Exit Interview Template

An exit interview template helps you do two jobs before someone's last day: learn why they are leaving, and keep what they know. Send it in their last two to three weeks. Part one collects honest feedback for HR and the manager. Part two hands over the open work, contacts and unwritten rules to the people who stay.

What is an exit interview template?

An exit interview template is a structured doc for someone's last weeks in a role. It covers two things: the person's feedback on the company, and a handover of their work. The feedback part asks why they are leaving, what they enjoyed and what would have made them stay. The handover part turns their tribal knowledge into docs with new owners, so their successor knows where the open work, contacts and decisions are. The same handover docs help you build a knowledge base for AI agents.

What does an exit interview template include?

An exit interview template usually covers the person's details, their reasons for leaving and what they enjoyed, and a handover of their open work, contacts and decisions. It ends with a short checklist to tick before the last day.

Details

Add the person's name, role and team, last day, manager and successor. This sets the deadline and names who takes over. A short note at the top says what the doc is for: part one is feedback for the company, and part two is for the people they leave behind. Knowing who reads each part helps the employee answer honestly and in enough detail.

Reasons for leaving and what they enjoyed

Ask the main reason for leaving and what they enjoyed most. The answers show the company what went well, what went wrong and what to change. Keep the exit interview questions open-ended and skip tick-box lists of reasons; open answers give you more to work with.

What would have made them stay

Ask what would have made them stay. Answers may point to pay, growth, workload or one broken process. Log them over time to spot patterns you can bring to leadership.

Manager feedback and advice for the next person

Ask how the relationship with their manager worked, what the company should change for the next person in this role, and whether they would recommend working here, and why. The manager question is sensitive, so let HR collect this part if needed. Answers about the next person often point to fixes in the role itself, like unclear scope or missing tools.

Open work and key contacts

List open work and where it lives: the board, the folder, the ticket queue. Then list key contacts inside and outside the company, what each one helps with, and who knows the history. This gives the successor a map from day one.

Unwritten rules

These are the habits nobody wrote down, like "renewals over a set amount need a second approver" or "never deploy on Fridays." Ask the person leaving to add each rule to the process doc it belongs in, then mark it done here. New hires then find the rule where they already look to learn how things work.

What only they know

This covers workarounds, the history behind odd decisions, and fixes that live in one person's head. Capture it first, since it is the hardest part to rebuild later. Run a short knowledge capture interview: ask about the last time something broke and how they fixed it. Then turn each answer into a short doc with a named owner.

Pending decisions and doc ownership

List open decisions and which way the person was leaning, with the reason, so the successor has the full picture. Then fill a two-column table: Doc and New owner. Every doc the person owns moves to someone who stays, with a new verification date, so it stays current.

Before the last day checklist

Five boxes close the process: feedback shared with HR and the manager, unwritten rules added to process docs, knowledge capture interview done, docs moved to new owners with new verification dates, and open work and decisions shared with the successor. Tick it together with the person leaving in your last meeting with them.

Exit interview vs. HR offboarding checklist

An HR offboarding checklist covers the admin: return the laptop, remove access, close accounts, run final payroll. An exit interview covers the person's feedback and a handover of what they know. Most teams run both side by side. A stay interview asks similar questions earlier, while the employee is still in the role and there is time to act on the answers.

How to write an exit interview template

Plan the template around the notice period. These five steps take you from sending the doc to the final walkthrough with the successor.

Send it early and explain both parts

Share the doc in the first days of the notice period. Two to three weeks gives you time for both parts without rushing. Explain the two parts in one message: feedback goes to HR and the manager, and the handover stays with the team. Ask the person to fill the easy fields on their own time. Then book two or three short sessions for the harder sections.

Collect feedback in a separate conversation

Run the feedback part as its own talk, ideally with someone from HR or a manager outside the person's direct line. People speak more freely when the listener is someone other than their boss. Take notes in their words. Thank them, and avoid arguing with answers you disagree with, so the conversation stays open.

Capture what only they know first

In the handover sessions, start with the riskiest knowledge. Ask open questions: what breaks most often, what people come to them for, and what they would check first if they came back in six months. Ask for real, recent examples each time. Write the answers down plainly. For more interview formats and follow-up questions, read this guide to knowledge transfer.

Move rules and docs to their new homes

For every unwritten rule, find the process doc it belongs in and add it there. If none exists, start a process documentation page. Then go through each doc the person owns and pick a new owner who uses it day to day. Tell each owner directly, and set a verification date one to three months out, while the context is fresh.

Walk the successor through it

In the last week, review the handover part with the successor in one meeting. They read, ask questions and flag gaps. Fill those gaps before the last day, then tick the checklist together. Share a short summary of the feedback with HR and the manager. Keep the doc in a shared space, so the team can find it after the person has left.

What can an exit interview template do for me?

It gives HR feedback on why people leave and gives the team a handover of the person's work. Use it any time someone with real context leaves a role: resignations, retirements and contracts that end. It also works for internal moves. For a short absence like a holiday, a lighter time off handover fits better. When the new hire arrives, pair the handover with an employee onboarding checklist.

To see the level of detail to aim for, take a made-up account executive leaving sales. Their answer to "what would have made you stay" reads: "A clear path to a senior role. I asked twice and never got a timeline." Their unwritten rule, discounts over 15% need sign-off from the sales lead, now lives in the "Pricing and discounts" doc.

How can I get started with the free exit interview template?

The template is free. Duplicate it into your Slite workspace and share it with the person leaving. They fill in each section, and you add notes during the sessions. Move each new doc to its owner and set a verification date, so the owner gets a reminder to review it. Slite Agent can turn interview notes into a draft process doc. See how Slite works as a team knowledge base.