Conducting an exit interview is no issue – unless you are conducting one for a terminated employee. You may have many constraints here.
For starters, the terminated employee might not turn up, making the entire preparation for it quite fruitless.
Secondly, your relationship with an employee whom you have terminated may not be all that great, and the whole situation is bound to become uncomfortable.
Nonetheless, if you have to conduct an exit interview in this situation, you have to!
Here is how you can do it:
Exit Interview Questions and Answers for Terminated Employee
1. We are sure that you accepted the fact that we had no choice but to terminate you from your position, following a series of misconducts. What do you have to say for yourself?
I am terribly ashamed of the fact that I was asked to leave because of the way I conducted myself all these months. I did not realize that my comments and actions were professionally unhealthy or I wouldn’t have acted the way I did. I am truly sorry.
2. What would you have done differently had you known that your attitude would bring this turn in your professional life?
I would have kept my opinions to myself. I now understand that there is a thin line between making jokes and offending people in the workplace.
3. What expectations do you have from us now that you are leaving?
It would be a kindness if you could arrange to have my last salary and any benefits that still apply to be expedited.
4. While working in the position that you were hired at, you were given access to a lot of sensitive material. Where is it placed? Are there any copies that the company does not know about?
I have all the information given to me on my company-issued laptop. There is a backup that I have saved on an external hard drive. Both are in the possession of the human resource manager. There are no other copies.
5. Are you aware that you are not eligible for continued healthcare coverage from the company since you were terminated?
Yes, I am aware that under such circumstances, employees do not have access to continued healthcare coverage from the company.
6. Do you have any parting words that you would like to say?
I am just extremely sorry about the way things turned out. I cannot truthfully say that I did not fully realize that I was wrong during the time I was being judged for my negative behavior, but if I ever had a chance to do things again, I would definitely be more careful.