Recommended Exit Feedback Question Set

Updated September 2026

Purpose: Provide Council with one standard, repeatable exit dataset that explains voluntary turnover, links directly to the annual Employee Survey and EOF, and produces practical improvement insight without repeating the full employee survey.

Timing: Issue once separation is confirmed, normally 5–10 working days before the employee's final day. Target completion before the final day. If that is not practical, send within seven days after departure.

Expected employee time: Approximately 7–10 minutes for the common survey; voluntary resignations may take a little longer because they receive the reasons-for-leaving branch.

Use this question set as written unless Council has formally approved a channel redesign. The Optional and Alternative Reference is not intended for case-by-case additions.

Before the employee sees the survey

Pre-populate the following from HRIS or the offboarding record wherever possible:

Metadata	Standard treatment
Separation type	Required system field. Drives branching.
Directorate / Business Unit	System field. Use only for reporting where confidentiality thresholds are met.
Position / role family	System field. Prefer a standard role taxonomy to free text.
Tenure	Calculate from employment dates rather than asking the employee.
Last day	System field.

Do not ask for name, position title, business unit, tenure or last day again if Council already holds the information.

Recommended invitation wording

We are asking for your feedback to help Council understand the employee experience and identify improvements for people who work here in future. Your feedback is confidential rather than anonymous: authorised People and Culture staff may be able to link your response to employment information for analysis or follow-up, but routine reporting will be aggregated and de-identified. If you raise a serious safety, wellbeing, conduct, integrity, legal or other risk matter, Council may need to take appropriate action. Participation is voluntary and the survey should take about 7–10 minutes.

Standard survey question set

Use the same Employee Survey response scale for all direct comparator items. Do not substitute a different scale if direct comparison is intended.

Code	Applies to	Type	Recommended wording	EOF / Employee Survey alignment
EX.S01	Resignation only	Single select	What was the primary reason for your decision to leave Council?	Conceptually aligned to X1.2 Intent; select one standard reason code and map to the relevant EOF driver. Do not ask X1.2 itself at exit.
EX.S02	Resignation only	Multi select — up to 2	Were there any other factors that materially contributed to your decision to leave?	Conceptually aligned to X1.2 Intent; use the same standard reason taxonomy as EX.S01.
EX.S03	Resignation only	Open Text	What prompted you to begin thinking about leaving? Was there a particular event, pattern or turning point?	Retention diagnostic. Code the explanation to the relevant EOF driver(s).
EX.S04	Resignation only	Open Text	What, if anything, could Council realistically have changed earlier that might have influenced you to stay?	Retention diagnostic aligned conceptually to X1.2 Intent and the relevant EOF driver(s).
EX.S05	If moving to another job	Open Text	What does your next opportunity offer that was difficult to access here?	External pull / EVP diagnostic. Code to relevant EOF driver(s) where applicable.
EX.S06	All eligible leavers	Scale	Overall, my experience working at Council has been positive.	Direct Employee Survey comparator — X1.1 Experience.
EX.S07	All eligible leavers	Scale	I would recommend the Council as a great place to work.	Direct Employee Survey comparator — X1.3 Advocacy.
EX.S08	All eligible leavers	Scale	I am proud to work for Council and of the work we deliver.	Direct Employee Survey comparator — X1.4 Pride.
EX.S09	All eligible leavers	Scale	I feel I have a good working relationship with my manager	Direct Employee Survey comparator — 1.2.4 Values-Based Leadership.
EX.S10	All eligible leavers	Scale	The design of my job makes good use of my skills and experience	Direct Employee Survey comparator — 2.1.2 Roles & Clarity.
EX.S11	All eligible leavers	Scale	The amount of work I’m expected to do is reasonable	Direct Employee Survey comparator — 2.2.1 Resourcing & Capacity.
EX.S12	All eligible leavers	Scale	Council supports my development goals	Direct Employee Survey comparator — 2.5.2 Development & Pathways.
EX.S13	All eligible leavers	Scale	My pay is competitive with similar jobs outside Council	Direct Employee Survey comparator — 3.6.2 Pay, Benefits & Flexibility.
EX.S14	All eligible leavers	Scale	I have access to flexibility that suits my role.	Direct Employee Survey comparator — 3.6.4 Pay, Benefits & Flexibility.
EX.S15	All eligible leavers	Open Text	What should Council keep doing because it positively shaped your experience?	Experience / Pride diagnostic. Code strengths to relevant EOF driver(s).
EX.S16	All eligible leavers	Open Text	What is the one thing Council should change to improve the experience or retain people in roles like yours?	Improvement diagnostic. Code the priority theme to the relevant EOF driver.
EX.S17	All eligible leavers	Single select + optional comment	Would you consider working for Council again in the future?	Related to Experience / Advocacy; not a direct Employee Survey comparator.
EX.S18	All eligible leavers	Single select	Is there any serious concern about safety, wellbeing, bullying or harassment, discrimination, unethical behaviour, fraud or corruption, or other workplace conduct that you believe Council should be aware of?	Governance & Integrity / Health & Safety / Wellbeing risk screen. Not an Employee Survey comparator.
EX.S19	If EX.S18 = Yes	Open Text	Please briefly describe the concern and any action you believe Council should take. If the information indicates a serious risk or legal obligation, Council may need to follow it up outside the routine exit-feedback process.	Risk follow-up. Escalate through the relevant formal pathway; do not wait for quarterly reporting.
EX.S20	All eligible leavers	Open Text — optional	Is there anything else you would like senior leaders or People and Culture to understand about your experience?	Overall employee-experience diagnostic. Code to relevant EOF driver(s).

