How to Survive an Exit Interview
So you are planning to leave your job and perhaps move onto pastures new. Your manager wants to hold an “exit interview” – but what does that entail and why bother to do it at all? Do you use it as an opportunity to unleash all the frustrations of working with that company or as an opportunity to provide balanced feedback that can enable the company do things better?
For a business are there policies, processes or behaviours within the business that need to be addressed based on exit interview feedback? Or indeed lessons to be learned?
What is an Exit Interview?
Exit interviews are focused on employees that are leaving a company. They are not a legal requirement but in many cases are company policy.
Typically an employer uses this type of interview to get first hand feedback from an employee that is leaving their business – information on reasons for leaving, positive and negative feedback on working conditions, training and development provided, team morale, efficiencies and culture. This direct feedback will provide the company with some insights to enable them understand overall morale and retention issues which will support future retention strategies in particular if they are experiencing high staff turnover rates or losing high-performing team members.
In December 2018 the Harvard Business Review reported that exit interviews often fail to produce useful information because many employees don’t want to be as candid as an employer expects. In fact the question may be are exit interviews even necessary? In the same article it is suggested that companies should conduct “Stay Interviews” not exit interviews.
Tana Session, certified career/life coach was quoted “exit interviews are too late in the process to truly make a difference in the employee life cycle. The more radical approach is to conduct STAY interviews. Conducting quick check-in interviews throughout the first 90 days of employment will allow HR to capture data earlier to adapt their recruiting, onboarding and training processes to make a lasting impact, and address any managerial behaviour issues.”
The Financial Times reported that exit interviews may be the best way to cut staff turnover, but so few companies get them right that most are a waste of time and many employers are giving up on them altogether.
Best Practice For a Successful Exit Interview:
For the Employee
Relax – remember it’s an exit interview not a job interview!
Be professional – keep emotion out of the room. Answer questions in a professional and truthful manner keeping to the facts. Focus on what your experience has been and the issues that have impacted your career. Don’t speak for anyone else.
Plan – make a list of why you are leaving and prepare! By being prepared you are in a position to provide well thought out feedback.
Be honest – It’s perfectly fine and it is usually expected that you will not be completely positive about all aspects of your employment. However always keep it professional.
Leave on a positive note – No matter what the circumstances are that prompted your decision to leave be positive and wish the business and the people well for the future. Remember lasting impressions and you never know when paths may cross again.
For the Employer
For an employer exit interviews can provide some real insights into their business. It is an opportunity to hear some honest feedback on the good and bad within that business. It will help understand from an employee’s perspective working conditions, culture and people. Be prepared for perhaps some harsh criticism but in many cases, if acknowledged and taken on board in a positive manner, it can contribute to staff motivation and retention, greater efficiencies, better company culture and higher employee engagement.
Best Practice in Conducting an Exit Interview
If an employer is planning to conduct exit interviews as standard, they should make employees aware of this intention as soon as possible – in many companies this clause is included in the initial employment contract. All exit interviews should be conducted by a HR representative and not a line manager and be conducted face to face. The meeting should be diarised towards the end of the employee’s notice period.
Advise the employee that information will be shared with wider business – in the interests of taking onboard feedback and implementing change any feedback will require management to be informed so that they can action, as appropriate, and roll out within the business.
What to ask in an Exit Interview
If it is an unexpected resignation an employer will want to understand why the employee is leaving – with employee attrition contributing significantly to costs within a business it needs to be understood to identify any consistent patterns in reasons for departure.
Ask the employee why they are leaving, what the company is doing well and what could be improved upon. Ask if there is anything that could be done to make the situation that’s causing them to leave better and what their general feelings are about the company and working there. Use open questions which require more thought and more than a simple one-word answer. Avoid targeted questions about specific people or situations and never discuss any other employee with a departing employee.
Always remember done correctly an effective exit interview process can help companies understand and learn from their best resource – their people.
At Alexander Mae we are focused on recruiting the highest calibre of candidates for our clients and working with our candidates to ensure each person is placed in the right role. If you are considering change and interested in looking for a new role please view our current vacancies or email [email protected] or phone: 0117 9055035
