Exit Interview Process Analysis
WHAT IS AN EXIT INTERVIEW?
An exit interview is a survey conducted with an individual who is separating from an organization or relationship. Most commonly, this occurs between an employee and an organization, a student and an educational institution, or a member and an association. An exit interview is the most accurate instrument in assessing the issues that drive an individual to leave an organization. Few other tools illustrate why the individual is separating, what he or she valued while at the organization, and what aspects of the organization needs improvement in order to increase employee engagement, performance, and loyalty. An organization can use the information gained from an exit interview to assess what should be improved, changed, …show more content…
or remain intact. More so, an organization can use the results from exit interviews to reduce employee, student, or member turnover and increase productivity and engagement, thus reducing the high costs associated with turnover. Some examples of the value of conducting exit interviews include shortening the recruiting and hiring process, reducing absenteeism, improving innovation, sustaining performance, and reducing possible litigation if issues mentioned in the exit interview are addressed. It is important for each organization to customize its own exit interview in order to maintain the highest levels of survey validity and reliability.
The exit interview fits into the separation stage of the employee life cycle (ELC). This stage, the last one of the ELC, spans from the moment an employee becomes disengaged until his or her departure from the organization. This is the key time that an exit interview should be administered because the employee’s feelings regarding his or her departure are fresh in mind. An off-boarding process allows both the employer and employee to properly close the existing relationship so that company materials are collected, administrative forms are completed, knowledge base and projects are transferred or documented, feedback and insights are gathered through exit interviews, and any loose ends are resolved. This process could be long and arduous but with new exit interview management systems, all tasks and activities can be automated to ensure nothing has been missed while saving time and money.
What 's the Purpose of an Exit Interview?
Human resources departments conduct exit interviews (also called exit surveys) to gather data for improving working conditions and retaining employees. However, a hidden purpose is to help employers avoid costly litigation down the road, caused by "disgruntled" employees. In other words, your comments and the notes an HR rep takes during your exit interview might be used against you in court, should you decide to sue your former employer.
Must one Submit to an Exit Interview?
No. It 's your right to decline an exit interview. A reputable employer will respect your decision. However, a not-so-reputable employer might resent that you didn 't participate and file a "would not rehire" or similar adverse notation in your personnel records. The same employer might reveal the notation during a background check.
Should one Participate in an Exit Interview?
Naturally, the decision whether or not to participate in an exit interview is ultimately up to you. But there are varying opinions about whether or not you should participate. Some career experts think you should, because, although it doesn 't help you much, it helps a sincere employer improve working conditions for remaining employees.
But other career experts question the usefulness of an exit interview. (A better time to conduct such a meeting is while an employee is committed, not while he or she is on the way out the door and concerned about burning a bridge.) Consequently, they don 't think the risks for departing employees are worth it, so they advise against participating. Alternately, they advise participants to give "generic" responses only or at least think carefully before responding.
Besides potential bridge burning, risks for departing employees include the information falling into the wrong hands and ruining references, the employer revealing negative information during a background check, and as previously indicated, the employer submitting either positive or negative information as evidence in a lawsuit.
When an exit interview takes place?
When employees leave, it is a good idea to arrange an exit interview. You can then use their response to determine whether there are any underlying issues to be addressed.
However, getting employees to reveal the real reason they 're leaving can be difficult.For example, if they say that they have been offered more money with another employer, this doesn 't actually explain why they started looking for a new job in the first place. It may in fact be that the employee didn 't get on with their manager or a team colleague, or that they think they were unfairly overlooked for promotion.
If, during the interview, the employee starts making accusations against a colleague, don 't act too hastily. You must ensure there is a fair investigation.
Exit interview in business
Exit interviews in business are focused on employees that are leaving a company or when employees have completed a significant project. The purpose of this exit interview is to glean feedback from employees in order to improve aspects of the organization, better retain employees, and reduce turnover. During this interview employees will be asked why they are leaving, what specifically influenced their decision to leave, whether or not they are going to another company and what that company they are going to offers that their current company does not. Businesses can use this information to better align their HR strategy with what employees look for in an organization and enact programs and practices that will influence top talent to stay at the organization.
In the past, exit interview data was being collected by the organization but not much was being done in terms of interpreting the data and making it actionable. Today there are metrics, analytics, benchmarks, and best practices that help organizations make sense of and use the data towards proactive organizational retention programs. Recently an array of exit interview software has been developed and popularized. These programs facilitate and streamline the employee separation process, allow surveys to be completed via the web, make separation and retention trends easy to identify, and amass actionable data which can increase organizational effectiveness and productivity. Additionally, some of these programs make it possible to quantify data gleaned from the surveys to more accurately understand why employees are leaving the organization.
Exit Interviews in Associations
Exit interviews in associations[disambiguation needed] are administered to members who decide to end membership with an association. These interviews provide feedback to an association regarding what caused the member to leave, what can be improved, and how resources can better be allocated.
TOP 5 REASONS EMPLOYESS LEAVE THE COMPANY
The reasons that employees leave a company. Honestly, don’t know if they would have captured my attention except for the fact that I saw them within days of each other. And their results were quite different.
Employees looking for a new job.
HR pros about workforce mobility.
The purpose of the exercise isn’t to discount anyone’s data. Instead, it should prompt a few questions:
There are some definite areas that both HR and employees say are reasons people leave companies. And the reasons aren’t really shocking. We keep hearing about employee disengagement being at an all-time high. What conversations are companies having about these identified reasons for employees leaving?
For some of the reasons, there’s quite a noticeable difference between the employee and HR response. IMHO, these are general survey trends and the responses could be different dependent upon an industry or company. But then the question remains…What are companies doing to make sure the information they have about employee departures is accurate?
SOME USEFULL QUESTION IN EXIT INTERVIEW
What have you enjoyed the most/least about working for the business/the role?
What sorts of problems have you found?
How well did you understand your role?
How effective is the communication/consultation?
How easy was it to get on with your boss/colleagues?
To what extent do you feel your work was valued?
To what extent were your skills and talents used effectively?
To what extent did you feel your role was secure?
How satisfied were you with money, terms and conditions, facilities, equipment?
How does your current role compare to your new job?
When did you begin looking for another job?
The employee 's answers may be influenced by their need for a reference.
Ideally, someone other than the leaver 's manager should try to find out why they 're leaving. They may have difficulty telling their manager about problems with their job or department.
You should also look out for reasons that might lead to employees claiming constructive dismissal or discrimination. These wrongs could be corrected before the employee leaves but beware not to suggest any reasons or say anything that could later be used against you. See our guides on dismissal and how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
METHODS OF CONDUCTING EXIT INTERVIEW
Voice - In-Person or Telephone
Pros: - Capture complex ideas through follow-up questioning and tone indications - Probe, clarify and ask for examples - Structured question order - Administered by a professional Cons - Possible interviewer bias (especially if internal) - Possible interviewee bias (especially if internal) - Most expensive option – interviewer time - Difficult for employee to verbalize constructive critique, particularly face-to-face - Low participation for telephone exit interviews due to caller ID and voice mail - Information must be entered into tracking system for trending
A voice interview can be conducted by an internal agent (i.e. an HR department) or an external agent (i.e. HR exit interview consulting firm).
