Letting Someone Go from Work? Here’s What You Should Ask Them

Finding the right answers on why an employee leaves a company requires open and honest communication. It’s particularly difficult to hear these answers when your outward-bound employees don’t feel like giving out the information you want to hear. How do you get around this? Read this blog to find out the best questions to ask your employees before they leave.

Here are five questions you should ask your employees before letting them go.

“In which ways do you think you’ve contributed toward the success of the company?”

This question may seem to be pointed towards high-performing employees, but there’s more to it than just that. Knowing what motivated your employees to do the right thing at the right time is key in discovering what produces great results and what doesn’t. By asking this, you’ll also get more context on which things distract people from doing their best work, and what factors increase their productivity.

“How do you see yourself in your next career choice, and how would your decision today affect it?”

A major part of doing an employee exit interview is by knowing what comes next for the employee. You would want to get a deeper sense of what lies ahead for them, since whatever they’re trying to achieve outside of your company may only become possible once they depart. If your opinion on career growth contradicts theirs, you may have uncovered things that need to be improved within your organization.

“What was the best thing that’s happened to you during your stay at this company?”

This one is fairly easy. Ask this question and you’ll get a broader sense of their accomplishments during their stay. You’ll also be able to gauge the amount of autonomy and responsibility you gave to them to do their job. If they said that they wish they had more freedom to do things, it could be a signal for you to reevaluate your organization’s structure and hierarchy.

“What was the worst thing that’s happened to you here, and in what ways do you think it could’ve been avoided?”

On the contrary from the previous question, this one is a bit tricky and could lead to bad arguments if asked in the wrong way. Carefully ask this by not asking follow-up questions, and avoid being defensive. Let your employees answer this question in the most natural way, because it allows them to vent out their sentiments, give suggestions to improve things, and show you the little things that your current employees are too shy to raise red flags about.

“What things would you tell the person who would take over your role?”

Ask this question and you’ll hear some valuable insights about the role itself, such as its demands and the necessary skills required to do the job well. Your employees will tell you a brief outline of what you should expect from the person taking over. It also guides you on the way you should reallocate company resources to help the next person succeed better than the one who left.

Letting an employee go is hard, especially if you’ve already built a working relationship with them and they’ve done an incredible job. But you need to ask them the right questions so you can easily connect the dots.

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source https://sprout.ph/blog/exit-interview-best-questions/