhere.
- I felt limited in my growth here and believed a different company offered clearer advancement.
- I received a competitive job offer that I couldn’t decline.
- My workload or hours here were unsustainable for my personal needs.
- The compensation and benefits at my new job were much better than here.
- Company changes (for example strategy or management changes) influenced my decision to leave.
- Factors outside of work (relocation, family, etc.) primarily drove my decision.
- I believe the company’s future did not align with my own goals.
- I was recruited heavily by my new employer while I was still here.
- I felt I had to move on to make progress in my career.
Role & work content
- The day-to-day responsibilities of my job matched what was described when I was hired.
- I had the resources and autonomy needed to perform my role effectively.
- I felt my skills and strengths were a good fit for the work I was doing.
- My job felt sufficiently challenging and engaging most of the time.
- The scope of my responsibilities was appropriate for my experience level.
- My role changed a lot after I was hired, and not in ways I expected.
- I had clear goals and knew exactly what was expected of me.
- The pace of work and workload was reasonable and manageable.
- I consistently used the main skills I was hired to use.
- Any changes to my role or duties were communicated effectively.
Manager & leadership
- I felt supported by my direct manager in my day-to-day work.
- My manager provided clear, useful feedback on my performance.
- I trusted my manager to be fair and to advocate for me.
- It was easy and safe to raise concerns or ask questions with my manager or leaders.
- Leadership communicated a clear direction and goals for our team.
- My manager acted on their commitments and saw things through.
- I felt my contributions were recognized and appreciated by management.
- Decisions from leadership were transparent and well explained.
- My manager and I had regular, meaningful one-on-one meetings.
- There was strong alignment between what leaders said and what they did.
Team & collaboration
- I felt included and like a valued member of my team.
- Team members communicated openly and shared information freely.
- Conflicts or disagreements in the team were addressed effectively.
- Collaboration across different teams or departments was encouraged and worked well.
- My team had a good level of trust and mutual support.
- Working in our team was a positive and energizing experience.
- We had a helpful balance of teamwork and individual accountability.
- My team shared knowledge and helped each other learn.
- I generally enjoyed the people I worked with every day.
- My team’s overall morale and motivation felt high.
Growth, career & development
- I had clear career path options and next steps outlined for me.
- I saw fair opportunities for promotion or advancement at this company.
- My manager regularly discussed my career development and goals with me.
- I received sufficient training and development to improve my skills.
- The performance reviews or feedback sessions I had were constructive.
- Leadership encouraged me to take on stretch assignments or learn new skills.
- Successes and achievements led to tangible career growth (for example raises, new titles).
- There were good mentoring or coaching resources available to me.
- It was clear what I would need to do next to advance in my career here.
- Internal mobility (moving between roles or departments) was possible and supported.
Compensation, benefits & flexibility
- I believe my pay was fair compared to similar roles in the industry.
- Bonuses, raises and other rewards were distributed fairly and transparently.
- The employee benefits (healthcare, leave, retirement, etc.) met my needs.
- The company supported a healthy work-life balance (reasonable hours, flexible scheduling).
- Remote work or flexible work options were available when I needed them.
- Financial and non-financial benefits at the company were competitive with the market.
- I felt appropriately compensated for my level of responsibility and performance.
- Vacation time and time-off policies met my personal and family needs.
- Total rewards (salary plus benefits) factored into my decision to leave.
- Compensation discussions (like raises or bonuses) were handled openly and on time.
Culture & ways of working
- The company’s values and mission were clearly reflected in day-to-day work.
- I generally felt safe to speak up about problems or new ideas at work.
- Communication across the organization was open, respectful and effective.
- Decisions were made in a transparent way and outcomes were communicated well.
- Meeting and collaboration practices supported productivity (for example not too many unnecessary meetings).
- I felt the work environment (including physical or virtual space) supported my success.
- Diversity and inclusion were genuinely practiced in the company culture.
- Leadership genuinely cared about employee well-being and psychological safety.
- The company culture aligned with how day-to-day work actually got done.
- Cross-team initiatives and culture-building events reflected the company’s stated values.
Overall recommendation (optional)
- On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend this organization as a place to work?
Open-ended exit interview questions
Use these prompts in a 1:1 Austrittsgespräch or as free-text fields after the closed items.
- What could the company have done differently that might have made you stay longer?
- What does your new employer offer that we could learn from?
- What do you think this organization does well that it should continue?
- What is one piece of advice you would give to help improve the workplace?
- Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience here?
