📰 EDITOR’S DESK | HROSTRUM.COM
It always starts with a ping. A resignation letter. Or just that five-word message on your screen:
“Hi… I’ve decided to move on.”
For most managers, it feels like a breakup. For HR, it’s paperwork. But for smart CHROs? It’s an X-ray into the company’s soul.
Because every exit interview is not just a farewell — it’s feedback uncensored, culture decoded, and strategy waiting to be rewritten. Yet most organizations still treat it as a formality. A checkbox. A polite tea-and-biscuits goodbye.
That’s like finding a goldmine in your backyard and using it as a parking lot.
Why Exit Interviews Matter More in 2025-26
- Retention wars are brutal. Talent is scarce, loyalty is shorter, and replacements are 2x costlier than they were five years ago.
- Glassdoor is the new grapevine. Employees who don’t feel heard on their way out will make sure the world hears them anyway.
- Pattern blindness. If you’re not tracking why people leave, you’re essentially blindfolded while trying to fix attrition.
Done right, exit interviews can answer the real questions every CHRO should be asking:
- Are people leaving managers or missions?
- Is compensation the trigger — or the excuse?
- Which policies look great on paper but suffocate in practice?
How to Transform Exit Interviews into Goldmines
1. Timing is Everything
Don’t rush. The resignation week is too raw, too tense. Schedule the interview during the notice period — when emotions have cooled but honesty hasn’t faded.
2. Neutral Ground, Neutral Face
Never let direct managers run the exit interview. Bias is baked in. Use HR, or even better, an external consultant for absolute candor.
3. Ask Beyond the Basics
Most companies stop at: “Why are you leaving?” That’s like asking Ravana if he’s upset because of the arrows. Dig deeper.
The Exit Interview Questionnaire CHROs Should Steal Today
Culture & Leadership
- Did you feel your work here had meaning beyond tasks?
- Was leadership visible and approachable, or distant and symbolic?
- If you could change one cultural aspect here overnight, what would it be?
Growth & Opportunities
- Did you see a clear career path here, or did it feel like a ceiling?
- Which skills did you wish you could have developed in this role?
- Did promotions feel merit-based or political?
Management & Work Climate
- How would you describe your relationship with your manager in one word?
- Did feedback feel like guidance or judgment?
- Were conflicts resolved openly, or swept under the rug?
Policy & Practices
- Which policy felt outdated or irrelevant to your generation of employees?
- Were you ever penalized (formally or informally) for raising concerns?
- If you had the power to redesign one HR policy, what’s the first you’d change?
The Ultimate Question
- Would you rejoin this company if given the chance? Why or why not?
Turning Data Into Action
Collecting answers is half the job. The real gold lies in pattern mining:
- If 60% cite “lack of career growth” — your L&D strategy needs surgery.
- If “manager behavior” keeps popping up — it’s not attrition, it’s leadership erosion.
- If “better salary” is the cover, find out what’s behind it — often it’s recognition, culture, or flexibility.
CHROs who treat exit interviews as strategy sessions (not goodbye rituals) are the ones rewriting retention playbooks in 2025.
The Dussehra Connection
Think of every exit interview as your Ravana effigy. Each answer is one head — ego, bias, bureaucracy, poor leadership, lack of growth. Burn those down, and what remains is a stronger, cleaner, more trusted workplace.
Final Word
The next time you see that message — “I’m leaving” — don’t just process the resignation. Mine the gold. Because sometimes the employees walking out hold the secrets to keeping everyone else in.
🔥 If you’re an HR leader, CHRO , DM us in the comments below with your Industry (IT/Consultancy/Manufacturing/Edtech etc) with some details to make it more personalised), we’ll send you the full framework and complete Exit Interview Questionnaire — not just questions, but also markings and scoring rubrics to help you benchmark and assess better.
Share this article with your HR circle. — because exit interviews shouldn’t just be conversations, they should be strategy tools.
🤝 Join the conversation with us HRostrum at and explore more insights at hrostrum.com — let’s shape the future of HR, together.
Contribute to HRostrumHR
Would you like to share your insights on HR trends, corporate strategies, or the future of work? We invite HR professionals, business leaders, and industry experts to contribute to HROstrum!
Send your articles to editor@hrostrum.com and be part of our growing community of thought leaders.
Follow us on LinkedIn
Access similar article here