Paper Exit interview
Pros - Allows convenience for those who do not have easy access to the internet - Ensures total anonymity Cons - Takes longer to receive feedback - Concern for literacy of respondent - Information must be entered into tracking system for trending
Web - Exit Interview Management Systems
Pros - High reliability, flexibility and privacy, as it is completed by the respondent - Exit interview is easily accessible at the convenience of the respondent - Feedback is received quickly - Low administration cost - Data automatically tracked - Reporting information accessible in real time
Cons - Not accessible to those who do not have internet - Concern for literacy of respondent - Concern for technical knowledge of respondent
IVR (teleprompt)
Pros - Accessible by average phone Cons - Has fallen out of favor due to the cost effectiveness of web based options that yield data at similar or higher quality - Difficult to get rich data - Difficult to adjust or change.
Participation Rates
Exit interview participation rates vary depending on the method used to conduct the exit interviews. Paper-and-pencil exit interviews provide the lowest participation rates at approximately 30 - 35%. The highest participation rates are achieved using online exit interviews. The average participation rates for organizations using online exit interviews is 65%.
PROCESS OF EXIT INTERVIEW HR managers are a critical part of the separation process. Exit interviews are traditionally conducted by HR staff members with the knowledge and input of the immediate manger of the departing employee. Using HR managers as interviewers, improves the chance employees will open up and provide more valuable feedback. One need to ensure that exit interview is not taken by same department manager or same HR representative of the employee, otherwise employee will not open up or end up with arguments.
There are a number of key issues to keep in mind. The interviewer should always begin the process on a positive note - perhaps by offering a thank you for the employee 's service to the organization. And above all, the employee should always be treated with dignity and respect. In some sensitive situations, employees may even be asked how they would like their departure to be handled with peers. It is important for every organization to ensure that all employees leaving the company (especially those leaving for disciplinary reasons or lack of performance) have been provided due process. Every individual must be given the opportunity to have his or her side of the issue heard. It is always important to provide documentation. If the employee has resigned, a letter of resignation should be included within the termination letter/paperwork.
The primary key to an effective exit interview is preparation. The planning becomes an essential component of success in conducting the exit interview. Interviewers should plan out issues to be covered and the questions to be asked. Structured interviews are recommended with the use of questions prepared in advance.
The Reasons Interviewers usually want to determine the real reasons of voluntary separations. This provides an opportunity to make changes - particularly when the separation may also be impacting other people. For example, management is often cited as a common reason people leave the organization. It is good for the company to know the reasons so that they can take corrective so that the company employee is satisfied and their actions are correct.
It is critical to get beyond the "politically correct" reason that the majority of employees provide when leaving a position. The critical portion of the interview should probe the employee for feedback about the working conditions and how they might be improved.
ADVANTAGES OF EXIT INTERVIEW
1. They provide an opportunity to 'make peace ' with disgruntled employees, who might otherwise leave with vengeful intentions. 2. Exit interviews are seen by existing employees as a sign of positive culture. They are regarded as caring and compassionate - a sign that the organization is big enough to expose itself to criticism. 3. Exit interviews accelerate participating managers ' understanding and experience of managing people and organizations. Hearing and handling feedback is a powerful development process. 4. Exit interviews help to support an organization 's proper HR practices. They are seen as positive and necessary for quality and effective people-management by most professional institutes and accrediting bodies concerned with quality management of people, organizations and service. 5. The results and analysis of exit interviews provide relevant and useful data directly into training needs analysis and training planning processes. 6. Exit interviews provide valuable information as to how to improve recruitment and induction of new employees.
Exit interviews provide direct indications as to how to improve staff retention. 7. Sometimes an exit interview provides the chance to retain a valuable employee who would otherwise have left (organizations often accept resignations far too readily without discussion or testing the firmness of feeling - the exit interview provides a final safety net).
8. A significant proportion of employee leavers will be people that the organization is actually very sorry to leave (despite the post-rationalization and sour grapes reactions of many senior executives to the departure of their best people). The exit interview therefore provides an excellent source of comment and opportunity relating to management succession planning. Good people leave often because they are denied opportunity to grow and advance. Wherever this is happening organizations need to know about it and respond accordingly. 9. Every organization has at any point in time several good people on the verge of leaving because they are not given the opportunity to grow and develop, at the same time, ironically, that most of the management and executives are overworked and stretched, some to the point of leaving too. Doesn 't it therefore make good sense to raise the importance of marrying these two situations to provide advantage both ways - ie., facilitate greater delegation of responsibility to those who want it? Exit interviews are an excellent catalyst for identifying specific mistakes and improvement opportunities in this vital area of management development and succession. 10. Exit interviews, and a properly organized, positive exit process also greatly improve the chances of successfully obtaining and transferring useful knowledge, contacts, insights, tips and experience, from the departing employee to all those needing to know it, especially successors and replacements. Most leavers are happy to help if you have the courage and decency to ask and provide a suitable method for the knowledge transfer, be it a briefing meeting, a one-to-one meeting between the replacement and the leaver, or during the exit interview itself.
5 THINGS ONE SHOULD AVOID TELLING IN AN EXIT INTERVIEW
Exit interviews are important tools to uncover potential legal liability early and learn if there are morale (or other) problems in an organization. Done wrong, though, they can land you in some hot water. As such, it’s best to follow certain guidelines when conducting these talks. For example, create a script of general questions. And always have a neutral third party or someone from another department conduct the interview.
As a practical matter, remember that leaving is a highly emotionally charged situation and try to be empathic to the employee. And never forget that while the exit interview may be confidential for the employee, it is not for you and the employee may repeat to anyone else what you said. As such, work with your legal department or outside counsel to ensure that the questions you ask don’t violate the law.
In that spirit, here are five things you should never say or ask during an exit interview:
1) “Can one just talk about the reason of leaving?”
This is generally a terrible idea. If a person has decided to leave, it is your job at the exit interview to learn as much as possible about why they are leaving while balancing the employee’s feelings and rights. An unstructured conversation creates the potential of the employee feeling singled out, blamed, and/or that his or her rights are being violated in some way (whether they are or not).
By asking standard questions with the help of a skilled employment lawyer, you can achieve your goal of finding out valuable information about your organization without opening up your company to any potential lawsuits.
2) “Where is one going to work next?”
While the question itself may not be inappropriate, you could be setting yourself up for trouble if the employee’s offer gets revoked or if they get fired from the next job. The employee might allege that you badmouthed them to the new employer and that is why they got fired from the new job.
The best approach is to say good luck and concentrate on gathering information that would be beneficial.
3) “Did one ever experience any inappropriate behavior?
Where to begin on this one? The question actually implies that the organization knows that Bob sexually harasses employees, the company endorses it and yet they are allowing another employee who works for him to resign.
While an exit interview can be a very valuable tool to determine if there are problems in the work environment, it is not a good idea to suggest to the leaving employee that their supervisor was doing something that could create liability for the company. Instead, through carefully crafted questions, you could find out if there are complaints about a supervisor. These questions could include questions like “how was it to work with Bob?”
If the employee tells you that Bob sexually harasses everyone it could lead to doing an internal investigation to determine the situation.
4) “Will one sign this release in exchange for the money we owe to date?”
