A Strategic Tool or a Deceptive Process?

FLOW OF PRESENTATION

Exit Interviews are an effective way to ascertain

the REAL reasons employee changes jobs
Exit interview process assist the HR practioner
in determining patterns or trends of events
occurring within a company or department, and
will often reveal critical problems with
supervision, or with work rules, wages or
working conditions that do not surface while th
eperson is still employed
The two major elements of exit interviews are
discovery and communication.

Exit interviews are applied to all forms of

termination : voluntary , involuntary and
termination.
They can be conducted in person or on the
telephone, in a written survey or on a website.
They can take place when employees are still on
the payroll or several weeks after they have left.

FUNCTIONS OF EXIT INTERVIEWS :

identify the true reasons for voluntary terminations
push and pull factors,
persuade the employee to stay if the organisation desires,
acquire information that will help management identify
problem areas and set up controls,
clarify charges or complaints against employees who are
being separated involuntarily,
provide references, job leads, and outplacement
counseling,
retain the employees goodwill when he/she becomes an exemployee
Exit interview feedback to first line supervisor is essential
in the management of employee turnover.

The exit interview results will

generally target several key
areas:
management practices,
employee placement,
training and development,
compensation and benefits,
health and safety,
job security,
supervisor/employee
relations.

10 REASONS WHY A COMPANY MUST

HAVE EXIT INTERVIEWS ?

1. Reduce costs of recruitment and retraining

Employee turnover can cost a company 1.5 times its annual salary budget.
2. Save time on replacing and re-trainingg a new employee
3. Save time and money on potential productivity losses
4. Determine the real reasons for people leaving
5. Minimise the risk of litigation
The company must cover all possible processes in the termination process to minimise any
risk of future litigation by the departing employee.
6. Collect key information for the job description
The HR can clarify exactly what skills and capabilities the job requires from the person who
has done it. This will mean the new person knows exactly what he has to do which will
reduce future employee turnover and improve induction and succession planning.
7. Identify and manage trends and underlying company issues
The HR manager can identify underlying company issues, for example if theres hidden
political turmoil or conflict, sexual harassment or intimidation.
8. Review overall recruitment and selection process
Exit interviews may show that the departing employee wasnt the right person for the job in
the first place.

9. Measure the effectiveness of performance management systems

10. Enhance morale and staff satisfaction

PLANNING AN EXIT SURVEY

SYSTEM
Universal interviewing all voluntary departures provides a
more complete understanding of turnover.
Standardized using a core set of consistent questions
ensures comparability throughout the organization and across
time.
Comprehensive including feedback on the work environment
in addition to reasons for leaving increases usefulness in
determining strategies to reduce turnover.
Independent minimizing the discomfort in revealing the
true reasons for leaving improves the reliability of the results.
Available encouraging centralized access to the findings
increases the likelihood of taking action.
Monitored setting targets for reduction in turnover through
planned strategies helps to ensure that the investment made
in exit surveys is put to its maximum use

EXIT INTERVIEW METHODS

Paper form (easy to administer, low cost, low
participation of 25 percent to 35 percent, difficult
to compile/track);
Telephone (can probe, can track responses, time
consuming, expensive);
In-person (personal touch, can probe, difficult to
get employees to critique, need to compile/track,
time consuming); and
Technology-based (high participation 65 percentplus, more honest feedback, compiling automatic,
easy reporting, reasonably priced)

GUIDELINES FOR DETERMINING

THE EXIT INTERVIEW CONTENT

Do not focus solely on the employees reasons for leaving although this is extremely important
information, it is also critical to include broader measures about the employees attitudes and
experiences so as to help identify the issues and concerns that may not surface when asking
about
reasons
for
leaving.
Ensure that there is more than one way for employees to express their reasons for leaving
including several open-ended questions for them to include their own comments so as to get a
full
perspective
on
the
decision
to
leave.
In order to get beyond a focus on the decision itself, incorporate key attitudinal measures such as
the employees satisfaction with the job itself, an assessment of the organizations work culture
and effectiveness of its various lines of communication, how well the employees job
responsibilities were defined, perceived opportunities for advancement and the employees
perspective
on
the
amount
of
training,
feedback
and
recognition
received.
Recognize that, for maximum effect, any exit survey system needs to be implemented
consistently and in such a way as to encourage employees to share their opinions as honestly and
candidly
as
possible.
Incorporate the ability to examine results not only on the basis of individual results but for the
organization as a whole, as well as on the basis of the relevant diagnostics, such as region,
department
or
manager.
Remember that there is an important distinction to be made between idiosyncratic reasons for
leaving, over which the organization has little control, and systemic reasons for leaving, over
which the organization can exercise substantial control.

