[Exits and offboarding](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates#exits) # Exit interview tracking spreadsheet A tracking sheet with one row per leaver and one column per fact, so exit interviews add up to a pattern you can read, copy or download as a CSV file. Period Sheet owner **Exit log** One row per leaver, added within a week of the exit interview. Columns: Leaver, Team, Last day, Who chose, Regretted, Primary reason, Would return, Action and owner. 8 rows. **Reason list** Use the same words on every row. Growth and career path. Manager. Pay and benefits. Workload. Culture and team. The role itself. Personal or relocation. Other. **Quarterly review** The reason that came up most this quarter The team or manager with the most regretted exits One change we will make, and who owns it Last updated October 14, 2026 ## A tracking sheet turns exit interviews into numbers you can count. One exit interview is an anecdote. The same eight facts recorded for every leaver, in one sheet, become a pattern: which teams lose people, why, and whether those were people you wanted to keep. This sheet has one row per leaver and a short review at the bottom for the quarter. Three columns do most of the work. Who chose separates a resignation (voluntary) from a dismissal or layoff (involuntary). Regretted marks the exits you would have paid to prevent. Primary reason is one pick from a fixed list. Fill in the rows here and download the sheet as a CSV file, which opens in any spreadsheet program. ## Here is how to use the exit interview tracking spreadsheet in five steps. _Figure: How to use the exit interview tracking spreadsheet in 5 steps. Step 1: Fix the reason list first. Step 2: Add a row within a week. Step 3: Ask one level up about regret. Step 4: Read it every quarter. Step 5: Write down one change._ 1. **Fix the reason list first.** Agree on eight or so reasons before the first row and never type a new one. A fixed list is what makes the column countable. 2. **Add a row within a week.** Fill in the row straight after the exit interview or survey, while the notes are fresh. Every leaver gets a row, including the ones who declined an interview. 3. **Ask one level up about regret.** The question is whether the company would have paid to keep this person. The manager's own manager is usually the fairest judge. 4. **Read it every quarter.** Sort by team, then by reason. Look at the regretted rows first, because those are the exits worth preventing. 5. **Write down one change.** End each review with one action and one owner. A tracker that never changes anything is only a record. ## Here is a worked example with invented names. Take an invented company, Farrowmere Foods, with 180 employees. Over two quarters the sheet collects nine rows. Seven of the nine exits are voluntary and five of those seven are tagged regretted. Four of the five regretted exits come from the warehouse team, and three of those four list workload as the primary reason. No other team has more than one regretted exit. _Figure: A filled-in example. Farrowmere Foods, an invented company: the exit log after two quarters. Rows in the sheet: 9 exits. Voluntary: 7 of 9. Regretted: 5 of the 7 voluntary exits. Regretted exits from the warehouse team: 4 of 5. Primary reason on those rows: Workload, 3 of 4. One change: Review the warehouse shift pattern and hold stay interviews with that team._ A total of nine exits had not worried anyone. The sheet shows the problem sits in one team with one reason, so the operations lead reviews the warehouse shift pattern and holds stay interviews with the people still on that team. ## These mistakes spoil an exit tracker. - Typing a new reason for every leaver, so the column ends up with thirty values and no pattern. - Logging only the leavers who agreed to an interview. A declined interview is still an exit and still a row. - Counting all exits the same. Without the regretted column, a painful loss and a welcome one look identical. - Putting interview quotes in a sheet many people can open. Keep the notes elsewhere and the sheet to facts and tags. - Reviewing it once a year. By then the people who could have been kept have left. Each row answers separate questions about one departure. Who chose: voluntary if the employee did, involuntary if the company did. Did you want to keep them: regretted or non-regretted. Some teams add a third tag for what the exit did to the organization: dysfunctional if it damaged it, functional if it left it better off. _Figure: Every departure answers three separate questions. Who chose: voluntary if the employee did, involuntary if the company did. Did you want to keep them: regretted or non-regretted. What did it do to the organization: dysfunctional if it damaged it, functional if it left it better off._ ## People ask these questions about exit interview tracking. ### What should an exit interview tracker include? One row per leaver with the team, the last day, whether the exit was voluntary, whether it was regretted, one primary reason from a fixed list, whether the person would return, and a follow-up action with an owner. Tenure and manager are useful extra columns once you have enough rows. ### How do you analyze exit interview data? Count the primary reasons, then split the count by team, manager and tenure. Look at regretted exits separately. A reason that appears across the company calls for a company change, and a reason concentrated in one team calls for a conversation with that team's manager. ### How many exits do you need before the data means anything? There is no fixed number, and a small company may only have a handful a year. Treat two or three exits with the same reason in the same team as a prompt to ask questions, not as proof. The tags get more useful with every row. ### Should you track exits in a spreadsheet or in HR software? A spreadsheet is enough for a company that loses a few people a quarter. What matters is that the columns and the reason list stay the same over time. Move to software when keeping the sheet current has become a chore nobody wants. ### Who should have access to the exit tracker? The people team and senior leaders. Managers should see the themes for their own team in a review, not a row-by-row list where each leaver is easy to identify. ## These glossary terms explain the ideas behind it. - [Exit interview](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/exit-interview) An exit interview is a structured conversation with a departing employee about why they are leaving and what would have changed their mind. - [Regretted attrition](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/regretted-attrition) Regretted attrition is a departure the company did not want: someone whose performance, skills or relationships you would have paid to keep. - [Voluntary turnover](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/voluntary-turnover) Voluntary turnover is a departure the employee chose: a resignation, a retirement, or a move to another employer. - [Involuntary turnover](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/involuntary-turnover) Involuntary turnover is a departure the company initiated: a termination, a performance exit, or a layoff. - [Dysfunctional turnover](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/dysfunctional-turnover) Dysfunctional turnover is a departure that damages the organization: a high performer, a specialist, or someone hard to replace at any price. ## These pages on this site go deeper. - [Employee exit survey guide](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/employee-exit-survey) - [Retention metrics to track](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/employee-retention-metrics) ## These templates pair well with this one. - [Exit interview form](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/exit-interview-form) An opening script, eleven questions and one primary reason, for the interviewer. - [Exit survey template](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/exit-survey) Twelve questions a leaver answers in writing, in about ten minutes. - [Employee turnover report template](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/turnover-report) Headline numbers, a split by team, the reasons and one ask, on a single page. ## Work out your own turnover rate. Enter your headcount at the start and end of the period and the number of separations, and the free calculator runs the formula and shows the annualized figure. [Calculate your turnover rate](https://www.teampredict.ai/tools/employee-turnover-rate-calculator) Free, no signup required. About TeamPredict TeamPredict is retention early-warning software that flags resignation risk from public LinkedIn signals, so you have lead time to keep the people you want to keep. [See how TeamPredict works](https://www.teampredict.ai/retention-software) [Back to the HR templates](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates), where all 22 are listed.