Employee resignations can hurt. The leaving date comes and goes, with the real reason for their departure often glossed over.
A well-delivered exit interview can however offer dual benefits, giving both employers and employees valuable learning opportunities.
Although not mandatory, exit interviews present employers with the chance to gather useful feedback directly from departing team members.
Whilst they allow businesses to better understand the experiences of employees and the real reasons for leaving, they have to be conducted correctly. Maturity, impartiality and honesty are all key.
The value of a good Exit Interview for an employer
A well-structured and meaningful exit interview can give employers:
• Insight into the causes of employee turnover Having a good grasp of the common reasons, issues or trends for staff departures, can help them make the changes required to positively impact retention and satisfaction.
• A feedback mechanism from which to identify organisational improvements.Workplace policies, procedures, training and development programmes can all be shaped as a result, helping to retain the talent they have invested in.
• Awareness of any issues that affect their employer brand. Negative comments from unhappy employees can create a negative perception of the business externally. Exit interviews can help a business to address any issues before they spread far and wide.
• Improve employee morale and team engagement. Exit interviews demonstrate an employer’s commitment to understanding and addressing employee concerns. Taking action to continually enhance company culture can make a big difference to current employees.
The value of an Exit Interview for a departing employee
Whilst departing employees are likely to be focussed on moving on, it’s important to remember that exit interviews also offer benefits to those who are leaving. They provide an opportunity for:
• Reflection and closure, giving employees anopportunity to reflect on their experiences. Exit interviews allow them to leave in a positive way, feel valued for their contribution and offer a sense of closure as they leave the company.
• Feeling heard, allowing employees a final touchpoint to voice their concerns and provide constructive, diplomatic feedback that may positively impact colleagues in the future.
• Maintaining their network, giving employees the chance to leave on good terms and keep doors open for future opportunities or re-employment
• Professional development and career growth, providing another perspective on their performance, insights in to their strengths and areas for growth, can help shape their future career trajectory.
Conducting effective exit interviews
There are some simple guiding principles that will help both sides feel the exercise has been worthwhile.
For HR leaders, the aim is to create a comfortable atmosphere that leads to an informative conversation.
Before the exit interview takes place, HR leaders should:
• Send out an exit survey in advance.
Survey responses can help identify key areas to explore further during the interview, making the conversation more focused and productive.
By gathering information beforehand, the interview can focus on deeper discussions rather than covering basic questions.
Collecting survey data over time also allows businesses to spot the common reasons for employee turnover and address systemic issues.
• Decide on and communicate expectations
HR leaders should set clear objectives, defining what they hope to achieve from the interview, such as understanding reasons for departure or gathering insights to improve retention.
It will also be helpful to communicate the purpose to the employee, emphasising that their feedback will be used both constructively and confidentially.
• Review the employee’s employment record
Familiarity with the departing employee’s role, tenure and contributions to the business will help tailor the conversation.
• Prepare questions and schedule sufficient time
To encourage honest feedback, develop open-ended, neutral questions such as “What could we have done differently to improve your experience?”
It’s essential to allow enough time for meaningful discussion too, so consideration of when the interview is scheduled is key.
• Choose the right interviewer
To avoid bias or putting the employee in an awkward situation, selecting someone neutral to lead the interview may be the best option. Rather than a direct line manager, it maybe wise to look outside the organisation.
Thinking through the practicalities for the interview itself
Employers should create a comfortable environment. Making sure the setting is private and non-intimidating will help encourage candid, open responses.
Considering how the employee’s responses will be documented is also important.
Once the exit interview is over,
Turning data and employee responses into actionable insights is crucial, so employers will need to consider:
• Anonymity – ensuring all feedback is handled confidentially to protect the departing employee’s identity. Aggregating data before sharing insights, may help avoid singling out an individual.
• Identifying trends and patterns – rather than isolated incidents.
• Potential biases in interpreting feedback – especially if it aligns with preconceived notions.
• Analysing data promptly – sharing information with relevant business leaders to address pressing issues before they escalate.
• Having a clear action plan – making improvements to policies, practices or programmes will demonstrate that feedback is valued and acted upon.
• Management training and organisational development – to help improve leadership skills and combining the insights with other employee feedback or engagement surveys.Legal, compliance and ethics – to ensure collecting and using data is done in the right way
Exit interview questions to ask and why!
Before conducting an exit interview, reviewing and tailoring the questions to be asked, will make sure they match the desired results. Input from relevant departments or stakeholders across the business will help.
• Why are you considering a change? What’s prompted you to leave the company?
The most frequent question to find out the primary reason for their departure.
• How would you rate your relationship with your direct boss, upper management and the support you’ve received from them?
Gathers feedback for management to help shape performance reviews.
• What’s been the most enjoyable part of working for us?
Reveals positive aspects of the business than can potentially increase employee retention.
• What’s been your proudest moment or highlight while working here?
Highlights positive aspects of the business, which can be used for talent attraction purposes.
• What would you say was the worst part of working at our company?
Identifies any negative aspects of their employment.
• Do you feel that your role matched your initial expectations when you were hired?
Evaluates the accuracy of information provided through recruitment and talent attraction efforts
• Were there any aspects of your job that you found particularly challenging or frustrating?
Reveals additional training that may be required for individuals or teams.
• Do you feel you had sufficient opportunities for professional growth and development here?
• Did you receive enough training and resources to succeed in your role or was there anything lacking in the training we provided you?
Assesses the effectiveness of training, learning and development programmes.
• Did you find achieving your goals and objectives easy?
Determines if issues with goal setting or management contributed to the departure.
• What are your thoughts on the team dynamics and company culture? Based on your experience here, what suggestions do you have for improving it?
Provides feedback on the overall working environment.
• Do you feel that our policies and procedures are fair and consistently applied? Is there anything that we are doing but shouldn’t? or anything we aren’t doing, but should be?
Identifies any damaging or negative policies or practices, as well as ideas for new ones.
• Did you feel you were well compensated and recognised for your efforts?
A good way to address two of the key reasons for people leaving – reward and recognition.
• What three suggestions would you make to help us improve as a business?
An opportunity for constructive feedback applicable to the whole business.
• Do you have any observation to share about your onboarding process?
Gathers feedback on how effectively new hires are integrated into the business.
• What are your career plans moving forward?
•Is there anything we can do to change your decision? Assesses if retention is possible.
In summary…
Exit interviews can provide a wide variety of useful insights for employers and benefit departing employees, but they have to be meaningful, thoughtful and well-structured.
Giving employers the opportunity to gather feedback directly from departing employees, they help businesses better understand the experiences of employees and their reasons for leaving, uncovering insights that can enhance employee satisfaction and retention strategies.
When done well, exit interviews are a valuable tool in developing a more productive working environment and can ensure employees depart on good terms – but they must be impartial, confidential and conducted without bias.
Find out more about our Talent Advisory Services and how we help property businesses find and retain the very best talent.