Payment for past performance, in many states, is not consideration for a release from an employee. Instead, what you should do is offer the employee severance, which is above and beyond any amount owed for back salary, sick days, vacation and/or any other outstanding payment owed.
Also, you have to be careful that the employee does not feel coerced to sign the agreement, which may affect the validity of the release.
5) “If one goes and work for our competitor we will sue you.”
The exit interview is a good time to remind the employee that they have a confidentiality agreement or a non-compete (for states that allow it). It is also a good idea to remind the employee of any other contract provisions that might survive their termination from the company, e.g. arbitration clauses. That said, you do not want to be threatening employees on their way out the door.
Overall, when doing business in the U.S., an exit interview is a good place to get valuable information about your organization, remind your employees of the ongoing obligations regarding your company and potentially get the employee to sign a release. But to protect yourself, stick to a standard script – and keep anyone with an emotional investment in the process out of the room.
SUGGESTIONS
Exit interviews are interviews conducted with departing employees, just before they leave.
From the employer 's perspective, the primary aim of the exit interview is to learn reasons for the person 's departure, on the basis that criticism is a helpful driver for organizational improvement. Exit interviews (and prior) are also an opportunity for the organization to enable transfer of knowledge and experience from the departing employee to a successor or replacement, or even to brief a team on current projects, issues and contacts. Good exit interviews should also yield useful information about the employer organization, to assess and improve all aspects of the working environment, culture, processes and systems, management and development, etc.; in fact anything that determines the quality of the organization, both in terms of its relationship with its staff, customers, suppliers, third-parties and the general …show more content…
public.
Many employers ignore the opportunity that exit interviews offer, chiefly because exit interviews have not been practiced in the past, and starting them is a difficult initiative to undertake, given the potentially subjective and 'fuzzy ' nature of the results; the time involved; and the unspoken corporate urge to avoid exposure to criticism. Exit interviews are nevertheless a unique chance to survey and analyze the opinions of departing employees, who generally are more forthcoming, constructive and objective than staff still in their jobs. In leaving an organization, departing employees are liberated, and as such provide a richer source of objective feedback than employed staff do when responding to normal staff attitude surveys.
As ever, corporate insecurity and defensiveness can be an obstacle to implementing exit interview processes, so if the organization finds it difficult to begin the practice as a matter of general policy, you can still undertake your own exit interviews locally with your own staff as and when they leave.
From the departing employee interviewee perspective, an exit interview is a chance to give some constructive feedback, and to leave on a positive note, with good relations and mutual respect. Recrimination, blame, revenge and spite are destructive feelings and behaviors, so resist any temptation you might have to go out all guns blazing. Be calm, fair, objective and as helpful as possible. In the future you may wish to return to the organization (situations and people change..), and you may cross the paths of your ex-colleagues, managers in the future. The adage about treating people well on your way up because you might meet them on the way down applies just as well on your way out. The exit interview is an opportunity to shake hands and leave friends, not enemies. Exit interviews and knowledge transfer
The days, weeks (or months in some cases) between the decision for the employee to leave, and the employee 's actual departure date offer a crucial opportunity for the organization to gather important information and knowledge from the employee. This is especially relevant in roles where the employee has accumulated a significant amount of knowledge and personal connections, as typically applies in sales and buying roles, and obviously business unit management. The knowledge of the departing employee commonly has immense value, and the recovery of it is often overlooked altogether by the organization, until the employee has departed, or more likely been hurried out of the door holding the contents of their desk in a cardboard box.
When any employee resigns, or a decision is made for a person to leave for any reason, always ask: Should we spend some time thinking about how to enable some sort of knowledge transfer? In other words, if we place a value on the knowledge that the departing employee holds, isn 't it worth thinking about how to enable this knowledge to be passed to the appropriate people remaining in the organization?
Instead of course all too often, senior management 's response to all the head-scratching after a vital person has left, is to rationalize the loss of information (and vital personal contacts often) with the old cliché, "No-one is indispensable". The adage might ultimately be true, but that 's not really the point. The fact is that most people who leave do actually possess useful (often critical) knowledge and experience. Moreover most departing employees are delighted to share this knowledge, to help a successor, or to brief a management team, if only the organization would simply ask them politely to do so (assuming their exit is handled decently of course, which the exit interview helps to enable).
This is another good reason for thinking properly about the exit procedure, and for properly organizing some form of exit interview process.
So much depends of course on the atmosphere surrounding the departure. Often, particularly in sales, there is suspicion and imagined threat on both sides, which rather weakens the chances of a helpful hand-over. This mistrust should be diffused - it really does nobody any good. In an ideal world the leaver should be encouraged and enabled (and arguably rewarded if necessary) to hold a briefing meeting, which all interested parties (and certainly the person 's replacement if possible) can attend and learn what they need to know. Regrettably however, it is not unusual for traditional-type 'theory-X ' sales directors and managers to be so intoxicated with testosterone and the taste of blood that such suggestions rarely make it off the stony ground of the board-room. I would urge you to take a more open constructive view. Give people the benefit of doubt, and discourage the kill 'em and eaten advocates from retaliating before there 's any suggestion of being attacked. There are some suggested enabling questions below.
For organizations large and small, exit interviews therefore provide lots of advantages and opportunities:
Exit interviews aims and outcomes * They provide an opportunity to 'make peace ' with disgruntled employees, who might otherwise leave with vengeful intentions. * Exit interviews are seen by existing employees as a sign of positive culture. They are regarded as caring and compassionate - a sign that the organization is big enough to expose itself to criticism. * Exit interviews accelerate participating managers ' understanding and experience of managing people and organizations. Hearing and handling feedback is a powerful development process. * Exit interviews help to support an organization 's proper HR practices. They are seen as positive and necessary for quality and effective people-management by most professional institutes and accrediting bodies concerned with quality management of people, organizations and service. * The results and analysis of exit interviews provide relevant and useful data directly into training needs analysis and training planning processes. * Exit interviews provide valuable information as to how to improve recruitment and induction of new employees. * Exit interviews provide direct indications as to how to improve staff retention. * Sometimes an exit interview provides the chance to retain a valuable employee who would otherwise have left (organizations often accept resignations far too readily without discussion or testing the firmness of feeling - the exit interview provides a final safety net). * A significant proportion of employee leavers will be people that the organization is actually very sorry to leave (despite the post-rationalization and sour grapes reactions of many senior executives to the departure of their best people). The exit interview therefore provides an excellent source of comment and opportunity relating to management succession planning. Good people leave often because they are denied opportunity to grow and advance. Wherever this is happening organizations need to know about it and respond accordingly. * Every organization has at any point in time several good people on the verge of leaving because they are not given the opportunity to grow and develop, at the same time, ironically, that most of the management and executives are overworked and stretched, some to the point of leaving too. Doesn 't it therefore make good sense to raise the importance of marrying these two situations to provide advantage both ways - ie. facilitate greater delegation of responsibility to those who want it? Exit interviews are an excellent catalyst for identifying specific mistakes and improvement opportunities in this vital area of management development and succession. * Exit interviews, and a properly organized, positive exit process also greatly improve the chances of successfully obtaining and transferring useful knowledge, contacts, insights, tips and experience, from the departing employee to all those needing to know it, especially successors and replacements. Most leavers are happy to help if you have the courage and decency to ask and provide a suitable method for the knowledge transfer, be it a briefing meeting, a one-to-one meeting between the replacement and the leaver, or during the exit interview itself.
