Exit Interviews Can Reveal A Lot

Why do people leave your organization?

You may have hunches, ideas, even rumors. But exit interviews can turn spurious assumptions into real data. 

For instance, here are some of the biggest reasons people give for leaving their jobs, according to compiled exit interview data by Kim Seeling Smith of Atlassian. After thousands of exit interviews, Smith found that people quit because:

👉  They would prefer to work for a company whose values better align with their own

👉  They want to work with people they like more

👉  They do not feel they are being appreciated enough in their current role

👉  They seek a stronger voice in the company

This sort of aggregate data is great, but the reason people leave YOUR company could be very specific.

It is a best practice to consistently hold exit interviews and track the data you collect over time. Ideally keep track of the data by role and department, so you can start to recognize patterns. This practice could give you some valuable insight into changes you need to make to prevent turnover.