CONDUCTING THE EXIT INTERVIEW

Outline the agenda for the exit interview, so everyone knows

what will happen next.

Review the reason why the employee is leaving.

Give the employee plenty of opportunities to ask questions.

Talk about the likely terms of separation. You should clearly

state these terms and discuss any concerns the employee has
concerns such as redundancy package, payments, notice periods
and severance pay.

Assume the correct tone for the meeting. The interviewer must
not assume the role of an unwilling sympathiser or the staunch
defender of the organisations culture.

SAMPLE EXIT INTERVIEW

QUESTIONS
What is your main reason for leaving?
Would you work for this employer again?
Would you recommend this employer to friends or
family?
What did you enjoy/dislike about your job?
What improvements would you suggest about your
job/working conditions/management support?
What do you think it takes to succeed at this
company?
What does your new employer offer different to this
company?
Any other comments?

REASONS FOR LEAVING

Career opportunities, including:

Perceived opportunity for advancement
Presence and/or clarity of development plan.
Enjoyment of the work, including:
How well work utilizes skills
Fit with job
Work/life balance.
Corporate leadership, including:
Clarity and strength of vision and mission
Management style
Overall perception of leadership
Level of respect and support received.
Availability of training, including:
Opportunity to learn new skills/develop new
talents
Corporate commitment to training and
development
Keeping up with latest technology.
Compensation/rewards, including:
Base/variable pay
Benefits
Recognition of contributions
Communication regarding performance.

REASONS AND ISSUES IN CASE OF

VOLUNTARY TERMINATION

EXIT INTERVIEW DOS AND DONTS

Dos
Ask open-ended
questions.
Ask , Dont tell
Use reflective
listening
Use double sided
reflection.
Summarize
Affirm

Donts

Question-answer routine

Confrontation-denial

The expert trap

Labelling

Blaming

Preaching

USING THIRD PARTY FOR EXIT

INTERVIEWS
The

Why does a third party have more

effective results?

The third party like to ensure

that they are transparent in their
processes.They
let
the
interviewee's know this during
their discussion with them.
The feedback received from
candidates is shared directly with
top management and therefore is
normally actioned upon.
Third parties also encourage exemployees to share information
that they would not share with
colleagues.
Example : Zeus Consulting

exit interview process at Zeus

Consulting include:
Zeus Consulting would be responsible for
gathering this feedback and may schedule
an exit interview session anytime between
the points where a notice of resignation is
received till the last day of employment.
An exit interview of each voluntarily
terminated employee who is willing to
participate will ensure management has
timely information as to separation trends
so that appropriate action can be taken,
where required.
In addition, this information will be useful
to Recruiting and Staffing to develop new
hire specifications, as well as to Employee
Relations. Responsibility to conduct timely
exit
interviews
rests
with
Zeus
Consulting.
Summary data is to be prepared quarterly
by Zeus Consulting. Such summary data
is to be provided to appropriate leadership
and forwarded to the business/functional
head.

DEALING WITH EXIT INTERVIEW

FEEDBACK

There are two main reasons for holding

exit interviews. One is to foresee potential
problems with a departing employee,
before the situation gets out of control.
The other is to provide information that
could be used to improve processes and
procedures in the organisation.

REVIEW THE FEEDBACK

Data

collated from exit interviews, regardless of how genuine or reliable, is reduced

in value unless it is analysed alongside a comparison baseline or measure of
usefulness. In a survey of other managers and the stakeholders, The HR manager
could ask:
How did you initially plan to use information from exit interviews?
Does the information from exit interviews serve your needs?
How have you used exit interview data in the past year?
How have you used exit survey data to:
improve your business unit
identify and resolve problems
identify and take advantage of opportunities?
How has the exit interview process been ineffective in serving your needs?
What content could we include in future exit surveys to better meet your
departments needs?
What specific changes in the past year have been the direct results of exit
interview data?
Are reports back to you from exit interviews timely?
Are exit interview related reports clear?
Are you satisfied with the way the exit interviews are organised?

MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS OF
EXIT INTERVIEWS

Many organizations are failing to recognize the value of a

systematic approach to collecting information from
exiting employees, including:

Gathering and collating the data in a structured

manner
Aggregating the results for the organization as a whole
Analysing the findings to identify consistent trends,
patterns and themes
Using the results to determine and implement
strategies to increase retention and reduce turnover.