Exit interviews are best conducted face-to-face because this enables better communication, understanding, interpretation etc., and it provides far better opportunity to probe and get to the root of sensitive or reluctant feelings. However, postal or electronic questionnaires are better than nothing, if face-to-face exit interviews are not possible for whatever reason (although I remain to be convinced that there is never a proper excuse for not sitting down for 30 minutes with any departing employee.....)
In some cases perhaps a particularly shy employee may prefer to give their feedback in a questionnaire form, in which case this is fine, but where possible, face-to-face is best.
In terms of managing the interview, listen rather than talk. Give the interviewee time and space to answer. Coax and reassure where appropriate, rather than pressurize. Interpret, reflect and understand (you can understand someone without necessarily agreeing). Keep calm, resist the urge to defend or argue - your aim is to elicit views, feedback, answers, not to lecture or admonish. Ask open 'what/how/why ' questions, not 'closed ' yes/no questions, unless you require specific confirmation about a point. 'When ' and 'where ' are also more specific qualifying questions, unless of course they are used in a general context rather than specific time or geographic sense. 'Who ' should be used with care to avoid witch-hunts or defamatory risks (moreover many exit interviewees will be uncomfortable if asked to name people or allocate personal blame - exit interviews are not about 'blame ', the allocation of which is not constructive and should be avoided for anything other than very serious complaints or accusations, which must then be suitably referred as follow-up would be beyond the normal exit interview remit.
Prepare your exit interview questions and topics that you 'd like to explore, especially when you believe that the interviewee has good experience, appreciation and understanding.
Take notes and/or use a prepared questionnaire form.
Importantly, see also the job interviews page for interviews techniques, which relate to exit interviews too. Remember simple planning aspects such as arranging a suitable time and place, avoiding interruptions, taking notes, preparing questions, being aware of the body-language and feelings of the interviewee and adjusting your own approach accordingly, etc.
Obviously the style of exit interview is different for someone who is being asked to leave, retiring, being made redundant, dismissed, or leaving under a cloud, compared to an employee leaving whom the organization would prefer to retain.
However everyone who leaves should be given the opportunity of an exit interview, and the organization can learn something from every situation. In certain situations (where appropriate) the exit interview also provides a last chance to change a person 's mind, although this should not be the main aim of the exit interview situation.
When the interview is complete say thanks and wishes the interviewee well. If there is some specific checking or follow-up to do then ensure you do it and report back accordingly.
After the interview look at the answers and think properly - detached and objective - about what their meaning and implications.
Take action as necessary, depending on your processes for analysing and reporting exit interview feedback. If there 's an urgent issue, or the person wants to stay and you want to keep them, then act immediately or the opportunity will be lost.
Exit interviews - responsibilities, process and outcomes
Participation in exit interviews by the employee leaving is voluntary. Do not compel departing employees to attend exit interviews. Offer a questionnaire form alternative, which again must be voluntary.
You cannot compel a departing employee to give you knowledge that is in their head, although the return of files, paperwork and material is normally something that an employer rightfully can insist happens. In any event, a positive constructive, grown-up approach is the best assurance of a happy outcome and an optimal transfer of knowledge and contact names, etc., should this be helpful, which often it will be. If you hear any of your people using the ridiculously confrontational maxim " No-one is indispensable..", as a defense for not bothering to gather important knowledge from a departing employee it probably suggests that all opportunities for a cooperative hand-over have yet to be explored, so encourage people to explore them, or go explore them yourself.
Ideally the organization should have a documented policy stating how exit interviews happen, when, and by whom. Some organizations hand the responsibility to a skilled interviewer in the HR or Personnel department. Alternatively line-managers or even supervisors can conduct the interviews. Interviewers need to be trained to interview, just as for normal job interviews. All types of interviews are sensitive emotional situations which require ability and maturity to manage properly, especially if interviewees are anxious or volatile.
In large organizations HR or Personnel department should be responsible for designing the process, issuing guidelines and documentation, collecting results data, analyzing and reporting findings, trends, opportunities and recommendations, especially including anything relating to health and safety, or employment law and liability.
If you design a questionnaire or exit interview form which will be used as an input document towards central analysis it is a good idea to convert questions wherever practicable into a 'score able ' and/or multiple-choice format, which makes analysis far easier than lots of written opinions.
Actions resulting from exit interview feedback analysis, in any size or type of organization, fall into two categories: * Remedial and preventative, for example improving health and safety issues, stress, harassment, discrimination. etc. * Strategic improvement opportunities, for example improved induction, management or supervisory training, empowerment or team building initiatives, process improvement, wastage and efficiencies improvements, customer service initiatives, etc.
The head of HR or Personnel would normally be responsible for raising these issues with the board or CEO, and the conversion of exit interview feedback into action is a critical factor in justifying and maintaining a serious priority and operation of the process.
For many organizations, exit interviews provide a major untapped source of 'high-yield ' development ideas and opportunities. Use them. THE SRRATUGY OF CONDUCTING EXIT INTERVIEW
An Exit Interview is a final meeting between an employer and a departing employee. By conducting one, the employer is better able to learn what the reasons are for the departure, and to gain valuable information that can be helpful to improve or protect the firm in the future.
Exit Interviews allow employers to provide employees with all the information they need about termination of the employment relationship. Other benefits include: * guarding against potential lawsuits, * smoothing over any conflicts with co-workers or managers, * learning about problems with other employees, * helping to discern whether the employer 's pay is competitive, * learning how to retain their best people, * reducing problems in the workplace.
Exit interviews also provide employers an opportunity to control any negative publicity that might come from a discontented employee, pinpoint specific areas causing employee dissatisfaction and turnover, and to openly share information that will bring the employment relationship to a positive close.
The information obtained during an Exit Interview is often the most candid and valuable information an employer can hope to receive from an employee, since there is no longer the pressure for the employee to guard one 's responses in an effort to improve their individual status within the firm.
Whether employees leave on their own, or because they are being asked to leave, employee insights can provide valuable "inside information." It is recommended by HR experts throughout the construction industry, that employers should always conduct an Exit Interview in order to obtain this important information.
CONCLUSION
With the recognition exit interviews can provide an opportunity for valuable feedback, new approaches are being used. Trends in exit interviews today include outsourcing and automated surveys. Some companies have opted to delegate the exit interview to a third party firm that specializes in conducting these interviews. The rationale is departing employees may be more open and honest with an objective third party. These interviewers are often trained in asking probing questions and can information.
