Very often, senior management’s response to all the head-scratching after a vital person has left is to rationalise the loss of information with the old cliché, “No-one is indispensable”. While that may be true, it is vital for HR personnel to be aware that there is valuable information which needs to be unlocked from the interviewee who is preparing to exit from the organisation. Should we spend some time thinking about how to enable some sort of knowledge transfer? In other words, if we place a value on the knowledge that the departing employee holds, isn’t it worth thinking about how to enable this knowledge to be passed to the appropriate people remaining in the organization? In my experience, this is definitely a YES, if we are able to get the truth from the departing employee. Easier said than done, however if the truth is obtained it would go a long way in helping the organisation retain or even recruit better. HR personnel should approach the interviewee in a persuasive, diplomatic manner, and should not be seen as coming from a power angle.
Some of the information that the departing employee have may enable the organisation to save or reduce cost. One example I could think of was when I did an exit interview for a printing company. The organisation appeared ‘happy’ to accept the resignation of a printing assistant as he very often could not meet their dateline. However, according to the departing employee, he said that the machine he operated and used was very old and broke down very often, which disrupted his work and hence performance, frustrated, he decided to resign. Upon careful examination and investigation, I did find out that he was indeed telling the truth, and that the company did not want to purchase a new printing machine as it needed substantial spending. While this may be ‘expensively’ true, it wasn’t a long term sustainable solution either. Eventually, we did recruit a replacement for the outgoing staff. We managed to find someone who could not only operate the old printing machine, but could perform minor repair work too. The new staff increased the printing output & productivity level, if not for the valuable information I managed to obtain from the departing employee. Without the information of the frequent breakdowns, we would not have recruited someone with the knowledge of performing minor repair work. Hence, an exit interview does have its value…it gave us vital knowledge of how to recruit better by helping us adjust the job requirements. When conducting an exit interview, remember to respect the employee that is leaving and do not appear condescending. If you come across as being condescending, he may not be truthful in his feedback.
Actions resulting from exit interview feedback analysis, in any size or type of organization, fall into two categories:
- Remedial and preventative &
- Strategic improvement opportunities.
The head of HR or Line Managers would usually be responsible for raising these issues with the CEO, and the conversion of exit interview feedback into action is a critical factor in justifying and maintaining a serious priority and operation of the process.
For many organizations, exit interviews provide a major untapped source of ‘high-yield’ information, development ideas and opportunities, do use them wisely.
By Martin Gabriel, Senior HR Consultant, HRmatters21