Decision table
| Area / question cluster | Score threshold | Recommended action | Owner | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager & leadership items | Average < 3.0 | Run coaching or leadership workshop; increase skip-level check-ins for that team. | HR business partner + department head | Within 14 days |
| Career development items | Average < 3.0 | Review career frameworks; define clearer paths and internal mobility options. | People Development / L&D lead | Within 30 days |
| Compensation & benefits items | Average < 3.0 | Benchmark pay; review bonus logic and benefits; prepare proposals for leadership. | Total Rewards / Compensation team | Within 30 days |
| Team & collaboration items | Average < 3.0 | Run team workshop on norms and collaboration; review workload and staffing. | Line manager + HR | Within 21 days |
| Culture & psychological safety items | Average < 3.0 | Run focus groups; align recruiting messages with real culture; adjust leadership training. | Culture / Engagement lead | Within 21 days |
| Recommendation (0–10) | Score ≤ 6 | Classify as detractor; review their answers for themes, not individuals. | People Operations | Within 7 days |
| Serious concerns in comments | Any mention of harassment, discrimination, safety, or legal risk | Start confidential investigation; document steps; involve compliance if needed. | HRBP + Legal / Compliance | Within 24 hours |
| Repeated exits from same team | ≥ 2 regretted exits in 90 days | Launch targeted team climate survey and interviews; agree on an action plan. | Business unit leader + HR | Within 14 days |
Key takeaways
- Use exit interview questions to separate pull factors (offers) from push factors (problems).
- Translate low scores into concrete actions, owners and deadlines.
- Combine exit data with engagement surveys to spot systemic culture or leadership gaps.
- Share only aggregated patterns, never single quotes, to protect psychological safety.
- Track repeat issues by team or manager to prevent future regretted exits.
Definition & scope
This exit interview questionnaire measures why people leave and how they experienced role, manager, team, pay and culture. It targets all voluntary leavers, especially key talent and critical roles. Results support decisions on manager coaching, job redesign, internal mobility and benefits. Combine the findings with your regular engagement and performance processes, for example a structured framework like the one in the performance management guide.
Scoring & thresholds
All closed exit interview questions use a 1–5 scale: 1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neither, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly agree. The optional recommendation question uses a 0–10 scale.
To keep things practical, group items into dimensions:
- Q1–Q10: Decision to leave (push vs. pull factors)
- Q11–Q20: Role & work content
- Q21–Q30: Manager & leadership
- Q31–Q40: Team & collaboration
- Q41–Q50: Growth & career
- Q51–Q60: Compensation & flexibility
- Q61–Q70: Culture & ways of working
Define simple thresholds:
- Average < 3.0 = critical, requires action now.
- Average 3.0–3.9 = improvement area, needs follow-up.
- Average ≥ 4.0 = strength, keep and replicate.
For the 0–10 recommendation item, treat 0–6 as detractors, 7–8 as neutral, 9–10 as promoters. Track how many regretted leavers sit in each group. Combine this with your engagement or pulse results, for example using templates similar to the ones in the Employee Engagement & Retention guide, to see if exit patterns match what current employees report.
- HR calculates dimension averages and recommendation scores after each exit.
- Flag any dimension with average < 3.0 or single item < 2.5 for review.
- Summarize trends monthly by department, manager and location.
- Feed the top 3 themes per quarter into your people strategy and OKRs.
Follow-up & responsibilities
Exit interview questions only help if someone owns the follow-up. Define a clear workflow from day one. In DACH, clarify early how results are anonymized and how long they are stored under GDPR and your Betriebsvereinbarung.
- HRBP reviews every exit survey within 24 hours and flags urgent risks.
- HR shares only aggregated themes with managers, never raw identifiable quotes.
- Manager and HRBP meet within 14 days to agree 1–3 improvements with deadlines.
- People team tracks actions in a central log and reviews progress quarterly.
- Very severe allegations go straight to HR + Legal with documented steps.
Decide who owns what:
- Line managers: react to team-level issues (feedback, workload, meetings).
- HR / People Ops: handle process issues, policy gaps, unfair treatment signals.
- Comp & Benefits: respond to repeated pay or benefits complaints.
- Executives: address strategy, culture and large-scale organization topics.
- Betriebsrat / Works Council: get informed on structure, not individual answers.
To make follow-up easier, many teams connect exit survey outputs with their performance and development tools. A talent platform like Sprad Growth can, for example, link exit themes to manager coaching or training tasks without manual tracking.
Fairness & bias checks
Exit data can hide bias if you only look at company-wide averages. Break results down by relevant groups without dropping anonymity.
- Location or site (for example HQ vs. satellite offices).
- Team, manager or function (Engineering, Sales, Operations, etc.).
- Role level (IC vs. manager) and tenure bands.
- Remote, hybrid or on-site only.
Watch for patterns:
- Remote staff score manager support 0.8 points lower than office staff → review 1:1 and communication routines.
- Women in a certain unit report lower psychological safety → audit leadership style and meeting norms.
- Early-tenure leavers (≤ 12 months) cite role mismatch → fix recruiting messages and onboarding.
Combine exit interview questions with data from regular employee surveys (for example templates like the ones in the employee survey templates) to see whether problems are unique to leavers or visible across the workforce.
Examples / use cases
Use case 1: Leadership issues in one team
Three engineers resign from the same team within a quarter. Their exit interview questions on manager support and psychological safety average 2.4. Comments mention cancelled one-on-ones and public criticism in standups.
