Exit interviews can be a difficult conversation to have with your employees when they have made the decision to move on. Are they going to tell you that you’re a bad employer, that they have hated working for your business and that all the other staff are terrible? Hopefully none of those things will be true, however it is really important for you to understand why people are leaving your company. You might already know or at least suspect the reasons for the departure but by having a professional, open and honest conversation in the form of an exit interview you will be able to find out more.
Here are some do’s and don’ts for a successful exit interview:
Do
- Plan and prepare for the meeting. Make sure the information you want to obtain is relevant and that your questions are appropriate and not too personal.
- Conduct an exit interview for everyone, whatever level they are working at, everyone’s opinions are valuable.
- Ensure the employee is doing the talking, it’s their time to have their say and you need to hear it.
- Ensure any criticism or negative comments are constructive by asking relevant questions, rather than allowing the employee to simply rant.
- Reflect and act on what you have been told, otherwise it’s a pointless paper exercise.
Don’t
- Try to talk the employee into staying, that conversation should have taken place before this stage.
- Be defensive. This is a barrier that will deter the employee from being honest and will not give you the desired outcome.
- Leave the interview too late. The best time to conduct the interview is as soon after the employee submitting their resignation as possible. You want the information you receive to be fresh, accurate and not faded by time.
If you follow these steps, then the exit interview should allow you to gather information which could prove useful in helping you to address issues, fix problems and reflect on what you could do differently to prevent future resignations.
Do you have questions about Exit interviews?
Give us a call at CUBE HR, we’ll be happy to advise you and we have policies and templates available to meet every HR need.
Why not check out our blog on a similar topic How to handle a resignation
We also have a YouTube channel with loads of handy videos
