HI Folks,
Read an informative article on this topic. Here is a jist of it..
Exit interviews are an effective way to ascertain the REAL reasons employees change jobs. During the exiting process, the employees may feel a little more comfortable in being frank and forthright in their opinions regarding the recruitment practices, supervision, pay, benefits, treatment, promotional opportunities and other aspects of their work experience.
To be effective, the exit interviews should be conducted by a neutral party such as someone in the human resources department or an outside party. A standard set of questions should be asked with the responses captured in a way that data can be gathered and analyzed to determine specific areas of concern. With a face-to-face or telephone discussion, the interviewer will have the opportunity to probe the employee for additional information and clarification. Simply handing an employee a questionnaire to complete without the benefit of a discussion is not effective.
Some organizations wait for a month or two after the employee leaves the organization and then conduct telephone interviews. The information gathered during this process can prove to be extremely valuable. People in this situation will open up more because they are safely away from the work environment, have been away from the work setting for a long enough period to reflect on the experience and are eager to discuss difficulties they had in their work setting.
Here are a few ways to ensure that you get the most out of exit interviews.
Keep them anonymous. You are looking for information. Even though the employee is leaving the company, many do not want their name attached to a written document especially if they are making negative comments.
Only conduct exit interviews on employees who voluntarily resign from the company. People who are fired or laid off from a job are often too emotional to offer any constructive advice.
Keep the completed documents in a separate file specifically for exit interviews. Review them periodically to see if there are any trends developing with the responses. Depending on the level of turnover, the exit interviews should be reviewed every three to six months.
If there are serious allegations, such as harassment or discrimination aimed at a specific a manager or supervisor, an immediate investigation should be conducted and the employee making the allegation should be questioned as to why he/she did not approach the HR department or another management employee earlier.
If trends are developing in a specific area or department, corrective action should be taken. If, for example, many employees complain that the pay is too low, it is a good idea to conduct a salary survey. Likewise, if the turnover is high in one department and a majority of those leaving complain about the treatment they received from their supervisor, confront the supervisor with the data and find out what is going on and make the necessary corrections.
Turnover is expensive. Exit interviews have proven to be a very effective way to gather the necessary data to take corrective action at a very low cost.
Hope you found this useful. Drop your views and add you points....
dips
From India, Delhi
10Read an informative article on this topic. Here is a jist of it..
Exit interviews are an effective way to ascertain the REAL reasons employees change jobs. During the exiting process, the employees may feel a little more comfortable in being frank and forthright in their opinions regarding the recruitment practices, supervision, pay, benefits, treatment, promotional opportunities and other aspects of their work experience.
To be effective, the exit interviews should be conducted by a neutral party such as someone in the human resources department or an outside party. A standard set of questions should be asked with the responses captured in a way that data can be gathered and analyzed to determine specific areas of concern. With a face-to-face or telephone discussion, the interviewer will have the opportunity to probe the employee for additional information and clarification. Simply handing an employee a questionnaire to complete without the benefit of a discussion is not effective.
Some organizations wait for a month or two after the employee leaves the organization and then conduct telephone interviews. The information gathered during this process can prove to be extremely valuable. People in this situation will open up more because they are safely away from the work environment, have been away from the work setting for a long enough period to reflect on the experience and are eager to discuss difficulties they had in their work setting.
Here are a few ways to ensure that you get the most out of exit interviews.
Keep them anonymous. You are looking for information. Even though the employee is leaving the company, many do not want their name attached to a written document especially if they are making negative comments.
Only conduct exit interviews on employees who voluntarily resign from the company. People who are fired or laid off from a job are often too emotional to offer any constructive advice.
Keep the completed documents in a separate file specifically for exit interviews. Review them periodically to see if there are any trends developing with the responses. Depending on the level of turnover, the exit interviews should be reviewed every three to six months.
If there are serious allegations, such as harassment or discrimination aimed at a specific a manager or supervisor, an immediate investigation should be conducted and the employee making the allegation should be questioned as to why he/she did not approach the HR department or another management employee earlier.
If trends are developing in a specific area or department, corrective action should be taken. If, for example, many employees complain that the pay is too low, it is a good idea to conduct a salary survey. Likewise, if the turnover is high in one department and a majority of those leaving complain about the treatment they received from their supervisor, confront the supervisor with the data and find out what is going on and make the necessary corrections.
Turnover is expensive. Exit interviews have proven to be a very effective way to gather the necessary data to take corrective action at a very low cost.
Hope you found this useful. Drop your views and add you points....
dips
From India, Delhi
Hi Deepali,
This is a good one..
