How to do a good job with exit interviews

Losing workers and then trying to replace them can be very costly for employers.

There is, however, one tool that can bring a lot of positives to the company during this process: exit interviews.

“The exit interview is actually a very good tool,” says Hugh Latiff, president of Hugh Latif & Associates Management Consultants, in talking with HRD Canada.

Employers and human resources professionals can use exit interviews to know, among others, about the departing workers’:

• experience working with the company
• reason for deciding to leave
• suggestions for improving the company
• thoughts on returning to the company. 

And while stay interviews are an effective way to gauge employee engagement, exit interviews provides more valuable and honest insights, says Latiff.

An exit interview “is the best way to get comments that are uncovered by politics and all of that,” he says, because you get the feedback from someone who’s leaving and has no more interest in playing politics or lying.

“If [they] tell you ‘I'm leaving because you're not paying me enough — and many of them say the same thing — then you know that you have a compensation issue. If they say there is no fair treatment and that there is a favour [factor] in the ranks, or they say there is too much work and they’re stressed and do not have a good work-life balance, and you’ve got two or three people saying the same thing, then you should take action on that.”

Exit interviews can often be overlooked, as employers can be swayed to focus more on incoming talent rather than leaving staff, according to a previous report.

Do exit interviews really matter?

According to Hugh Latif & Associates Management Consultants, exit interviews can help management in seven key areas:

1. Uncover issues of dissatisfaction relating to HR management.
2. Understand employee’s perceptions of the work itself and how individual work contributes to the whole.
3. Learn about HR benchmarks including salary, benefits, and policies in a competitive marketplace.
4. Gain insight into managers leadership styles and effectiveness.
5. Foster and encourage innovation by soliciting ideas and suggestions for improving the organization and the team spirit.
6. Create lifelong advocates for the organization. This is especially true when the reason for leaving is not directly related to work, i.e., personal reasons, family, logistics, promotions, etc.
7. Find out if the employee would consider rejoining in future.

Many employees are not showing up for their exit interviews — and they’re taking their work equipment too, according to a previous report from Capterra.

However, for employers, there are risks in neglecting to conduct exit interviews.

How can exit interviews be effectively implemented in an organization?

Latiff shares the following tips for employers to do exit interviews right:

• “The key is to have a good interviewer,” says Latiff. He suggests that the interviewer be independent from the company, and someone who has experience interviewing people.
• Use the interviews professionally. Those conducting exit interviews should ensure departing workers that the information they share “is not going to be shared with everybody,” he says, that it will go to the top senior people and they will “give the feedback to the supervisor, but not in quotations.”
• Keep the exit interview short. The maximum should be half an hour, says Latiff.
• Make the exit interview a conversation. “It’s not a police interrogation,” he says. “It is just a conversation for the benefit of both [parties].” 
• Assure departing workers that you would provide character or professional reference. “Don't forget that when employees leave, they want a reference,” says Latiff.

Here’s how to make the best of stay and exit interviews, according to another expert.