HRBP and the Head of Engineering review the themes, then run a coaching program for that manager, set mandatory bi-weekly 1:1s, and schedule skip-level talks for the team. Six months later, engagement scores on “my manager supports me” rise above 4.0, and the next exits from that team no longer cite leadership.
Use case 2: Pay and bonus structure in Sales
Several account executives leave over six months. Their compensation and benefits items cluster around 2.8 and comments mention unpredictable bonus payouts.
Total Rewards runs a market benchmark and together with Sales leadership redesigns the commission plan. Payout logic becomes simpler and more transparent, and managers are trained to explain it. In the next year, only one exit mentions pay as a main reason, while quota attainment and retention both improve.
Use case 3: Onboarding and role clarity
New hires with tenure under 9 months often rate “role match” and “what was promised in recruiting” below 3.0. Many mention unclear expectations.
Recruiting, HR and hiring managers revise job ads, add realistic job previews, and introduce 30‑60‑90 day plans based on frameworks like those described in the Talent Development guide. Within two quarters, early attrition drops and new joiners rate role clarity above 4.0.
Implementation & updates
You don’t need a huge project to start. Keep the first version of your exit interview template lightweight and refine from there.
- Select 1–2 pilot departments with recent regretted exits.
- Run 3–5 exits using this questionnaire (survey plus 1:1 call).
- Debrief with HR and managers: Which questions gave useful insight, which didn’t?
- Agree thresholds, owners and timelines based on the decision table.
- Roll out to all voluntary leavers once the flow feels smooth.
Decide how to collect answers: online form, HR-led call, or combined. In DACH, align the process with your Datenschutz and Betriebsrat. Document purpose, data storage, access and deletion schedules clearly.
Track at least these KPIs:
- Completion rate of exit interview surveys (target ≥ 70%).
- Average scores per dimension by department and manager.
- Number and share of critical signals (for example averages < 3.0).
- Share of critical signals with a documented action plan (target ≥ 90%).
- Regretted attrition rate before vs. after implementing actions.
Over time, review the exit interview questions at least once a year. Remove items that never drive decisions, and add new ones if your strategy, working model or benefits change. Connect findings with your broader talent management initiatives, for example internal mobility or career paths as described in the Talent Marketplace guide, so learning from exits feeds future opportunities.
Conclusion
Structured exit interview questions give you something you don’t get from gut feeling: a pattern across many departures. You see whether people leave mainly for pull reasons (great offers, relocations) or push reasons (manager, workload, culture), and whether certain teams, levels or locations come up again and again.
Handled well, the process raises psychological safety for everyone, not just leavers. When employees see that patterns from exit interview surveys lead to visible changes in leadership behaviour, workload or benefits, they are more likely to speak up earlier through regular feedback channels, not only at the end.
To move from idea to practice, pick one pilot area, put the questionnaire into your survey or HR tool, and agree who will read and act on the results. Then, for every quarter, translate the top exit themes into two or three company-level action fields. This way, exits keep improving how you hire, develop and retain the people who stay.
FAQ
How often should we run exit interviews?
Run this survey for every voluntary leaver if possible, especially for regretted exits and critical roles. If volume is high, prioritize employees with high performance, rare skills or key positions. Aim to invite them shortly after they give notice, not on their last day, so the experience is still fresh and they haven’t mentally checked out.
Who should conduct the exit interview conversation?
Use a neutral person, usually HR or a People partner. The direct manager is too involved and may receive filtered answers. HR can walk through the exit interview questions, ask follow-ups and make sure the employee understands confidentiality. For senior roles, a skip-level leader or even a co-founder can join, as long as the tone stays open and non-defensive.
How do we ensure confidentiality and GDPR compliance?
Explain clearly that answers are used in aggregated form and never to rate individual employees. Separate raw data from reports: only HR sees individual responses, managers see themes by team or department once enough exits are aggregated. In DACH, involve the Betriebsrat, document your legal basis, access rights and deletion timelines, and keep all data in secure systems with limited access.
How do we combine exit surveys with 1:1 conversations?
Use the online exit interview survey first, then schedule a conversation of 30–45 minutes. In the talk, focus on a few low-scoring areas and open comments. Ask for concrete examples and ideas, not only what went wrong. This keeps the discussion structured and prevents it from turning into a blame session. Summarize back what you heard, and thank the employee for the effort.
How should we update our exit interview questions over time?
Treat the question set as a living template, not a fixed script. Once a year, review which items actually drive actions and which never appear in your reports. Remove low-value questions to keep the survey short, and add new ones if your working model, leadership principles or benefits change. Compare your topics with external benchmarks such as the exit-interview guidance from the Society for Human Resource Management to spot gaps and inspire improvements.
Jürgen Ulbrich
Jürgen Ulbrich has more than a decade of experience in developing and leading high-performing teams and companies. As an expert in employee referral programs as well as feedback and performance processes, Jürgen has helped over 100 organizations optimize their talent acquisition and development strategies.
