The People Bulletin

‘Would you consider returning to this business in the future?’   This may seem odd when someone has just told you they are leaving but not everyone is pleased to be going. For some, changes in personal circumstances may have led to their decision or you may be letting people go as your business needs change.  But, the future may be less certain, it will be important to keep in touch with talented people you have invested in. For this reason, having a system where all departing staff are invited to give an exit interview is very useful. The information gathered from individuals leaving the business, if collated in the right way and used constructively for organisational learning can be very valuable indeed.

Key questions you should ask

These include:

• Timing
          -When did you start thinking about leaving? When did you first talk about this and to whom?  
• Job content
           -Has the role met your expectations? If not, why not?
• Prospects
           -Have options and opportunities been explored with you? When and what? Have you discussed your personal career objectives?
• Management style 
           -What have been your experiences? Did this influence your decision to leave? 
• Development opportunities
           -What opportunities have you had to develop knowledge, skills and experiences?   
• Engagement
           -Have you felt engaged with the business? How?
• Performance
           -Have you had feedback or discussed your performance? How do you think performance is managed generally? 
• Systems and processes
           -Which systems/processes have helped/hinder? Specific improvements?
• Work-life balance
           -Have your circumstances changed? What has your experience been? What are your observations?
• Compensation and benefits
           -How satisfied have you been? How does this compare with the market place?
• Environment
            -Is the physical and cultural environment positive?     
• Communication
           -What do you think about how communication is managed?

As well as gaining information on internal practices, exit interviews provide valuable data about the external market place.

Exit interviews with non-voluntary leavers  

Research consistently shows that over 90% of people who are made redundant will continue to live and work in the local area.  Ex-employees may be customers and can help your business be a magnet for talent.  

When employees leave they will be asked the question by people – ‘what was it like to work there?’ Often behind this is ‘Are their company values sincere?’ Following a difficult 18 months for all sectors, the employee/employer deal is shifting. Employees, ex-employees and prospective employees are more tuned in then ever to what an organisation has to offer and word of mouth is a powerful source of information.

By the exit interview stage the opportunity to address any discrepancy between the employer offer and the experience of the employee has passed, but it is still a good time to find out if exiting employees feel or have ever felt a connection with your organisational values. This can inform, affirm or evolve your employer offer and give you a clearer idea of how exiting employees have been, and will likely continue, to portray your organisation to the rest of the world. Are you a company whose values ring true through experience or are they empty words?

Research has consistently shown that customer loyalty and talent retention is powerfully linked to employee engagement[1] and one key factor in engagement is around pride in the organisation.  Whilst employees leaving for non-voluntary reasons may have immediate emotional responses including anger and betrayal and their current perception of you may be tainted, how you treat your exiting employees will determine their view in the longer term.

An exit interview not only helps the organisation gather important data, they can also encourage exiting employees to reflect on their time with you in a more positive way.  Reminding them why they joined and remained with you, what they will take with them in terms of skills, knowledge and experiences and, how they can continue to be connected with the business.

This is your opportunity to continue to engage them and fulfil your promise in how you treat people. 

How to store the information collected from exit interviews and how to use it.

It is of no value storing this information in a cupboard or filed away alongside a mass of documents on a computer.   In reality, this is what often happens, in a similar way that appraisal and on-boarding information can be lost. 

When considering the ‘world of work’ trends you may wish to ‘cut’ the data to pinpoint specific actions.  Separating exit interview feedback under specific categories, for example, gender, voluntary and non-voluntary leavers, length of service, age, location etc., will allow you to better understand motivations and preferences of specific groups, and to review work practices and processes which will have the most impact in ensuring you have a more engaged workforce. 

Using the data to understand the views of leavers and changing or adapting practices as a result can become a powerful retention tool. 

Exit interviews also provide real experiences and skill development opportunities for managers who conduct them, asking questions and receiving feedback, learning about their own organisation and gaining information about the market place.   Managers also need to be held accountable to action findings from exit interviews.  Discontentment can spiral out of control, and will be reinforced if the organisation ignores feedback and allows ineffective and inefficient processes and practices to continue.   It is not always be possible to promote but to enable people to grow through experiences and knowledge is; to review working practices and processes is; to give feedback is.  

The potential cost of ignoring information from exit interviews is to jeopardise business growth through continued reinforcement of the very things that do not engage your employees.  

How employers should indicate up front this is standard procedure  

Gaining as well as giving feedback should be part of the culture of your organisation and not come as a surprise.  If reassurances are given on how the information is to be used, to learn, improve and develop and ultimately taking general themes, trends and key indicators, employees are more likely to view them with more trust.  The starting point for these discussions is to introduce them as part of the induction process and at significant events throughout employment including on exit with perhaps the exception of dismissal under certain circumstances as views may be tainted.

There are a number of ways this information can be captured, face- to-face interviews, online surveys and phased conversations to track changes in responses.    All the information captured can be wrapped up into a report to make it easy to link to talent management strategies.   Exit interviews should be kept fresh and relative to the business otherwise this becomes a task rather than something the business can benefit from.

[1] See Richard Nott’s ‘A recruiter’s guide to the recovery’ in The People Bulletin,  19 May 2010.

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