The Benefits of Exit Interviews

Do you know why people are leaving your organisation? Or how they felt about you as an employer?

Losing and having to replace employees can be a costly exercise. Not only do you have the costs associated with hiring and training people, but losing valuable internal knowledge and skills from talented and experienced employees can set back projects and progress and negatively impact performance… especially when those employees move to your competitors! Additionally, if people have a bad experience with your organisation and leave on poor terms, the way they speak about you to others can impact your brand in the market.

In today’s competitive and candidate-driven market, where skilled knowledge employees are a desirable asset, understanding people’s experiences in your organisation and why they are leaving can be crucial for improving organisational processes and culture, and slowing the flow of turnover.

One of the best ways to do this is through exit interviews.

Benefits

From talking to our clients, some of the common benefits of using exit interviews include:

• Understanding the experiences of employees working in their company
• Understanding what people like and what should be continued
• Flagging potential hidden risk areas in the business
• Helping them understand the reasons why people are leaving, to better tackle drivers of turnover
• Providing insights into where their employees are going (i.e. changing industry, going to competitors)
• Identifying particular areas of the business to target with interventions
• Developing targeted interventions
• Providing employee-driven insights into things that could be done differently
• Tracking changes in key areas over time after interventions have been implemented

Methods

There are three main methods that you can use to carry out exit interviews, depending on your preferences, the type of information you want to collect (e.g. numerical data and/or qualitative information) and budget.

• In person: Conducting exit interviews in person is more personal, but also more resource intensive. In-person interviews involve sitting down with the exiting employee, either before or after they have left, and running through a series of questions with them. There is plenty of opportunity for the former employee to provide additional information and for the interviewer to ask for details or dig into areas of interest more deeply.
• Over the phone: This method is more commonly used after employees have already left and can be conducted by either an internal person or external provider. Similarly to in-person, conducting exit interviews over the phone allows the interviewer to prompt for additional information and can provide quite rich data. Some people feel safer or more comfortable opening up over the phone once they have left the business, as the interview feels like it is being conducted more at ‘arms length’.
• Online surveys: This is one way of reaching many former employees in a short period of time, at a low cost. However, response rates to surveys tend to be low and there is no opportunity to probe for more information on areas where they indicate issues.

Internal Human Resources vs External Provider

While many organisations conduct exit interviews internally (usually via their Human Resources function), there are some distinct benefits to using an external provider to conduct exit interviews, including:

• People often feel safer speaking up and sharing issues when talking with someone who is external to their previous employer, especially if they left on poor terms
• An external third-party provider can assure a level of confidentiality and anonymity, where results are only reported at a group level and information with identifying features is not shared with the former employer
• People are often more willing to be open and honest when they don’t need to fear that their responses will impact referrals or future work opportunities
• External providers can provide a neutral, third-party perspective on trends and issues facing the organisation, along with recommendations for addressing these issues

Using the data well

In order to make the most of your exit interview process, it is important to both collect good quality data and to use this data properly. Incorporating a system of regular (i.e. monthly, quarterly) reporting on exit interview data, where results are shared with senior management, issues are discussed, and actions agreed upon can help with ensuring that the insights gleaned from the process are utilised and acted upon.

To talk to our team about how we can assist you with designing and implementing a tailored exit interview process for your organisation, please get in touch with us.