Corporate culture of conducting exit interviews

When certain employees choose to leave an organisation, it is sometimes a disappointment to others, while for some it is indeed good riddance. For the organisation, this trend should be more than just the ordinary ebb and flow of business. Is it not worth knowing why employees are leaving?

Exit interviews provide factual information that can be used to improve controllable retention factors. For any leader always bear in mind that opinion, emotions and feelings are valid. Such interviews always give management the best opportunities to receive unfiltered feedback as departing employees have nothing to lose. When such information is received by the company leadership, maintain an open mind to possibilities and potential areas needing attention. It is important to combine this feedback with stay interviews. This will facilitate discussions and present an opportunity to evaluate our leadership skills, relationship between the organisational leadership and its workforce, policies and assist in strategic planning interventions. The intent of the stay interviews is to focus on the lived experiences of current employees and what they would like their future to hold with the organisation. Unfortunately, few leaders are interested in this strategic imperative. Even the Human Capital departments who are custodians of such policies do not really prioritise this process. This is actually grievous.

Interestingly, in the Zimbabwean context exist interviews are viewed differently in the corporate sector. The majority of organisations interviewed on the implementation of this tool are not prepared to listen to anything that comes from a disgruntled employee leaving. Unfortunately for most of our entities, the general practice has been when an employee gives notice; there is a tendency of negotiating the employee out faster. Once done, the processes of job posting, advertising and selection of candidates starts, giving no attention at all to the person who is leaving! Despite the many advantages organisational realise by conducting such interviews most organisations do not seem to hold this practice high. Empirically, it has been noted that replacing an employee cost on average 21% of their salary.

Leaders, make it a practice to collect the data but not as an end but the means to the end. Human Capital departments upon collecting the raw data from the exit interviews must use it to come up with easy to interpret tools such as excel pivotal tables. Such collated information will inform the improvement plans that ensue. It is also good business practice to link the exit data to the organisational strategy as a way to assist in measuring the effectiveness of an organisational human capital strategy to key areas such as recruitment and training, performance and leadership issues. Organisations prioritising change will definitely employ the use of such a technique. While management are struggling with introducing improvements in organisations, it is also true that the competitive pressures keep getting worse despite the improvements in programs and processes. The pace of change keeps accelerating and organisations continue pouring executive energy into the search for higher level of quality and devices and overall business agility. The answer to some of these pressures could be lying in some of those very soft issues of management which maybe redressed through feedback revealed from exit interviews.

Human capital gurus writing on current human resources management have stated over and over again that senior management is being increasingly faced with that challenge to create a sense of   fulfilment in employees. While institutions like the communities and families which once provided individuals with identity, affiliation, meaning and support are eroding, only the work place has remained the primary means to personal fulfilment. Making use of exit interviews provide that platform where managers show employees that they have recognised and responded to that reality where employees do not just want to work for a company but to belong to it. So, when such an employee leaves an organisation on their own volition, exit interviews will help management understand those deep personal drivers propelling an employee to leave their family. Hence it is increasingly becoming the responsibility of corporate leaders to establish and maintain a link with each of its employees. Making use of exit interviews helps leadership to attain their objective of changing the employer/employee relationship from one in which employees feel they work for a company to that which recognises them as belonging to an organisation.

Exit interviews are so important and are highly effective when managers look for trends and act on them. Introduce best practices like ‘new trends’ quarterly meetings with key executives to discuss why people are leaving. Consider this feedback as a gift and never ask for this feedback if you are not prepared to change the issues. Once trends are established try and also look for trends beyond the interview and tie these with anonymous surveys data to get a full picture. There will indeed be a change on the bottom line!

Emmanuel Jinda is the Managing Consultant of PROSERVE Consulting Group, a leading supplier of Professional Human Resources and Management services locally, regionally and internationally. He can be contacted atTel: 263 773004143 or 263 4 772778 or visit our website at www.proservehr.com