My comments on this are:-
Very true..exit interviews allows HR Manager to look at the organization from the ex-employee's point of view. Here it is very essential HR managers have the ability to elicit the information , build trust, develop rapport with the departing employee ....
Also HR Manager should not play defensive or justify the action/policies etc...just a neutral person to collect the facts..a difficult task..
Preferably this should be done after giving them Full & Final settlement cheque...to make them at ease..
Neutral party - yes..preferably HR than outside party..
One to one meeting at a neutral place like a resturant is ideal to avoid the powerplay politics like meeting at a conference room or a closed room..
After a month or two - the key issues would be forgotten by them and they may not remember the overall issues ..
Telephone interviews ...should be avoided as much as possible..it's a impersonal method of collecting data...remember exit interview one collects the a lot of information by the study of the body langauge..
Yes, they should be encouraged to write what ever they feel..with no fear of rebuke or retaliation..
Well i disagree..even the second category may have some issues which may be relevant...fired or laid off s b'coz of some x or y factors..but in other companies they may perform very well...
so here one has to analyse as how to enhance the productivity or ensure that more people are not included in this category in coming year.
Yes..right..
Yes...
It's easier said than done!!...HR needs to proactively act & keep itself updated on these matters than coming alive to the issues in the end..like cops arrive on the scene in Hindi films...
Yes...
But there are other issues like:-
How to deal with issue if you come to know that people are leaving because of a senior person at the level of HOD who is close to the TOP Management?...He is a tough master but has traits like poor supervisory skills or rough treatment of subordinates...it's not easy ...i have dealt with this..it's not easy..requires a lot of tact and personal counselling & time..
Hope this helps...
Cheers,
Rajat
From India, Pune
This is a good one..
My comments on this are:-
Very true..exit interviews allows HR Manager to look at the organization from the ex-employee's point of view. Here it is very essential HR managers have the ability to elicit the information , build trust, develop rapport with the departing employee ....
Also HR Manager should not play defensive or justify the action/policies etc...just a neutral person to collect the facts..a difficult task..
Preferably this should be done after giving them Full & Final settlement cheque...to make them at ease..
Neutral party - yes..preferably HR than outside party..
One to one meeting at a neutral place like a resturant is ideal to avoid the powerplay politics like meeting at a conference room or a closed room..
After a month or two - the key issues would be forgotten by them and they may not remember the overall issues ..
Telephone interviews ...should be avoided as much as possible..it's a impersonal method of collecting data...remember exit interview one collects the a lot of information by the study of the body langauge..
Yes, they should be encouraged to write what ever they feel..with no fear of rebuke or retaliation..
Well i disagree..even the second category may have some issues which may be relevant...fired or laid off s b'coz of some x or y factors..but in other companies they may perform very well...
so here one has to analyse as how to enhance the productivity or ensure that more people are not included in this category in coming year.
Yes..right..
Yes...
It's easier said than done!!...HR needs to proactively act & keep itself updated on these matters than coming alive to the issues in the end..like cops arrive on the scene in Hindi films...
Yes...
But there are other issues like:-
How to deal with issue if you come to know that people are leaving because of a senior person at the level of HOD who is close to the TOP Management?...He is a tough master but has traits like poor supervisory skills or rough treatment of subordinates...it's not easy ...i have dealt with this..it's not easy..requires a lot of tact and personal counselling & time..
Hope this helps...
Cheers,
Rajat
From India, Pune
Hi Dips,
More information on exit interview:-
The Best Conditions for Conducting Exit Interviews
A list of ways to help make exit interviews a success. Also, find out the question that should be on every company's survey.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whether interviews or surveys are used, there are certain conditions that tend to create optimum results when it comes to exit interviews:
1. Trained, Independent Interviewers. The critical skills needed for successful exit interviewers do not come naturally for many--putting the employee at ease, creating rapport and asking probing follow-up questions instead of accepting the individual's initial surface response. Interviewers must also understand the distinction between asking employees why they are leaving and asking why they didn't stay. No matter how well a company representative may have been trained, there will always be those departing employees who do not feel comfortable opening up with any representative of the organization.
This is why more companies have elected to use independent third parties to conduct the interviews by phone, in person or through secure Web sites. The downside is that employees become more difficult to reach once they have left the company. Another alternative is to have all employees complete a written survey on their last day and then notify them that they will be receiving a phone call to obtain clarification on some of their responses.
2. Offered on a Post-Exit Basis. Because departing individuals may still have unresolved emotions and be preoccupied with other matters on the day of their departure, many employers contact the employee during the evening at home a few weeks after exiting. This allows the employee time to gain perspective and speak with the benefit of time for reflection.
