The B.C. Public Service Exit Survey

The B.C. Public Service Employee Exit Survey provides departing employees with an opportunity to share their perceptions of their working environment upon exiting.

The survey has been ongoing since 2007, with annual reporting for each fiscal year. It was most recently updated in 2020 to enable involuntary departures to take the survey alongside voluntary departures. The survey is conducted completely online.

Who Gets a Survey and When

All employees who are members of core government and were active (not on long term leave) prior to departing will receive an invitation to the survey. This includes employees who leave the B.C. Public Service voluntarily (by retiring or resigning), as well as those who leave involuntarily (by termination or at the end of a contract). 

Survey invitations will be mailed to each departing employee’s last known home address. Additionally, employees who give advance notice of their departure will receive an invitation by email, up to 90 days in advance of their departure date. Note that some ministries also conduct their own internal exit interviews or surveys; only results from the B.C. Public Service Employee Exit Survey are reported corporately.

How We Use the Information

This information will be used to better understand the circumstances around employee departures and to develop future strategies for improving employee engagement and retention.

As well, all the information gathered is protected under the Statistics Act and is kept confidential. Before the results are published, responses are combined and all potentially identifying information is removed so individuals cannot be identified.

Key Questions

Several key research questions lie behind the survey questionnaire. These explore topics related to understanding the circumstances and issues around employee departures from the B.C. Public Service. The research questions include:

• What are employees’ perceptions of their work environment (for example, job design, working conditions, culture, peers)?
• What are employees’ perceptions of human resource processes (for example, pay and benefits, workplace arrangements, career development opportunities, succession planning, talent management)?
• What are employees’ perceptions of reporting relationships?
• What are employees’ motivations for leaving the B.C. Public Service? (voluntary departures only)
• Do employees feel supported during their transition?
• What could be changed to better retain employees and improve workplaces?