Imagine it is your last week at work, and you are scheduled to meet with your HR representative to do an exit interview. What would that look like?
In my candid conversation with friends, they told me it was a waste of time. Firstly, they knew their suggestions would not be implemented. Secondly, they wouldn't want to tell the truth that their manager sucks or something. Why bother? Thirdly, they wouldn't want to burn the bridge with the company should they ever come back again. Who knows?
The feedback sounded like the exit interview didn't work as intended. It looks like a formality and a process to complete the offboarding of an employee - a sort of closure.
Why Exit Interviews?
The primary reason is to find out what the company can do to change, improve and retain valued employees. Staff resignation is costly to a company. The disruption, loss of knowledge, training, and time spent recruiting for the vacancy. Keeping people is more cost-effective than going through a recruitment process.
The feedback from exit interviews is supposed to be channelled to respective leadership members to do something about the feedback and prevent any future attrition of good employees.
This feedback is valuable, and HR should share it anonymously with respective managers and leaders or their upline managers to protect ex-staff privacy. From my experience, this is rarely done.
Sharing feedback with managers and leaders has a duo purpose. One is for improvement to the work or environment, and the other is 360 feedback for leaders' development. It can be leadership issues that cause people to leave the company.
Because we treat exit interviews as confidential, exit interviews are seen as a show, or the leadership is clueless about the real reason people are resigning.
What if it works?
If you were a manager or a staff member and worked in several mediocre organisations and had been around for some time, you would disagree.
Hear me out. Exit interviews do work. It is a good idea and concept but poorly executed.
There are two ways to run the Exit Interview. It is run by a line manager or HR. The latter is more common because it gives the departing staff a perception of psychological safety to share privately.
Your company's practice also depends on its reputation. This may work well if you are in a well-known corporation. If you work in a mediocre organisation, it works half the time. If you work for a below-average organisation, then exit interviews are non-existence.
Exit interviews provide feedback to the management and leadership on what they should do more and what they should do less. Not all exits are negative. The follow-through isn't happening and is not frequent enough unless your organisation has a high turnover. I know it's illogical.
Something is seriously brewing when you have exit interviews and a high turnover. That surely means the feedback from the exit interviews isn't working or channelled upwards to those in power to do something.
How to know when Exit Interviews don't work?
- When it is an offboarding checklist to have closure. The step is just a process for the show. Just ask your manager if he gets any exit interview feedback from HR.
- When it is a survey and is optional. The survey isn't statistically valid because of low sampling. You don't need to complete one.
- When it is a casual chat with an HR representative and feedback isn't documented for further action by the HR representative.
- When there is no following step process after the exit interview. The is no feedback to the respective business or leadership for improvement or development. Again, ask your favourite HR contact.
- When the company doesn't practice exit interviews at all.
What is a better alternative?
What is an Exit Interview for again? It is to get feedback about why people are leaving and what's not working.
And if you wait till people are going, isn't it too late for that?
If your job is to retain your people and encourage engagement. You don't need to know what your people want and need until they start leaving. It is true sometimes you can't do anything. But what if you could?
The alternative is regular one-on-one with your staff. One-on-One is a scheduled meeting that is never missed for you to catch up with your team. It should not be just about work. It is an opportunity for you to build rapport with your staff. A chance to discuss aspirations, ambitions, career development and feedback about how you are doing as their leader and manager.
Likewise, when you aren't a manager or leader, book regular catch up with your manager and leader. If it isn't encouraged, you are in the wrong company.
The one-on-one should not be just about what I stated above. It is an opportunity to give feedback about things in your workspace. It could be an opportunity to seek support for your ideas.
Sometimes, you have no control over the workspace, but you can lobby and influence your leadership to consider your suggestion. This is an excellent opportunity to manage up. A skill that everyone should learn.
What's the verdict about the Exit Interview?
I have said enough. I have never seen it work. You should have regular one-on-one with your staff than relying on an exit interview.
There, I have said it.