Dont Bypass the Exit Interview

Employee retention is hard to come by and when employees resign, an exit interview is a common practice performed between the departing employee and the organization. The information gathered during this interview gives invaluable data to decision makers which can prove to be useful in a variety of aspects of the work environment from work culture, day to day concerns, processes, issues around management, workplace ethics and employee morale.

Make the exit interview count, discovering why employees have decided to depart should be an essential part of a company's strategic planning.  

Management will always have their assumptions as to why they think employees leave and typically those assumptions are biased in the company's favor. Putting assumptions aside it’s important to discover the true reasons behind why employees decide to depart in order to strategically plan how a company should better themselves and the work environment they are providing to their employees.  

An exit interview basically has three purposes: to learn how to improve the company, understand why the employee has chosen to leave, and on some rare occasions to persuade the employee to stay under new circumstances.

While there can be several reasons behind voluntary employee turnover an exit interview helps to gain insight not only into that specific employee's satisfaction during the employment lifecycle but into how your company is performing as an employer. Many employees tend to use an exit interview to express the built-up frustration they have had in the hopes that the honesty they have given will change some of the companies procedures, policies, or even current management to better the organization for future employees.

As companies begin to make exit interviews apart of their common practice when an employee leaves they will be able to better identify trends and patterns on why individuals are choosing to leave which will help them improve their retention strategies in the long run.

Exit interviews, when executed properly, are a great way to find out more about the internal dynamics of your company and to make positive and productive changes where necessary. Implementing change can come with its challenges, but in the long run, it will be well worth the time and effort.