It is more expensive to have third-party consultants conduct phone interviews than to have departed employees complete a post-exit Web survey. This is why many companies have third parties conduct actual interviews only with those employees the company regretted losing the most and invite all others to complete a confidential, password-protected Web survey.
3. Guaranteed Confidentiality and Anonymity. Departing employees need to be assured that they can provide frank and candid feedback without fear of retribution by their former manager or a co-worker. Many employees are more likely to accept such assurances when they come from a third-party interviewer or surveyor than from a company representative.
This is a more difficult issue for smaller organizations that conduct interviews with fewer employees and can therefore more easily identify departed employees by their comments and demographic information.
CEOs at these smaller companies therefore cannot confront managers with specific information that is critical of them without revealing the identity of the departed employee. Smaller companies typically resolve this problem either by not using the specific information with the manager or by waiting until they have exit data from five or more employees, a number considered sufficient to protect the anonymity of the former employee.
4. Conducted With All Employees Who Leave. To have the broadest possible understanding of all reasons for employee turnover among all categories of employees, it is important to survey all departing employees in one form or another. All employees may not complete and return surveys after their departure, or be reachable by telephone, but they should at least have the opportunity to participate.
It is also a good idea to interview or survey employees who leave the company involuntarily because they may have valuable insights to share. However, they may also be more emotional on the day of their separation, so a post-exit survey will usually be more effective.
Dont overlook employees transferring from one location to another within the company. Having them complete exit surveys is another way to capture potentially valuable information about their work experiences and feelings even though they are staying with the organization.
5. Consistent Survey Questions. Once the survey has been designed, it is important to not keep changing the questions--at least not the core questions. This will help assure that the data received is reliable. Many organizations also intentionally use the same questions in exit interviews that they use in employee attitude surveys, thus allowing comparisons to be made and patterns to be detected.
6. Findings Reported to Management. Because "push-factor" reasons for leaving are within the control of managers and senior leaders, they should have the opportunity to see the findings in both summary form and more detailed reports so they may take corrective action. Senior leaders will certainly need to see this data in order to hold their direct reports accountable for making appropriate corrective changes to prevent future regrettable departures of valued employees. Larger companies that do regular exit surveying typically issue quarterly and annual reports of findings.
7. Exit Findings Combined With Other Organizational Data. Exit survey data by itself can be quite revealing, but to assure a more rounded view of organizational issues and trends, they are best reviewed in combination with data from surveys of current employees and other organizational trend data.
Such data may include the average tenure of employees in various positions, the number of years with the company when various employees are most at risk of leaving, quit rate and average vacancy rate. This type of comprehensive analysis can help identify predictors of turnover among various groups of employees so that actions can be taken to keep it from occurring.
8. Leaders and Managers Taking Action Based on Findings. Ninety-five percent of companies conduct exit interviews or surveys, but only 30 percent report that they ever take corrective action based on what they learn. There we have one more reason why most companies are not employers of choice.
Sought-after employers view every avoidable turnover of a valued employee as a failure to be analyzed and understood in terms of its true causes, in order to prevent such future turnovers.
This means that every piece of data at the disposal of company leaders must be taken seriously. However, if senior leaders and managers do not believe that the information gathered is based on the skilled questioning of candid departing employees, they certainly cannot be expected to trust the findings or take action based on it.
One Last Chance to Reclaim a Valued Employee
There are times during an exit interview when it may become obvious that an employee who has decided to leave is really heartbroken at the prospect of leaving, but feels there is no alternative. For example, an employee may love the job, the work environment and the colleagues, but has decided to leave because the boss would not grant flexible hours.
In these situations, an alert and proactive exit interviewer may be able to intervene to help change the boss' mind or report the situation to higher-ups who may be able to assign the individual to a different manager.
In her book HR From the Heart, Libby Sartain, senior vice president of human resources at Yahoo Inc., recommends always asking departing employees, "Is there anything we could have done to keep you here?" You may discover that there may still be a sliver of a chance to keep valued talent and save the company money in avoided turnover costs.
Sartain also recommends trying to connect with departing employees on a deeper, more human level by asking such questions as:
If you had the last three months to live over again, what do you think you would do differently?
What have you learned that you can take with you to your next job?
What are you proud of from your time here?
What goals did you meet?
What accomplishments will you be able to take with you?
Just One More Question
One question that should be on every company's survey is, "Would you consider returning to the company, and if so, under what conditions?" Of course, asking this question requires that the company be willing to rehire former employees; as amazing as it may seem, there are still lots of companies who will not. Employers of choice, however, realize that former employees are to be viewed as alumni--to be kept in touch with and considered for rehire when the time is right.