The information solicited from the exit interview is only valuable if it used. It must be disseminated to the appropriate people within the organization and then actually used to make positive changes. Otherwise, the company has missed a valuable opportunity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_interview http://www.exitinterviews.com.au/exit-interview-benefits.htm http://www.exitinterviews.com.au/ http://search.babylon.com/?q=exit+interview+aims+and+outcomes&babsrc=SP_crm http://hrpeople.monster.com/news/articles/3565-the-real-reason-for-exit-interviews http://www.skilledworkplace.com.au/exit_interviews_7.html
An exit interview is a survey conducted with an individual who is separating from an organization or relationship. Most commonly, this occurs between an employee and an organization, a student and an educational institution, or a member and an association. An exit interview is the most accurate instrument in assessing the issues that drive an individual to leave an organization. Few other tools illustrate why the individual is separating, what he or she valued while at the organization, and what aspects of the organization needs improvement in order to increase employee engagement, performance, and loyalty. An organization can use the information gained from an exit interview to assess what should be improved, changed, …show more content…
or remain intact. More so, an organization can use the results from exit interviews to reduce employee, student, or member turnover and increase productivity and engagement, thus reducing the high costs associated with turnover. Some examples of the value of conducting exit interviews include shortening the recruiting and hiring process, reducing absenteeism, improving innovation, sustaining performance, and reducing possible litigation if issues mentioned in the exit interview are addressed. It is important for each organization to customize its own exit interview in order to maintain the highest levels of survey validity and reliability.
The exit interview fits into the separation stage of the employee life cycle (ELC). This stage, the last one of the ELC, spans from the moment an employee becomes disengaged until his or her departure from the organization. This is the key time that an exit interview should be administered because the employee’s feelings regarding his or her departure are fresh in mind. An off-boarding process allows both the employer and employee to properly close the existing relationship so that company materials are collected, administrative forms are completed, knowledge base and projects are transferred or documented, feedback and insights are gathered through exit interviews, and any loose ends are resolved. This process could be long and arduous but with new exit interview management systems, all tasks and activities can be automated to ensure nothing has been missed while saving time and money.
What 's the Purpose of an Exit Interview?
Human resources departments conduct exit interviews (also called exit surveys) to gather data for improving working conditions and retaining employees. However, a hidden purpose is to help employers avoid costly litigation down the road, caused by "disgruntled" employees. In other words, your comments and the notes an HR rep takes during your exit interview might be used against you in court, should you decide to sue your former employer.
Must one Submit to an Exit Interview?
No. It 's your right to decline an exit interview. A reputable employer will respect your decision. However, a not-so-reputable employer might resent that you didn 't participate and file a "would not rehire" or similar adverse notation in your personnel records. The same employer might reveal the notation during a background check.
Should one Participate in an Exit Interview?
Naturally, the decision whether or not to participate in an exit interview is ultimately up to you. But there are varying opinions about whether or not you should participate. Some career experts think you should, because, although it doesn 't help you much, it helps a sincere employer improve working conditions for remaining employees.
But other career experts question the usefulness of an exit interview. (A better time to conduct such a meeting is while an employee is committed, not while he or she is on the way out the door and concerned about burning a bridge.) Consequently, they don 't think the risks for departing employees are worth it, so they advise against participating. Alternately, they advise participants to give "generic" responses only or at least think carefully before responding.
Besides potential bridge burning, risks for departing employees include the information falling into the wrong hands and ruining references, the employer revealing negative information during a background check, and as previously indicated, the employer submitting either positive or negative information as evidence in a lawsuit.
When an exit interview takes place?
When employees leave, it is a good idea to arrange an exit interview. You can then use their response to determine whether there are any underlying issues to be addressed.
However, getting employees to reveal the real reason they 're leaving can be difficult.For example, if they say that they have been offered more money with another employer, this doesn 't actually explain why they started looking for a new job in the first place. It may in fact be that the employee didn 't get on with their manager or a team colleague, or that they think they were unfairly overlooked for promotion.
If, during the interview, the employee starts making accusations against a colleague, don 't act too hastily. You must ensure there is a fair investigation.
Exit interview in business
Exit interviews in business are focused on employees that are leaving a company or when employees have completed a significant project. The purpose of this exit interview is to glean feedback from employees in order to improve aspects of the organization, better retain employees, and reduce turnover. During this interview employees will be asked why they are leaving, what specifically influenced their decision to leave, whether or not they are going to another company and what that company they are going to offers that their current company does not. Businesses can use this information to better align their HR strategy with what employees look for in an organization and enact programs and practices that will influence top talent to stay at the organization.
In the past, exit interview data was being collected by the organization but not much was being done in terms of interpreting the data and making it actionable. Today there are metrics, analytics, benchmarks, and best practices that help organizations make sense of and use the data towards proactive organizational retention programs. Recently an array of exit interview software has been developed and popularized. These programs facilitate and streamline the employee separation process, allow surveys to be completed via the web, make separation and retention trends easy to identify, and amass actionable data which can increase organizational effectiveness and productivity. Additionally, some of these programs make it possible to quantify data gleaned from the surveys to more accurately understand why employees are leaving the organization.
Exit Interviews in Associations
Exit interviews in associations[disambiguation needed] are administered to members who decide to end membership with an association. These interviews provide feedback to an association regarding what caused the member to leave, what can be improved, and how resources can better be allocated.
TOP 5 REASONS EMPLOYESS LEAVE THE COMPANY
The reasons that employees leave a company. Honestly, don’t know if they would have captured my attention except for the fact that I saw them within days of each other. And their results were quite different.
Employees looking for a new job.
HR pros about workforce mobility.
The purpose of the exercise isn’t to discount anyone’s data. Instead, it should prompt a few questions:
There are some definite areas that both HR and employees say are reasons people leave companies. And the reasons aren’t really shocking. We keep hearing about employee disengagement being at an all-time high. What conversations are companies having about these identified reasons for employees leaving?
For some of the reasons, there’s quite a noticeable difference between the employee and HR response. IMHO, these are general survey trends and the responses could be different dependent upon an industry or company. But then the question remains…What are companies doing to make sure the information they have about employee departures is accurate?
SOME USEFULL QUESTION IN EXIT INTERVIEW
What have you enjoyed the most/least about working for the business/the role?
What sorts of problems have you found?
How well did you understand your role?
How effective is the communication/consultation?
How easy was it to get on with your boss/colleagues?
To what extent do you feel your work was valued?
To what extent were your skills and talents used effectively?
To what extent did you feel your role was secure?
How satisfied were you with money, terms and conditions, facilities, equipment?
How does your current role compare to your new job?
When did you begin looking for another job?
The employee 's answers may be influenced by their need for a reference.
Ideally, someone other than the leaver 's manager should try to find out why they 're leaving. They may have difficulty telling their manager about problems with their job or department.
You should also look out for reasons that might lead to employees claiming constructive dismissal or discrimination. These wrongs could be corrected before the employee leaves but beware not to suggest any reasons or say anything that could later be used against you. See our guides on dismissal and how to prevent discrimination and value diversity.
METHODS OF CONDUCTING EXIT INTERVIEW
Voice - In-Person or Telephone
Pros: - Capture complex ideas through follow-up questioning and tone indications - Probe, clarify and ask for examples - Structured question order - Administered by a professional Cons - Possible interviewer bias (especially if internal) - Possible interviewee bias (especially if internal) - Most expensive option – interviewer time - Difficult for employee to verbalize constructive critique, particularly face-to-face - Low participation for telephone exit interviews due to caller ID and voice mail - Information must be entered into tracking system for trending
A voice interview can be conducted by an internal agent (i.e. an HR department) or an external agent (i.e. HR exit interview consulting firm).
