Saying goodbye to good employees
when they leave for greener pastures
is not always easy. Along with a going away party, a gift and a handshake, businesses should also conduct an exit interview to find out deeper reasons why an
employee has left for another company.
Gathering this kind of information, if done
properly, is a good way to learn how to
improve staff retention.
“Gathering data to address areas of
decreased employee satisfaction can give
an organization the tools it needs to identify trends and patterns,” says Bette Puffer,
Corporate Recruiter for Talent Tree Inc., a
staffing company based in Houston.
Smart Business spoke with Puffer about
the benefits of conducting exit interviews
and what you need to ask your employees
before they leave for good.
What are the benefits of conducting an exit
interview?
The biggest benefit is the data gathered
from the interview, which can shed light on
areas where employees are dissatisfied.
This data can be used to:
- Put strategies in place. If you can spot
the trends of why employees are leaving,
you can put into place strategies that
address these problems, which in turn can
reduce turnover. - Increase morale. Decreasing turnover
rates increases the productivity of an entire
work unit or team, since high turnover
means increased workloads for other
employees, stress, tension and decline of
corporate morale. - Save money. Replacing employees is
expensive. If you learn why employees
leave your company and work to correct
any problems, you can save money in
advertising, training, interviewing time and
relocation costs.
Are there any downsides to conducting exit
interviews?
If an exit interview is conducted face-to-face there is a tendency for employees to
be reluctant to reveal the real reasons for
leaving, and instead offer a ‘politically correct’ reason for leaving. A typical answer
might be ‘better pay’ or ‘better job opportunity,’ when, in reality, it might be that the
manager or supervisor is a micromanager
and the employee does not work well
under that kind of scrutiny. Or perhaps
there has been some sort of harassment
that the employee is hesitant to divulge for
fear of future negative action.
The traditional method of having an
assigned HR representative or the employee’s supervisor conduct the exit interview
(usually on the last day), can provide a
number of challenging difficulties: It is
time-consuming, difficult to tabulate and
not always executed consistently.
If face-to-face exit interviews don’t necessarily give businesses the honest answers they
need, what is the alternative?
Many employers have found that using a
third party to conduct the exit interview
works as a best practice. Online survey
companies will either provide useful questions or allow you to customize your own
exit survey. They will also provide an analysis of the data, which can be both time- and
cost-effective.
Whether using a third party or conducting in-house interviews, some common
principles for planning should be applied.
- Use a universal form or questionnaire.
All voluntary departures should be given
an appropriate questionnaire. - Use standardized questions. Ask consistent core questions to ensure comparability throughout the organization and
across time. - Make data accessible to managers.
Make sure any data gathered is available to
the appropriate managers and supervisors
to increase the likelihood that the data is
used to address any problems. - Monitor and create strategies. Data is
only good if it is put to use. Make sure that
this data is reviewed and used to create
policies and procedures that will help
turnover. - Ask the right questions. The interview
or questionnaire should include feedback
on the work environment in addition to
reasons for leaving.
Are there any tips for creating an interview or
questionnaire that will elicit honest answers
from the departing employee?
Do not focus solely on the employee’s
reasons for leaving. Although this is important information, it is also critical to
include a broader scope, which includes
the employee’s attitudes and experiences,
to identify the deep-seated reasons for
making the decision to leave.
Ensure that there is more than one way
for employees to express their reasons for
leaving and include several open-ended
questions for them to elaborate.
To get beyond the decision itself, ask
questions that address the employee’s satisfaction with the job itself, such as: assessment of the organization’s work culture,
the effectiveness of lines of communication, how well the employee’s job responsibilities were defined, perceived opportunities for advancement and the employee’s
perspective on the amount of training,
feedback and recognition received.
BETTE PUFFER is the Corporate Recruiter for Talent Tree Inc., www.talenttree.com, a staffing company based in Houston. Reach her
at (713) 361-7511 or [email protected].