Required response options

EX.S01 / EX.S02 — standard reason-for-leaving taxonomy

Use these codes consistently for voluntary resignations. EX.S01 permits one primary reason; EX.S02 permits up to two contributing reasons.

Code	Standard reason	Primary EOF alignment / coding note
R01	Career progression, promotion or development	2.5 Development & Pathways
R02	Role fit, job design or use of skills	2.1 Roles & Clarity
R03	Workload, resourcing or work pressure	2.2 Resourcing & Capacity
R04	Manager relationship, support or leadership	1.2 Values-Based Leadership / 2.6 Performance & Feedback
R05	Team relationships, culture, inclusion or respect	3.2 Wellbeing & Psychological Safety / 3.3 Collaboration & Connection
R06	Pay or remuneration	3.6 Pay, Benefits & Flexibility
R07	Benefits, flexibility, hours or work-life balance	3.6 Pay, Benefits & Flexibility
R08	Recognition or reward	3.5 Recognition & Reward
R09	Tools, equipment, systems or processes	2.3 Tools & Equipment / 2.4 Systems & Processes
R10	Safety, wellbeing or working conditions	3.1 Health & Safety / 3.2 Wellbeing & Psychological Safety
R11	Organisational change, direction or trust	1.2 Values-Based Leadership / 3.4 Innovation & Change
R12	Better external opportunity or broader career change	External pull; also code any specific EOF factor identified in comments
R13	Location, commute or relocation	External factor unless Council flexibility / location arrangements materially contributed
R14	Personal, family, caring or health reasons	External / personal factor unless a workplace contribution is identified
R15	Study, travel, career break or self-employment	External / career factor; code any workplace contribution separately
R16	Other	Require a short description and assign the most appropriate EOF / external code

Retirement, end of contract and redundancy are separation types, not preventable reasons for resignation, and should not be mixed into the voluntary reason taxonomy.

EX.S17 — future relationship

Use: Yes / Maybe / No / Prefer not to say, with an optional “Why?” comment.

EX.S18 — serious concern screen

Use: Yes / No / Prefer not to say. If Yes, display EX.S19 immediately and route the response to the nominated P&C / assurance owner.

Why these questions are included

Question group	Why it is included
EX.S01–EX.S04 — leaving decision	Separates the coded reason from the employee's explanation of how the decision developed. The combination gives Council trendable data without losing causal context.
EX.S05 — external pull	Identifies employment-proposition gaps by asking what the next opportunity offers, rather than simply recording where the employee is going.
EX.S06–EX.S08 — X-Factors	Creates a direct bridge to the annual Employee Survey on Experience, Advocacy and Pride. Intent is deliberately excluded because the person has already decided to leave.
EX.S09–EX.S14 — fixed driver comparators	Provides a stable, concise read on common retention conditions: manager relationship, role design, workload, development, pay and flexibility. Keeping these six items fixed is more useful than selecting different driver questions for different leavers.
EX.S15–EX.S16 — keep / change	Produces a clear strengths-and-priorities read for action planning and helps balance negative exit feedback with practices Council should protect.
EX.S17 — re-employment	Indicates whether the employment relationship remains strong enough for a future return and helps inform alumni / boomerang recruitment thinking.
EX.S18–EX.S19 — serious concern	Preserves a clear route for issues that should not be buried in aggregate reporting. It also replaces a narrow fraud-only question with a broader risk screen and explicit limits to confidentiality.
EX.S20 — closing	Gives the employee a final opportunity to raise context not captured elsewhere without adding another battery of rated items.

Standard follow-up interview

The survey is the standard dataset. A follow-up interview is not required for every leaver. Conduct one when at least one of these triggers is present:

the employee asks for a conversation;
the resignation is from a critical, hard-to-fill, senior or otherwise strategically important role;
the resignation is considered regrettable and Council needs deeper retention insight;
the survey raises a material issue that requires clarification but is not already being handled through a formal risk / case pathway; or
quarterly analysis identifies a recurring theme that needs deeper context.

The interviewer should normally be from People and Culture or another appropriately independent function, rather than the employee's direct manager. Use the completed survey as the pre-read and do not mechanically re-ask questions already answered clearly.

Fixed interview prompts

Code	Recommended prompt	EOF use
EX.I01	You identified [primary reason / issue] as important. Can you tell me more about what was happening and when it became significant?	Clarify primary reason and code to relevant EOF driver(s).
EX.I02	What was the single most positive part of your experience that Council should protect?	Strengths; code to EOF driver(s).
EX.I03	What was the single biggest frustration or barrier that Council should address?	Improvement priority; code to EOF driver(s).
EX.I04	What could your manager, team or Council have done differently earlier that might have changed the experience?	Retention / leadership / capability diagnosis.
EX.I05	What should we change for the next person in a role like yours?	Role design / workforce planning / process improvement.
EX.I06	Is there anything else we need to understand or follow up after this conversation?	Closing / risk check. Escalate serious matters appropriately.

Use additional probes from the Optional and Alternative Reference only where they help clarify an answer. Optional probes are qualitative prompts; they do not replace or alter the fixed survey dataset.

Reporting and comparison rules

Report the three X-Factors and six fixed driver items against the most recent annual Employee Survey result using the same wording and response scale.
Do not aggregate exit responses into the annual Employee Survey dataset. Leavers are a different, self-selecting cohort and should be shown as a separate comparison.
Do not ask X1.2 Intent at exit; use the resignation reason, contributing factors and stay-influence questions as the exit equivalent of retention insight.
Code all open-text responses to the EOF driver(s) and the standard reason taxonomy where relevant.
Keep the fixed survey stable. Review changes through formal Listening Framework governance, normally alongside the annual survey / framework review rather than ad hoc.

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