Paper Exit interview
Pros - Allows convenience for those who do not have easy access to the internet - Ensures total anonymity Cons - Takes longer to receive feedback - Concern for literacy of respondent - Information must be entered into tracking system for trending
Web - Exit Interview Management Systems
Pros - High reliability, flexibility and privacy, as it is completed by the respondent - Exit interview is easily accessible at the convenience of the respondent - Feedback is received quickly - Low administration cost - Data automatically tracked - Reporting information accessible in real time
Cons - Not accessible to those who do not have internet - Concern for literacy of respondent - Concern for technical knowledge of respondent
IVR (teleprompt)
Pros - Accessible by average phone Cons - Has fallen out of favor due to the cost effectiveness of web based options that yield data at similar or higher quality - Difficult to get rich data - Difficult to adjust or change.
Participation Rates
Exit interview participation rates vary depending on the method used to conduct the exit interviews. Paper-and-pencil exit interviews provide the lowest participation rates at approximately 30 - 35%. The highest participation rates are achieved using online exit interviews. The average participation rates for organizations using online exit interviews is 65%.
PROCESS OF EXIT INTERVIEW HR managers are a critical part of the separation process. Exit interviews are traditionally conducted by HR staff members with the knowledge and input of the immediate manger of the departing employee. Using HR managers as interviewers, improves the chance employees will open up and provide more valuable feedback. One need to ensure that exit interview is not taken by same department manager or same HR representative of the employee, otherwise employee will not open up or end up with arguments.
There are a number of key issues to keep in mind. The interviewer should always begin the process on a positive note - perhaps by offering a thank you for the employee 's service to the organization. And above all, the employee should always be treated with dignity and respect. In some sensitive situations, employees may even be asked how they would like their departure to be handled with peers. It is important for every organization to ensure that all employees leaving the company (especially those leaving for disciplinary reasons or lack of performance) have been provided due process. Every individual must be given the opportunity to have his or her side of the issue heard. It is always important to provide documentation. If the employee has resigned, a letter of resignation should be included within the termination letter/paperwork.
The primary key to an effective exit interview is preparation. The planning becomes an essential component of success in conducting the exit interview. Interviewers should plan out issues to be covered and the questions to be asked. Structured interviews are recommended with the use of questions prepared in advance.
The Reasons Interviewers usually want to determine the real reasons of voluntary separations. This provides an opportunity to make changes - particularly when the separation may also be impacting other people. For example, management is often cited as a common reason people leave the organization. It is good for the company to know the reasons so that they can take corrective so that the company employee is satisfied and their actions are correct.
It is critical to get beyond the "politically correct" reason that the majority of employees provide when leaving a position. The critical portion of the interview should probe the employee for feedback about the working conditions and how they might be improved.
ADVANTAGES OF EXIT INTERVIEW
1. They provide an opportunity to 'make peace ' with disgruntled employees, who might otherwise leave with vengeful intentions. 2. Exit interviews are seen by existing employees as a sign of positive culture. They are regarded as caring and compassionate - a sign that the organization is big enough to expose itself to criticism. 3. Exit interviews accelerate participating managers ' understanding and experience of managing people and organizations. Hearing and handling feedback is a powerful development process. 4. Exit interviews help to support an organization 's proper HR practices. They are seen as positive and necessary for quality and effective people-management by most professional institutes and accrediting bodies concerned with quality management of people, organizations and service. 5. The results and analysis of exit interviews provide relevant and useful data directly into training needs analysis and training planning processes. 6. Exit interviews provide valuable information as to how to improve recruitment and induction of new employees.
Exit interviews provide direct indications as to how to improve staff retention. 7. Sometimes an exit interview provides the chance to retain a valuable employee who would otherwise have left (organizations often accept resignations far too readily without discussion or testing the firmness of feeling - the exit interview provides a final safety net).
8. A significant proportion of employee leavers will be people that the organization is actually very sorry to leave (despite the post-rationalization and sour grapes reactions of many senior executives to the departure of their best people). The exit interview therefore provides an excellent source of comment and opportunity relating to management succession planning. Good people leave often because they are denied opportunity to grow and advance. Wherever this is happening organizations need to know about it and respond accordingly. 9. Every organization has at any point in time several good people on the verge of leaving because they are not given the opportunity to grow and develop, at the same time, ironically, that most of the management and executives are overworked and stretched, some to the point of leaving too. Doesn 't it therefore make good sense to raise the importance of marrying these two situations to provide advantage both ways - ie., facilitate greater delegation of responsibility to those who want it? Exit interviews are an excellent catalyst for identifying specific mistakes and improvement opportunities in this vital area of management development and succession. 10. Exit interviews, and a properly organized, positive exit process also greatly improve the chances of successfully obtaining and transferring useful knowledge, contacts, insights, tips and experience, from the departing employee to all those needing to know it, especially successors and replacements. Most leavers are happy to help if you have the courage and decency to ask and provide a suitable method for the knowledge transfer, be it a briefing meeting, a one-to-one meeting between the replacement and the leaver, or during the exit interview itself.
5 THINGS ONE SHOULD AVOID TELLING IN AN EXIT INTERVIEW
Exit interviews are important tools to uncover potential legal liability early and learn if there are morale (or other) problems in an organization. Done wrong, though, they can land you in some hot water. As such, it’s best to follow certain guidelines when conducting these talks. For example, create a script of general questions. And always have a neutral third party or someone from another department conduct the interview.
As a practical matter, remember that leaving is a highly emotionally charged situation and try to be empathic to the employee. And never forget that while the exit interview may be confidential for the employee, it is not for you and the employee may repeat to anyone else what you said. As such, work with your legal department or outside counsel to ensure that the questions you ask don’t violate the law.
In that spirit, here are five things you should never say or ask during an exit interview:
1) “Can one just talk about the reason of leaving?”
This is generally a terrible idea. If a person has decided to leave, it is your job at the exit interview to learn as much as possible about why they are leaving while balancing the employee’s feelings and rights. An unstructured conversation creates the potential of the employee feeling singled out, blamed, and/or that his or her rights are being violated in some way (whether they are or not).
By asking standard questions with the help of a skilled employment lawyer, you can achieve your goal of finding out valuable information about your organization without opening up your company to any potential lawsuits.
2) “Where is one going to work next?”
While the question itself may not be inappropriate, you could be setting yourself up for trouble if the employee’s offer gets revoked or if they get fired from the next job. The employee might allege that you badmouthed them to the new employer and that is why they got fired from the new job.
The best approach is to say good luck and concentrate on gathering information that would be beneficial.
3) “Did one ever experience any inappropriate behavior?
Where to begin on this one? The question actually implies that the organization knows that Bob sexually harasses employees, the company endorses it and yet they are allowing another employee who works for him to resign.
While an exit interview can be a very valuable tool to determine if there are problems in the work environment, it is not a good idea to suggest to the leaving employee that their supervisor was doing something that could create liability for the company. Instead, through carefully crafted questions, you could find out if there are complaints about a supervisor. These questions could include questions like “how was it to work with Bob?”
If the employee tells you that Bob sexually harasses everyone it could lead to doing an internal investigation to determine the situation.
4) “Will one sign this release in exchange for the money we owe to date?”