Departing employees who answer this question affirmatively should be listed in a special recruiting database and contacted periodically by e-mail. There are few things more gratifying than welcoming back to the company a former employee who thought the grass might be greener, found out it wasn't, and has come back to tell and retell that story to their colleagues.
SOURCE: Excerpted from The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave by Leigh Branham.
From India, Pune
More information on exit interview:-
The Best Conditions for Conducting Exit Interviews
A list of ways to help make exit interviews a success. Also, find out the question that should be on every company's survey.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whether interviews or surveys are used, there are certain conditions that tend to create optimum results when it comes to exit interviews:
1. Trained, Independent Interviewers. The critical skills needed for successful exit interviewers do not come naturally for many--putting the employee at ease, creating rapport and asking probing follow-up questions instead of accepting the individual's initial surface response. Interviewers must also understand the distinction between asking employees why they are leaving and asking why they didn't stay. No matter how well a company representative may have been trained, there will always be those departing employees who do not feel comfortable opening up with any representative of the organization.
This is why more companies have elected to use independent third parties to conduct the interviews by phone, in person or through secure Web sites. The downside is that employees become more difficult to reach once they have left the company. Another alternative is to have all employees complete a written survey on their last day and then notify them that they will be receiving a phone call to obtain clarification on some of their responses.
2. Offered on a Post-Exit Basis. Because departing individuals may still have unresolved emotions and be preoccupied with other matters on the day of their departure, many employers contact the employee during the evening at home a few weeks after exiting. This allows the employee time to gain perspective and speak with the benefit of time for reflection.
It is more expensive to have third-party consultants conduct phone interviews than to have departed employees complete a post-exit Web survey. This is why many companies have third parties conduct actual interviews only with those employees the company regretted losing the most and invite all others to complete a confidential, password-protected Web survey.
3. Guaranteed Confidentiality and Anonymity. Departing employees need to be assured that they can provide frank and candid feedback without fear of retribution by their former manager or a co-worker. Many employees are more likely to accept such assurances when they come from a third-party interviewer or surveyor than from a company representative.
This is a more difficult issue for smaller organizations that conduct interviews with fewer employees and can therefore more easily identify departed employees by their comments and demographic information.
CEOs at these smaller companies therefore cannot confront managers with specific information that is critical of them without revealing the identity of the departed employee. Smaller companies typically resolve this problem either by not using the specific information with the manager or by waiting until they have exit data from five or more employees, a number considered sufficient to protect the anonymity of the former employee.
4. Conducted With All Employees Who Leave. To have the broadest possible understanding of all reasons for employee turnover among all categories of employees, it is important to survey all departing employees in one form or another. All employees may not complete and return surveys after their departure, or be reachable by telephone, but they should at least have the opportunity to participate.
It is also a good idea to interview or survey employees who leave the company involuntarily because they may have valuable insights to share. However, they may also be more emotional on the day of their separation, so a post-exit survey will usually be more effective.
Dont overlook employees transferring from one location to another within the company. Having them complete exit surveys is another way to capture potentially valuable information about their work experiences and feelings even though they are staying with the organization.
5. Consistent Survey Questions. Once the survey has been designed, it is important to not keep changing the questions--at least not the core questions. This will help assure that the data received is reliable. Many organizations also intentionally use the same questions in exit interviews that they use in employee attitude surveys, thus allowing comparisons to be made and patterns to be detected.
6. Findings Reported to Management. Because "push-factor" reasons for leaving are within the control of managers and senior leaders, they should have the opportunity to see the findings in both summary form and more detailed reports so they may take corrective action. Senior leaders will certainly need to see this data in order to hold their direct reports accountable for making appropriate corrective changes to prevent future regrettable departures of valued employees. Larger companies that do regular exit surveying typically issue quarterly and annual reports of findings.
7. Exit Findings Combined With Other Organizational Data. Exit survey data by itself can be quite revealing, but to assure a more rounded view of organizational issues and trends, they are best reviewed in combination with data from surveys of current employees and other organizational trend data.
Such data may include the average tenure of employees in various positions, the number of years with the company when various employees are most at risk of leaving, quit rate and average vacancy rate. This type of comprehensive analysis can help identify predictors of turnover among various groups of employees so that actions can be taken to keep it from occurring.
8. Leaders and Managers Taking Action Based on Findings. Ninety-five percent of companies conduct exit interviews or surveys, but only 30 percent report that they ever take corrective action based on what they learn. There we have one more reason why most companies are not employers of choice.
