Letting go or effectively executing the exit process when an employee leaves the organization is just as difficult, complicated and sensitive as the onboarding process of an employee. However, the amount of importance recruiters and employers place in the recruitment process of an employee is often missing during the exit process of the same employee. And while employers can’t see it right at that moment, not conducting an exit process right, can harm the company in the long run.
No matter the reason an employee decides to exit an organization, as their employer, its crucial for you to conduct an exit interview that can not only helps you understand why they chose to leave but also benefits the employee as they get a chance to speak freely about their experience. The analysis can help you reduce your employee turnover rate.
An Exit Interview refers to the conversation that happens between an employee who is exiting an organization and usually a member of the human resources team (mostly). It’s essential to carry out the exit interview in the right way as it gives the employer the opportunity to learn why the employee is leaving and with the analysis, moving forward, they can try to make those specific changes in the workplace favouring future employees.
There are certain practices you can follow to conduct an effective interview and some compelling questions you can ask the exiting employees. With this information, you can craft a template that you can follow for most exit interviews.
Sometimes a face-to-face interview may work, and with some employees a video call or a written questionnaire may work. Depending on the employee’s comfort, you can choose any of the formats to conduct an interview
The first and foremost important aspect is choosing the right person to interview the exiting employee. What does this mean exactly? The employee exiting the organization may be comfortable speaking to an interviewer who is neutral, someone they haven’t been working for or reporting to directly. An HR (Human Resource) who is calm, kind and non-judgemental and is liked by all is usually the best choice.
The departing employee must feel at ease to talk to you and share their honest feedback. Not only does this make the employee feel comfortable and better and not guilty, but for the employers, this could be a great opportunity to understand the problems and act on them.
The notice period could be quite difficult for both the employer and the employee. The former may be filled with questions as to why the employee is leaving and the latter could have a lot of mixed emotions as they are exiting the organization where they have made a commitment and connection with the organization. So, its best schedule the exit interview date as close as possible to their exit time, as they will feel much more at ease to share honest feedback at the time.
Ask questions that can help you understand the reasons for the employee’s departure from the organization, but also bear in mind as to not bog them down with too many intense questions. Keep it casual, more like a peer-to-peer talk. You can ask them questions like
Ensure the employee that anything and everything they have to say is strictly confidential and they have all the rights to speak freely and openly about their concerns.
You may send a summary of their feedback and corrective measures you will take in the future. This will help maintain a good relationship with the employee even after their departure.
You may be tempted to dig deeper into why the employee is leaving, and stray away from the checklist questions ending up asking them certain uncomfortable questions which is an absolute no. Here’s what you shouldn’t be asking
Use this checklist to get the results you’re looking for while making the most of your departing employee’s time.
You conduct an exit interview for a reason. When the departing employee shares his thoughts and reasons for leaving the company, it’s up to you as to what you will make out of this feedback. To draw meaningful and actionable conclusions, here is what you can do-
Make sure that you clean up data before anyone else can interpret it in your organization
If your departing employee has stated a reason for leaving that a few other employees have also stated in the recent past, pay attention to it and resolve the issue to make sure it doesn’t affect your brand name in the long run.
If you haven’t received satisfactory responses from the exit interview, then you may have missed something. It could be unclear questions, uncomfortable questions, uncomfortable interview environments etc. Have a look out on these.
Insights aren’t helpful if you don’t share them with people who can take action. Establish an agreed-upon process for sharing exit interview insights early to maximize engagement and impact.
Nearly every exit interview should uncover opportunities for company improvement. Share key insights from the interview with the employee’s supervisor or higher management when the feedback is relevant.
Identify patterns in the feedback from departing employees to pinpoint potential organizational issues. Compiling your notes into a spreadsheet can help you quickly scan for and identify recurring comments.
If you do notice things that can be changed, take it to the leadership team, suggest actions that could be taken and create a workplace your employees won’t want to leave, especially for the wrong reasons.