Payment for past performance, in many states, is not consideration for a release from an employee. Instead, what you should do is offer the employee severance, which is above and beyond any amount owed for back salary, sick days, vacation and/or any other outstanding payment owed.
Also, you have to be careful that the employee does not feel coerced to sign the agreement, which may affect the validity of the release.
5) “If one goes and work for our competitor we will sue you.”
The exit interview is a good time to remind the employee that they have a confidentiality agreement or a non-compete (for states that allow it). It is also a good idea to remind the employee of any other contract provisions that might survive their termination from the company, e.g. arbitration clauses. That said, you do not want to be threatening employees on their way out the door.
Overall, when doing business in the U.S., an exit interview is a good place to get valuable information about your organization, remind your employees of the ongoing obligations regarding your company and potentially get the employee to sign a release. But to protect yourself, stick to a standard script – and keep anyone with an emotional investment in the process out of the room.
SUGGESTIONS
Exit interviews are interviews conducted with departing employees, just before they leave.
From the employer 's perspective, the primary aim of the exit interview is to learn reasons for the person 's departure, on the basis that criticism is a helpful driver for organizational improvement. Exit interviews (and prior) are also an opportunity for the organization to enable transfer of knowledge and experience from the departing employee to a successor or replacement, or even to brief a team on current projects, issues and contacts. Good exit interviews should also yield useful information about the employer organization, to assess and improve all aspects of the working environment, culture, processes and systems, management and development, etc.; in fact anything that determines the quality of the organization, both in terms of its relationship with its staff, customers, suppliers, third-parties and the general …show more content…
public.
Many employers ignore the opportunity that exit interviews offer, chiefly because exit interviews have not been practiced in the past, and starting them is a difficult initiative to undertake, given the potentially subjective and 'fuzzy ' nature of the results; the time involved; and the unspoken corporate urge to avoid exposure to criticism. Exit interviews are nevertheless a unique chance to survey and analyze the opinions of departing employees, who generally are more forthcoming, constructive and objective than staff still in their jobs. In leaving an organization, departing employees are liberated, and as such provide a richer source of objective feedback than employed staff do when responding to normal staff attitude surveys.
As ever, corporate insecurity and defensiveness can be an obstacle to implementing exit interview processes, so if the organization finds it difficult to begin the practice as a matter of general policy, you can still undertake your own exit interviews locally with your own staff as and when they leave.
From the departing employee interviewee perspective, an exit interview is a chance to give some constructive feedback, and to leave on a positive note, with good relations and mutual respect. Recrimination, blame, revenge and spite are destructive feelings and behaviors, so resist any temptation you might have to go out all guns blazing. Be calm, fair, objective and as helpful as possible. In the future you may wish to return to the organization (situations and people change..), and you may cross the paths of your ex-colleagues, managers in the future. The adage about treating people well on your way up because you might meet them on the way down applies just as well on your way out. The exit interview is an opportunity to shake hands and leave friends, not enemies. Exit interviews and knowledge transfer
The days, weeks (or months in some cases) between the decision for the employee to leave, and the employee 's actual departure date offer a crucial opportunity for the organization to gather important information and knowledge from the employee. This is especially relevant in roles where the employee has accumulated a significant amount of knowledge and personal connections, as typically applies in sales and buying roles, and obviously business unit management. The knowledge of the departing employee commonly has immense value, and the recovery of it is often overlooked altogether by the organization, until the employee has departed, or more likely been hurried out of the door holding the contents of their desk in a cardboard box.
When any employee resigns, or a decision is made for a person to leave for any reason, always ask: Should we spend some time thinking about how to enable some sort of knowledge transfer? In other words, if we place a value on the knowledge that the departing employee holds, isn 't it worth thinking about how to enable this knowledge to be passed to the appropriate people remaining in the organization?
Instead of course all too often, senior management 's response to all the head-scratching after a vital person has left, is to rationalize the loss of information (and vital personal contacts often) with the old cliché, "No-one is indispensable". The adage might ultimately be true, but that 's not really the point. The fact is that most people who leave do actually possess useful (often critical) knowledge and experience. Moreover most departing employees are delighted to share this knowledge, to help a successor, or to brief a management team, if only the organization would simply ask them politely to do so (assuming their exit is handled decently of course, which the exit interview helps to enable).
This is another good reason for thinking properly about the exit procedure, and for properly organizing some form of exit interview process.
So much depends of course on the atmosphere surrounding the departure. Often, particularly in sales, there is suspicion and imagined threat on both sides, which rather weakens the chances of a helpful hand-over. This mistrust should be diffused - it really does nobody any good. In an ideal world the leaver should be encouraged and enabled (and arguably rewarded if necessary) to hold a briefing meeting, which all interested parties (and certainly the person 's replacement if possible) can attend and learn what they need to know. Regrettably however, it is not unusual for traditional-type 'theory-X ' sales directors and managers to be so intoxicated with testosterone and the taste of blood that such suggestions rarely make it off the stony ground of the board-room. I would urge you to take a more open constructive view. Give people the benefit of doubt, and discourage the kill 'em and eaten advocates from retaliating before there 's any suggestion of being attacked. There are some suggested enabling questions below.
For organizations large and small, exit interviews therefore provide lots of advantages and opportunities:
Exit interviews aims and outcomes * They provide an opportunity to 'make peace ' with disgruntled employees, who might otherwise leave with vengeful intentions. * Exit interviews are seen by existing employees as a sign of positive culture. They are regarded as caring and compassionate - a sign that the organization is big enough to expose itself to criticism. * Exit interviews accelerate participating managers ' understanding and experience of managing people and organizations. Hearing and handling feedback is a powerful development process. * Exit interviews help to support an organization 's proper HR practices. They are seen as positive and necessary for quality and effective people-management by most professional institutes and accrediting bodies concerned with quality management of people, organizations and service. * The results and analysis of exit interviews provide relevant and useful data directly into training needs analysis and training planning processes. * Exit interviews provide valuable information as to how to improve recruitment and induction of new employees. * Exit interviews provide direct indications as to how to improve staff retention. * Sometimes an exit interview provides the chance to retain a valuable employee who would otherwise have left (organizations often accept resignations far too readily without discussion or testing the firmness of feeling - the exit interview provides a final safety net). * A significant proportion of employee leavers will be people that the organization is actually very sorry to leave (despite the post-rationalization and sour grapes reactions of many senior executives to the departure of their best people). The exit interview therefore provides an excellent source of comment and opportunity relating to management succession planning. Good people leave often because they are denied opportunity to grow and advance. Wherever this is happening organizations need to know about it and respond accordingly. * Every organization has at any point in time several good people on the verge of leaving because they are not given the opportunity to grow and develop, at the same time, ironically, that most of the management and executives are overworked and stretched, some to the point of leaving too. Doesn 't it therefore make good sense to raise the importance of marrying these two situations to provide advantage both ways - ie. facilitate greater delegation of responsibility to those who want it? Exit interviews are an excellent catalyst for identifying specific mistakes and improvement opportunities in this vital area of management development and succession. * Exit interviews, and a properly organized, positive exit process also greatly improve the chances of successfully obtaining and transferring useful knowledge, contacts, insights, tips and experience, from the departing employee to all those needing to know it, especially successors and replacements. Most leavers are happy to help if you have the courage and decency to ask and provide a suitable method for the knowledge transfer, be it a briefing meeting, a one-to-one meeting between the replacement and the leaver, or during the exit interview itself.