Sought-after employers view every avoidable turnover of a valued employee as a failure to be analyzed and understood in terms of its true causes, in order to prevent such future turnovers.
This means that every piece of data at the disposal of company leaders must be taken seriously. However, if senior leaders and managers do not believe that the information gathered is based on the skilled questioning of candid departing employees, they certainly cannot be expected to trust the findings or take action based on it.
One Last Chance to Reclaim a Valued Employee
There are times during an exit interview when it may become obvious that an employee who has decided to leave is really heartbroken at the prospect of leaving, but feels there is no alternative. For example, an employee may love the job, the work environment and the colleagues, but has decided to leave because the boss would not grant flexible hours.
In these situations, an alert and proactive exit interviewer may be able to intervene to help change the boss' mind or report the situation to higher-ups who may be able to assign the individual to a different manager.
In her book HR From the Heart, Libby Sartain, senior vice president of human resources at Yahoo Inc., recommends always asking departing employees, "Is there anything we could have done to keep you here?" You may discover that there may still be a sliver of a chance to keep valued talent and save the company money in avoided turnover costs.
Sartain also recommends trying to connect with departing employees on a deeper, more human level by asking such questions as:
If you had the last three months to live over again, what do you think you would do differently?
What have you learned that you can take with you to your next job?
What are you proud of from your time here?
What goals did you meet?
What accomplishments will you be able to take with you?
Just One More Question
One question that should be on every company's survey is, "Would you consider returning to the company, and if so, under what conditions?" Of course, asking this question requires that the company be willing to rehire former employees; as amazing as it may seem, there are still lots of companies who will not. Employers of choice, however, realize that former employees are to be viewed as alumni--to be kept in touch with and considered for rehire when the time is right.
Departing employees who answer this question affirmatively should be listed in a special recruiting database and contacted periodically by e-mail. There are few things more gratifying than welcoming back to the company a former employee who thought the grass might be greener, found out it wasn't, and has come back to tell and retell that story to their colleagues.
SOURCE: Excerpted from The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave by Leigh Branham.
From India, Pune
Rajat and Deepali - many thanks for this thread - some great stuff there.
Allow me to share my own experiences of this in an organisation of 5000 people, with some difficult politics, union relations, bullying, and many other negative aspects to the culture.
Exit interviews in the above organisation only became useful when all the many criteria you have both listed were followed.
Additionally we also followed up the original interview and survey with a survey 3 months later, taking the opportunity to communicate with the employee who had left, and to bring them up to date with the changes and actions taken as a result of their comments in the interview and survey.
Just because somebody has left, perhaps under dark circumstances (they didn't like their manager's style is usually the main reason) does not mean that this can't change and that some time in the future they will come back, or perhaps even recommend the company to their friends because it is a company that at last is beginning to listen to the concerns of its employees.
Thanks again,
Martin
From United Kingdom,
Allow me to share my own experiences of this in an organisation of 5000 people, with some difficult politics, union relations, bullying, and many other negative aspects to the culture.
Exit interviews in the above organisation only became useful when all the many criteria you have both listed were followed.
Additionally we also followed up the original interview and survey with a survey 3 months later, taking the opportunity to communicate with the employee who had left, and to bring them up to date with the changes and actions taken as a result of their comments in the interview and survey.
Just because somebody has left, perhaps under dark circumstances (they didn't like their manager's style is usually the main reason) does not mean that this can't change and that some time in the future they will come back, or perhaps even recommend the company to their friends because it is a company that at last is beginning to listen to the concerns of its employees.
Thanks again,
Martin
From United Kingdom,
Hi Martin,
How are you ?
Exactly, you are correct in saying that , it's not like a company's culture can't change from the way it used to be in the past. Required is the correct strategy and vision to change and improve. and Exit interviews serve as an aid for this.
Thanks for providing your opinions for this post.
dips
From India, Delhi
How are you ?
Exactly, you are correct in saying that , it's not like a company's culture can't change from the way it used to be in the past. Required is the correct strategy and vision to change and improve. and Exit interviews serve as an aid for this.
Thanks for providing your opinions for this post.
dips
From India, Delhi
Hi, Can anybody let me know when Exit Interviews gave some negative consequences also... waiting... dips
From India, Delhi
From India, Delhi
Hi Deepali,
It was really good article something which i was looking for.
If possible could you or anyone please help me out with the exit interview format/survey or the most likely and probable question which appear inthe form.
thanks and kind regards
Varsha S
It was really good article something which i was looking for.
If possible could you or anyone please help me out with the exit interview format/survey or the most likely and probable question which appear inthe form.
thanks and kind regards
Varsha S
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EXIT INTERVIEWS.doc