Said It Here

Why are exit interviews a waste of time?

Departing employees usually lie or hold back because they fear burning bridges, are already checked out, or know their input will not change anything. Without a clear incentive to be honest, the interview becomes a meaningless box-checking exercise that rarely reveals anything HR does not already know.

Overview
People affected5 accounts across 1 forum
Workarounds found3 items attempted
Community agreement714 total upvotes

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

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Found another way around this?

Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.

  1. 1
    Replacing face-to-face interviews with anonymous exit surveys.
    Did this help you?
  2. 2
    Gathering feedback earlier through stay interviews and 90-day check-ins.
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  3. 3
    Offering a monetary incentive (e.g., $250) or tying completion to PTO payouts.
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In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/humanresources5 people · March 2026

“I mean I’ve seen it occasionally but the vast majority of the time is just a box to be checked. I fully expect MOST employees to feel the way yours did to a point that I genuinely question if exit interviews are worth doing compared to exit surveys”source ↗

Hunterofshadows · r/humanresources · 399 upvotes

“I gave one honest exit interview in my career, because I really loved my coworkers and I wanted things to be better for them. It changed nothing, and I haven’t bothered since.”source ↗

Bluest_Skies · r/humanresources · 226 upvotes

“Exit interviews are rarely going to share something you don’t already know. As an HR professional myself, I find the practice to be fairly meaningless.”source ↗

littleedge · r/humanresources · 41 upvotes

“It’s a no win for the exiting employee unless you can attach an incentive. Either they are honest and risk burning a bridge, or they lie and it’s a waste of time.”source ↗

never_gon_giveu_up · r/humanresources · 27 upvotes

“When I do an exit interview many employees are already checked out and don't care enough to really give any detailed or thoughtful feedback.”source ↗

FatDaddyMushroom · r/humanresources · 21 upvotes

Where this came up

r/humanresourcescompany culturehuman resourcesoffboarding

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