Exit interviews are best conducted face-to-face because this enables better communication, understanding, interpretation etc., and it provides far better opportunity to probe and get to the root of sensitive or reluctant feelings. However, postal or electronic questionnaires are better than nothing, if face-to-face exit interviews are not possible for whatever reason (although I remain to be convinced that there is never a proper excuse for not sitting down for 30 minutes with any departing employee.....)
In some cases perhaps a particularly shy employee may prefer to give their feedback in a questionnaire form, in which case this is fine, but where possible, face-to-face is best.
In terms of managing the interview, listen rather than talk. Give the interviewee time and space to answer. Coax and reassure where appropriate, rather than pressurize. Interpret, reflect and understand (you can understand someone without necessarily agreeing). Keep calm, resist the urge to defend or argue - your aim is to elicit views, feedback, answers, not to lecture or admonish. Ask open 'what/how/why ' questions, not 'closed ' yes/no questions, unless you require specific confirmation about a point. 'When ' and 'where ' are also more specific qualifying questions, unless of course they are used in a general context rather than specific time or geographic sense. 'Who ' should be used with care to avoid witch-hunts or defamatory risks (moreover many exit interviewees will be uncomfortable if asked to name people or allocate personal blame - exit interviews are not about 'blame ', the allocation of which is not constructive and should be avoided for anything other than very serious complaints or accusations, which must then be suitably referred as follow-up would be beyond the normal exit interview remit.
Prepare your exit interview questions and topics that you 'd like to explore, especially when you believe that the interviewee has good experience, appreciation and understanding.
Take notes and/or use a prepared questionnaire form.
Importantly, see also the job interviews page for interviews techniques, which relate to exit interviews too. Remember simple planning aspects such as arranging a suitable time and place, avoiding interruptions, taking notes, preparing questions, being aware of the body-language and feelings of the interviewee and adjusting your own approach accordingly, etc.
Obviously the style of exit interview is different for someone who is being asked to leave, retiring, being made redundant, dismissed, or leaving under a cloud, compared to an employee leaving whom the organization would prefer to retain.
However everyone who leaves should be given the opportunity of an exit interview, and the organization can learn something from every situation. In certain situations (where appropriate) the exit interview also provides a last chance to change a person 's mind, although this should not be the main aim of the exit interview situation.
When the interview is complete say thanks and wishes the interviewee well. If there is some specific checking or follow-up to do then ensure you do it and report back accordingly.
After the interview look at the answers and think properly - detached and objective - about what their meaning and implications.
Take action as necessary, depending on your processes for analysing and reporting exit interview feedback. If there 's an urgent issue, or the person wants to stay and you want to keep them, then act immediately or the opportunity will be lost.
Exit interviews - responsibilities, process and outcomes
Participation in exit interviews by the employee leaving is voluntary. Do not compel departing employees to attend exit interviews. Offer a questionnaire form alternative, which again must be voluntary.
You cannot compel a departing employee to give you knowledge that is in their head, although the return of files, paperwork and material is normally something that an employer rightfully can insist happens. In any event, a positive constructive, grown-up approach is the best assurance of a happy outcome and an optimal transfer of knowledge and contact names, etc., should this be helpful, which often it will be. If you hear any of your people using the ridiculously confrontational maxim " No-one is indispensable..", as a defense for not bothering to gather important knowledge from a departing employee it probably suggests that all opportunities for a cooperative hand-over have yet to be explored, so encourage people to explore them, or go explore them yourself.
Ideally the organization should have a documented policy stating how exit interviews happen, when, and by whom. Some organizations hand the responsibility to a skilled interviewer in the HR or Personnel department. Alternatively line-managers or even supervisors can conduct the interviews. Interviewers need to be trained to interview, just as for normal job interviews. All types of interviews are sensitive emotional situations which require ability and maturity to manage properly, especially if interviewees are anxious or volatile.
In large organizations HR or Personnel department should be responsible for designing the process, issuing guidelines and documentation, collecting results data, analyzing and reporting findings, trends, opportunities and recommendations, especially including anything relating to health and safety, or employment law and liability.
If you design a questionnaire or exit interview form which will be used as an input document towards central analysis it is a good idea to convert questions wherever practicable into a 'score able ' and/or multiple-choice format, which makes analysis far easier than lots of written opinions.
Actions resulting from exit interview feedback analysis, in any size or type of organization, fall into two categories: * Remedial and preventative, for example improving health and safety issues, stress, harassment, discrimination. etc. * Strategic improvement opportunities, for example improved induction, management or supervisory training, empowerment or team building initiatives, process improvement, wastage and efficiencies improvements, customer service initiatives, etc.
The head of HR or Personnel would normally be responsible for raising these issues with the board or CEO, and the conversion of exit interview feedback into action is a critical factor in justifying and maintaining a serious priority and operation of the process.
For many organizations, exit interviews provide a major untapped source of 'high-yield ' development ideas and opportunities. Use them. THE SRRATUGY OF CONDUCTING EXIT INTERVIEW
An Exit Interview is a final meeting between an employer and a departing employee. By conducting one, the employer is better able to learn what the reasons are for the departure, and to gain valuable information that can be helpful to improve or protect the firm in the future.
Exit Interviews allow employers to provide employees with all the information they need about termination of the employment relationship. Other benefits include: * guarding against potential lawsuits, * smoothing over any conflicts with co-workers or managers, * learning about problems with other employees, * helping to discern whether the employer 's pay is competitive, * learning how to retain their best people, * reducing problems in the workplace.
Exit interviews also provide employers an opportunity to control any negative publicity that might come from a discontented employee, pinpoint specific areas causing employee dissatisfaction and turnover, and to openly share information that will bring the employment relationship to a positive close.
The information obtained during an Exit Interview is often the most candid and valuable information an employer can hope to receive from an employee, since there is no longer the pressure for the employee to guard one 's responses in an effort to improve their individual status within the firm.
Whether employees leave on their own, or because they are being asked to leave, employee insights can provide valuable "inside information." It is recommended by HR experts throughout the construction industry, that employers should always conduct an Exit Interview in order to obtain this important information.
CONCLUSION
With the recognition exit interviews can provide an opportunity for valuable feedback, new approaches are being used. Trends in exit interviews today include outsourcing and automated surveys. Some companies have opted to delegate the exit interview to a third party firm that specializes in conducting these interviews. The rationale is departing employees may be more open and honest with an objective third party. These interviewers are often trained in asking probing questions and can information.
The information solicited from the exit interview is only valuable if it used. It must be disseminated to the appropriate people within the organization and then actually used to make positive changes. Otherwise, the company has missed a valuable opportunity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_interview http://www.exitinterviews.com.au/exit-interview-benefits.htm http://www.exitinterviews.com.au/ http://search.babylon.com/?q=exit+interview+aims+and+outcomes&babsrc=SP_crm http://hrpeople.monster.com/news/articles/3565-the-real-reason-for-exit-interviews http://www.skilledworkplace.com.au/exit_interviews_7.html