When someone leaves a bank, an NBFC, an insurer or another financial services business, the organisation needs to understand what influenced that decision. A producer may be leaving over incentives or targets. A branch officer may be tired of long hours and customer pressure. A collections executive may be affected by the nature of the work. Each group deserves a different conversation.
The purpose is to learn from their experience, respect their decision and identify what could improve for the people who remain.
CIPD's guidance on employee turnover highlights the value of understanding why staff leave and addressing areas such as fair treatment, flexibility and employee wellbeing. Source: CIPD
Look beyond the first answer
"Better package." "Growth." "Personal reasons." These may be accurate, but they may not explain the whole decision. A better package could mean a clearer incentive structure, more realistic targets, a branch with a more supportive manager or a role closer to home.
Start with a simple question: "What made you start considering a change?"
Then ask what made the person decide to leave. This helps separate the circumstances that started their search from the offer that eventually attracted them.
Avoid assuming that every exit reflects a problem. Relocation, further study and family circumstances also shape decisions. Where a person raises a concern about conduct or mis-selling, route it through the proper channel rather than treating it as ordinary exit feedback.
Explore the areas that shaped their experience
Use the following areas as prompts rather than assuming any one of them caused the resignation.
- Incentives and pay: Did the person understand how incentives were calculated and reversed? Could they check the figure against their own records?
- Targets and pressure: Were targets realistic for the branch, territory and product? Was pressure applied fairly?
- Branch workload and rosters: Were hours, counter and field duties and coverage across the branch manageable?
- Certification and learning: Was certification or licence renewal supported with time and cost? Was product training useful?
- Manager and branch culture: Did the person get clear expectations, feedback and respectful treatment? Could they raise a concern safely?
- Career path: Could a producer or branch officer see a next step, such as a team lead or a larger territory?
- Role expectations: Did the work match what was described at hiring, including field travel and collections duties?
- Personal circumstances: Did relocation, family or education plans influence the decision?
Several factors may contribute to one resignation. Allow people to explain these connections in their own words.
Create a respectful exit conversation
Invite the person to a voluntary exit conversation during their notice period. Explain that the purpose is to understand their experience and improve the workplace.
Where possible, choose an interviewer outside the branch, regional or sales line. Concerns about incentives and targets often involve the person's own manager, so someone from HR or another region can ask more openly. Give the person the option to provide written feedback if that is more comfortable.
Explain who will see their responses and how the information will be used. Avoid promising complete anonymity in a small branch where details could identify the person.
Listen without interrupting or defending each decision. If clarification is needed, ask for a specific example respectfully. The person should not have to justify the decision to leave. For how to run the process around the conversation, see exit interviews that produce action. The general version of this guide covers the questions that apply in any business.
Ask questions that lead to useful feedback
- 1
What first made you consider leaving?
This finds the starting point, which is often different from the final reason.
- 2
What were the main factors in your final decision?
Let the person connect the factors in their own words.
- 3
What did you value most about working here?
It shows what is worth protecting for the people who stay.
- 4
How did the role compare with what you expected when you joined?
Gaps point to hiring conversations or role changes that were never discussed.
- 5
Was your incentive clear, and could you check how it was calculated?
Listen for queries that went unanswered or came back as a restated number.
- 6
Were your targets realistic for your branch, territory and product?
Ask for an example, not only a view.
- 7
Were your hours, rosters and workload manageable?
Listen for coverage gaps and uneven duty sharing.
- 8
Did you get the certification and learning support you needed?
Ask what they would have wanted, not only what was missing.
- 9
Were there concerns you raised earlier? How were they handled?
This shows whether concerns reached anyone who could act.
- 10
What should we improve for the next person in this role?
A forward-looking close that leaves the conversation constructive.
Use follow-up questions where necessary, while allowing the person to skip questions they do not wish to answer.
Turn individual feedback into a pattern review
Record the main reason for leaving, any contributing factors and a brief factual summary. Separate what the person said from your interpretation.
Review departures over time by branch, region, product line, role and length of service. Early exits among new producers tell a different story from exits after several years. Repeated concerns deserve attention, but a small number of exits should prompt further investigation rather than an immediate conclusion about a branch head or region. The attrition number that hides the problem explains why a single headline rate is not enough.
Compare exit feedback with incentive queries, target data and current employee conversations. Keep identifiable responses restricted to those who need access, and use summaries for wider reporting.
Give each improvement an owner
An exit conversation has limited value if the feedback is simply filed away. For each issue selected for action, agree on:
- The specific change needed.
- The person responsible.
- A completion date.
- How progress will be reviewed.
For example, incentive queries could lead to a published calculation and a stated response time, owned by the incentives team. Target concerns could lead to a review of how targets are set by branch. Certification gaps could lead to protected study time, owned by the branch head.
Where appropriate, tell current employees what has changed, without revealing a departing employee's private feedback.
Start listening before people resign
Include regular conversations about what helps people work well and what makes the job difficult. Ask: "What would make you consider leaving, and what could we improve now?"
In sales-led teams, a conversation after an incentive cycle or a target reset can surface concerns while there is still time to respond. Follow-through matters: asking for feedback creates an expectation that someone will act on it.
Every resignation deserves a respectful response. Understanding the reasons, checking the wider evidence and acting on issues within the organisation's control gives that conversation a useful purpose.
