The Employee Experience Platform | Culture Amp

Exit Global 2021

Hopefully through Engagement surveys you're able to identify problems and solve them before employees choose to leave. However, an exit survey is a last resort to get precious information from employees who have voluntarily left to understand what could be improved to retain other employees.

  • ~0.9m

    Questions answered

  • /
  • ~850

    Organizations

The data meet our criteria as being robust and reliable; unlikely to substantially change over time; and representative of the wider industry. Read more about the methodology.

Data provided by Culture Amp

Industry breakdown

  • Computer Software

    16%

  • Internet

    10%

  • Information Technology and Services

    9%

  • Financial Services

    7%

  • Marketing and Advertising

    3%

  • Nonprofit Organization Management

    2%

  • Health, Wellness and Fitness

    2%

Region breakdown

  • North America

    67%

  • Oceania

    15%

  • Europe

    14%

  • Asia

    5%

Will departing employees still be advocates?

57% of leavers were motivated and committed during their time at the company and would still recommend it.

Engagement

Engagement is defined as these three questions looking at recommendation, motivation, and previous intent to leave.

I would recommend [Company] as a great place to work

61%

For most of my time with [Company] I rarely thought about looking for a job at another company

56%

[Company] motivated me to go beyond what I would in a similar role elsewhere

53%

Unsurprisingly, Engagement is low for employees who have decided to leave the company but 3/5 would still recommend the company as a great place to work.

While exit surveys are a reactive mechanism, and shouldn't be your only way of getting employee feedback, they can certainly be eye-opening when high-performing employees are honest about their reasons for leaving. To dive even deeper, you can follow up your survey with an exit interview and use the survey responses to guide the conversation.

Which questions matter the most?

For employees that were still engaged when they left, their perception of leadership was very important. Specifically, feeling motivated by the vision, informed, and like the company is making decisions with quality in mind. Those that became advocates also felt they had access to what they needed and could continue to develop.

1

Day-to-day decisions here demonstrate that quality and improvement are top priorities

43% favorable

Alignment & Involvement
2

[Company] was a great organization for me to make a contribution to my development

70% favorable

Development
3

The leaders at [Company] kept people informed about what is happening

56% favorable

Leadership
4

The leaders at [Company] communicated a vision that motivated me

51% favorable

Leadership
5

I had access to the things I needed to do my job well

66% favorable

Enablement

Least favorable areas

People answering Exit Global 2021 were least favorable about the following areas:

But while employees felt like they could develop, they didn't feel like there were official career opportunities. And while they had what they needed to be successful, the systems and processes in place were ineffective, and demonstarted that decisions were not being made with improvement in mind.

1

Day-to-day decisions here demonstrate that quality and improvement are top priorities

43% favorable

Alignment & Involvement
2

I believe there would have been good career opportunities for me at [Company]

43% favorable

Development
3

Most of the systems and processes here supported me getting my work done effectively

50% favorable

Enablement

Insights data provided by Culture Amp.

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