Barely. It captures perception about the company, not the operational judgment the person applied — and it arrives too late, once the relationship has already ended.
What does the exit interview actually measure?
Climate and reason for leaving, biased by someone who has already decided to go. It’s useful for people management and nearly useless for reconstructing how the work was done.
Why does the timing spoil the data?
Because the incentive has flipped. Someone staying has reason to explain their own work well; someone leaving has reason to wrap up fast, and none to detail exceptions.
Is there a version that works?
Yes: structured handover by episodes, weeks before departure, with the incoming person present. It’s operations work, not HR — and it rarely happens for lack of method, not lack of intent.
The exit interview asks why the person is leaving. What the operation needed to know was how they decided — and nobody asked that in all the years they stayed.
// relacionado: what to do beforehand · what the loss costs · glossary: tacit knowledge