Exit Interviews:
A Way to Influence Tomorrow Today

by Roger Campbell
Director, Human Capital Strategy, Monster Government Solutions

What is an exit interview? An exit interview is an interview conducted at the time an employee either leaves an organization or completes a lateral transfer within their organization. But most organizations do not see the value in investing in an exit interview program. With downsizing and budgets on the decline, it is difficult for them to invest in a program or activity that falls outside their core area of responsibility. While most progressive human resource departments appreciate the value of an exit interview, they have to make some difficult resource decisions. The information collected through an exit interview can have a positive and immediate impact on future departures.

Why do employees leave? Departing employees fall into two categories – avoidable versus unavoidable losses. The unavoidable losses are those that have nothing to do with the organization – a decision to return to school, illness, or spousal relocation are examples of unavoidable losses. Avoidable losses can be influenced. They include job dissatisfaction, poor management, lack of advancement opportunity, or personal harassment by a coworker or manager. A recent survey suggests that nearly 70% of employees leave their jobs because they do not feel valued! Employees do not feel valued because management does not solicit their opinion. In addition to not feeling valued, employees also provide the following as reasons for the leaving – realistic job previews (being honest in the interview about the job responsibilities and expectations), better employee orientation, mentoring programs, equitable pay, improved working conditions, and opportunities for career development.

What is the impact of employee loss to an organization? First, it is expensive to hire and then train new employees to replace those who are leaving. It has an immediate impact on productivity and can have a negative influence on employee morale. The longer an employee has worked for the company, the more significant the impact of their departure on their coworkers. I recently asked a human resource manager for a mid size financial institution the reason for their attrition rate of 18%. The response was that it had always been in the 16 to 25% rate and over time had become acceptable. While data on why employees were leaving was available, there was no other data to do trend analysis on the attrition. Not until the supply of replacement personnel began to dwindle did the institution begin to focus on the cost of an attrition rate of 18%. And only then did the institution begin to look for more information to better understand why employees were leaving. Without the data, you can not begin to understand or appreciate what is an acceptable attrition rate.

Employers can take positive steps to reduce employee loss. Employee communication is an important key to employee retention. Effective communication includes two way-employee surveys, brown bag management meetings, or pulse surveys. A good communication strategy sends a strong message that management cares about what employees think about key issues.

How can the human resource staff influence employee turnover? The first thing they can do is establish an exit interview program designed to gather the right information, and to develop accurate statistics on organizational attrition and provide this data in the form of reports to management on a regular basis. Information collected on supervisors and departments who are negatively depicted in exit interviews can be identified to senior management and could have a positive impact on future attrition.

What constitutes a good exit interview program? First you need to get senior management committed to the program. Next, you need to design a program that meets your specific needs. An interview program or employee survey that works for one company may not work for another. And the program you put in place must be monitored on a regular basis. Don’t forget that the purpose of an exit interview is to obtain information from departing employees that can be used to make the organization more effective and to show employees that their feedback is important. Use the interview to build a parting relationship. And employees must see the exit interview process as meaningful and the information needs to be collected at the right time and under the right circumstances. Employees must see the process as anonymous and enough time needs to be allocated to the process so the employee feels comfortable providing the information and believes that it is going to be used to make the organization better.

The individuals completing the exit interviews need to be trained in the art of interviewing – otherwise they will not know how to direct the interview and gather key information during the course of the interview. The interviewers do not need to be human resource professionals. Sometimes it is an effective tool to have the option of having the interview completed outside of the human resource office. However, all of the interviewers need to know how to handle the emotionally charged employee and those who like to talk about their experience and who have definite opinions about how the organization should change.

Exit interviews, if done right, can provide management a significant amount of information on a variety of topics. All the information collected can be used to make the organization better. And if it saves other employees from leaving, has a positive impact on attrition, or identifies managers who need help honing their management skills, it will be well worth the cost of time and money to complete.