Use cases / Retail organisation
Client case
Deepler Journeys · Onboarding and turnover
Exit interviews that actually deliver something: reasons for leaving in view
A retail organisation holds exit interviews, but the outcomes disappear into loose notes. Nobody sees whether the same reasons keep coming back. With Deepler Journeys, every departing employee automatically gets a short exit questionnaire, and the reasons become visible per department.
Sector
Retail
Target group
Departing employees
Solution
Deepler Journeys
Application
Exit interviews
In brief
The question
Why do people really leave, and does it keep coming back?
The insight
Separate exit interviews only become valuable when you put them together.
The result
Reducing turnover in a targeted way based on patterns.
The question: what do we learn from departing employees?
Turnover in retail is high. Exit interviews are held, but they go differently per manager and the outcomes are not collected anywhere. As a result, the organisation doesn’t know which reasons for leaving are structural and which are coincidental.
The approach: a standard exit questionnaire, sent automatically
With Deepler Journeys every departing employee automatically gets a short questionnaire about their reasons for leaving and their experience with the organisation. The exit interview itself remains, but now with the same questions for everyone and one place where all answers come together.
Departure reported
The journey starts automatically
Short exit questionnaire
The same questions for everyone
Reasons per department
Patterns become visible
The insight: patterns instead of separate stories
When the answers come together, patterns stand out. For example, that in the stores it is mainly schedules and working hours that are mentioned, while at head office career opportunities are the main reason. That calls for very different actions.
Main reason for leaving · stores, past six months
Schedules clearly stand out in the stores. That is where the first actions lie.
Illustrative representation
The result: reducing turnover in a targeted way
The organisation chooses per department or region the actions that match the main reasons for leaving. And because the measurement continues, it is visible whether those reasons come back less often in the following months.
- Reasons for leaving per department in view
- Actions that match the real cause
- Continuously visible whether the measures work
Getting more out of the exit interview: three lessons
An exit interview is one of the most honest moments to get feedback. Three lessons:
Ask everyone the same questions
Only then can you compare the answers.
Make it safe
An anonymous questionnaire alongside the conversation often yields more honest answers.
Look for patterns
Look per department and per period, not per individual story.
Rather prevent people from leaving? Read the case on less turnover in the first year, or discover Deepler Journeys.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about exit interviews
What is an exit interview?
A conversation with an employee who is leaving the organisation, to understand why someone leaves and what the organisation can learn from it.
Which questions do you ask in an exit interview?
For example: what is the main reason for leaving, what would have made you stay, how was the collaboration with your manager and would you recommend the organisation as an employer?
Why an exit questionnaire alongside the conversation?
A standard questionnaire makes answers comparable and gives room to be honest anonymously. The conversation remains valuable for the personal story.
How do you analyse exit interviews?
By collecting answers and comparing them per department, role and period. That way you see which reasons come back structurally.
How do you reduce staff turnover with exit data?
By focusing actions on the reasons that come back most often, and tracking whether those reasons are mentioned less often afterwards.