EXIT INTERVIEWS AND RETENTION

STRATEGIES

EXIT INTERVIEWS AND

COMPLIANCE MEASUREMENT

EXIT INTERVIEWS AND KNOWLEDGE

TRANSFER

"We can be knowledgeable without others knowledge, but we cannot be wise without others
wisdom."
-Michel de Montaigne

Exit interviews are also an opportunity for the organization to enable transfer of knowledge and
experience from the departing employee to a successor or replacement, or even to brief a team on
current projects, issues and contacts.
When any employee resigns, or a decision is made for a person to leave for any reason, always
ask:Should we spend some time thinking about how to enable some sort of knowledge
transfer?

In other words, if we place a value on the knowledge that the departing employee holds, isn't it worth
thinking about how to enable this knowledge to be passed to the appropriate people remaining in the
organization?

Moreover most departing employees are delighted to share this knowledge, to help a successor, or to
brief a management team, if only the organization would simply ask them politely to do so.

EXIT INTERVIEW @ INFOSYS

A form to fill in a separate isolated room.
Form conatianed both subjective and objective
questions on :
Feedback regarding various practices, improvements
and new suggestions.

Experience sharing and grievances .

Telephonic interaction with senior managers,
departmentt heads trying to covience to retain the
employee by willing to change location, shifting of
project/domain/department.
Then an interview with HR manager in an isolated
room . Asked about the things you did not like and
also talked about the reasons behind some policies.
The HR manager was noting every point.
Salary gaps also discussed and why employeed treated
just as resources to the organisations and not as
human beings.
Interview length depends accordingly to th e employee
willingness. It can last from 10 minutes to an hour.
The suggestion given by the leaving employee is prosed
to the committee panel and if worth then
ammendments are done in the existing policy or if
required new policies are framed.

EXIT INTERVIEW @ ACCENTURE

EXIT INTERVIEW AND THE CHANGE

THEY BRING IN ORGANIZATIONS.

Exit interviews helped IT solutions

company MindTree realise two years
back that many women quit their job
after the birth of the second child.
MindTree decided to make its policy
more flexible.
We decided to come up with a
policy where women employees
can take a year off. And now, we
are extending the same to men
too. There are cases where
employees have to go and look
after their ailing parents and
this allows them to do so.
- Babuji Abraham Head of
people function at MindTree

MphasiS outsources exit interviews to the

third party . Though it adds to th ecost of
operation of the company they feel that it is
realy important.
Sameer Karayi, a consultant with Stanton
Chase International, worked with MphasiS as
a team manager till 2002. During his exit
interview, he told his reporting head that the
lackadaisical approach of employees resulted
in an unprofessional work atmosphere.

MphasiS managed to retain him for six

months during which he was pleasantly
surprised to see that some of his pointers got
implemented. For Karayi, these efforts spoke
a lot about the firm and his exit interview.

BURKE INC. RESEARCH STUDY

Objective

: to know the primary

focus and effectiveness of exit
interviews
in
different
organisations.
Sample:
50
Fortune
500
companies, and 161 mid-sized
companies.
Process: a mail/e-mail invitation
approach to survey senior HR
representatives. Questions were
asked about use, method and
effectiveness.
The effectiveness questions were
rated on a five-point scale where
1=Very Poor; 2=Poor; 3=Fair;
4=Good; and 5=Very Good.

Observations and Learnings:

Most companies in our study conduct
Exit Interviews 91% of the Fortune
500 and 87% of the mid-sized
companies.
However, this tool received the lowest
effectiveness ratings with only 44% of
Fortune 500 and 46% of the mid-sized
companies rating the process favorably
(good or very good).
In fact, 26% of the Fortune 500
companies rated their Exit Interview
process as poor or very poor.
In terms of effectiveness of process,
Exit Interviews the lowest favorable
ratings (44%). Given the high usage of
Exit Interviews among Fortune 500
companies, there appears to be a need
for a more effective process for
conducting exit interviews and for
using the information to guide
management decision making.

PRIMARY FOCUS OF EXIT

INTERVIEWS

USAGE AND FAVOURABLE RATING

FOR EXIT INTERVIEW

CONCLUSION

The level of usage and the

effectiveness
of
exit
interviews vary significantly
across
different
organisations. Optimally, exit
interview should be viewed
as decision support tools.
Used effectively, they can
help increase and improve
employee
satisfaction,
engagement and commitment
( i.e. formulate effective
retention
strategies)
to
optimize the employee to
customer
to
profitability
linkage.

BIBLIOGRAPHY