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Part 2 of 7 · Exit interview collector series ~5 min read

How the two asks are timed

The whole system rests on a message arriving six weeks after somebody has left, and that fails for a completely banal reason: their work address stopped working on their last day and nobody thought to ask for another one. This post is mostly about solving that.

Key takeaways

  • The personal address is collected on the last day, as part of the first ask.
  • Six weeks is chosen because it is past the new-job honeymoon and before memory fades.
  • An ignored first ask does not cancel the second. They are independent.
  • One reminder each, and then silence. A leaver owes you nothing.
  • The ask says plainly what happens to the answers, because that determines the answers.

Collecting the address

How the six-week follow-up is made possible on the last dayA vertical chain of five steps entered by a box labelled Leaving date set, from HR. Step one asks on the last day, with six questions plus one extra field. Step two asks whether a personal address was given, that field being optional and explained; if not it exits to No follow-up possible, recorded honestly. Step three schedules the second ask at six weeks as one dated event. Step four asks again with the same six questions. Step five yields two responses that are comparable by design. A note says the exit branch is common, is recorded rather than hidden, and is the coverage number.AWS ACCOUNTLeaving date setfrom HRAsk on the last daysix questions,plus one fieldPersonal address given?The one fieldoptional, explainedNo follow-up possiblerecorded honestlynoSchedule at +6 weeksone event, datedAsk againsame six questionsTwo responsescomparable, by designThe exit branch is common and is recorded rather than hidden. It is the coverage number.
Fig 1. How the follow-up becomes possible. The single optional field on the first form determines whether the more valuable second response can ever be collected.
  • App integration
  • Security & identity
  • Management
  • Analytics
  • Front-end & mobile

How the field is worded

“If you are happy to, leave a personal email address. We will ask you the same six questions again in six weeks, when you have some distance from this. Nobody here will see either set of answers on their own.” That is the whole explanation, and it belongs on the form rather than in a policy document nobody opens.

Roughly half of leavers give one, which is enough. The half who do not are not a failure; they are a coverage statistic that the report states plainly, because a themes report drawn from half your leavers should say so.

Why six weeks

  • Three weeks is too soon. The new job is still new, everything is still better, and the answers are coloured by relief rather than reflection.
  • Six weeks is past the honeymoon. The new place has revealed its own problems, which makes the comparison honest in both directions — people quite often say the old job was better at something.
  • Three months is too late. Specific memories fade into general impressions, and “the rota changed in February and nobody consulted us” becomes “communication was poor”, which is not actionable.
  • It is a setting. Six weeks is a default that has worked; it lives in a sheet, and a business with a longer notice culture may want eight.

What happens when nobody answers

One reminder per ask, five days later, and then nothing. A leaver has no obligation to you and a third message is a nuisance from a place they have left.

Why the exit ask and the six-week ask are independentA horizontal row of five boxes. Ask one ignored: no answer. Ask two still sent: the two are independent. Ask two answered: which happens often. One reminder each: then silence. Coverage recorded: and stated in the report. A note says a leaver who ignored the last-day form frequently answers the one six weeks later.THE TWO ASKS ARE INDEPENDENTAsk 1 ignoredno answerAsk 2 still sentindependentAsk 2 answeredit happens oftenOne reminder eachthen silenceCoverage recordedstated in the reportA leaver who ignored the last-day form frequently answers the one six weeks later.
Fig 2. Why the two asks do not depend on each other. Treating the first as a prerequisite would discard the more valuable response from exactly the people least willing to talk on their last day.
  • App integration
  • Machine learning
  • Security & identity
  • Management
  • Analytics

That independence is a small implementation detail with a real effect. The people least willing to fill in a form on their last afternoon are frequently the people with the most to say, and a design that treats the first response as a prerequisite for the second loses exactly them.

Next: how the answers are kept apart from the people who gave them.

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